Who Am I?

If you’re looking for a fun and interesting way to learn more about yourself or your friends, try taking a “Who am I?” quiz. These quizzes can be found online and in many magazines, and they are designed to remove the guesswork from the game of describing yourself. By asking a group of friends or family members to describe you, they can give you a unique perspective on your personality and characteristics that may be difficult for you to see yourself.

When you play the game of “Who am I?”, it’s important to stay honest and be forthcoming with whatever answers you give. If you give false information, it can skew the whole game for the other players and leave them in the dark as to who you really are. Generally, these quizzes aren’t scientific and shouldn’t be used to make major life decisions. They can, however, be a great way to remove the guessing and give you an opportunity to reflect on yourself in a different light.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a chronic neuroimmunological disease that profoundly limits the health and well-being of patients. It is not a psychotic condition and it is not triggered by any psychiatric disorder, but rather by infection. It is an elusive illness that has a sudden onset in most cases, although it can also have a gradual or more dramatic onset. It is a multi-systemic disease with both epidemic and endemic forms and has been referred to by various names, including ME/CFS, ME/CFIDS, systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID), and chronic fatigue immunity deficiency syndrome (CFIDS).

The proposed discriminative definition of ME is based on the descriptions of symptoms observed in ME epidemics and endemic ME cases as reported in the most recent relevant articles [3,4]. It includes the following mandatory elements: (1) muscle fatigability/prolonged post-exertional muscle weakness that lasts for days; (2) operational criteria of “neurological disturbance, especially of cognitive, autonomic and sensory functions”; (3) fluctuation of symptoms between and within episodes; and (4) a prolonged relapsing course.

ME sufferers often have a variety of additional diseases or conditions, known as comorbidities. These include fibromyalgia (widespread pain and unrefreshing sleep), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS, increased heart rate upon standing) and gastroparesis/irritable bowel syndrome (bloating and constipation). Symptoms related to mental health, such as secondary depression, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and mast cell disorders are also common in ME.

The only test for ME is a neurological examination, which can rule out other illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortunately, due to the largely subjective nature of ME, many people do not receive an accurate diagnosis or are misdiagnosed with another disease. As a result, up to 90 percent of those who have ME are either not diagnosed or are given a wrong diagnosis. The CDC recommends that patients seek a medical provider who has experience in diagnosing ME. This is a challenge for most families, as many primary care physicians do not recognize ME and do not know how to diagnose it.