A north councillor has spoken of his personal experiences of a debilitating neurological condition to raise awareness about it and to encourage other sufferers to come forward.
Jim McGillivray was bed bound for six weeks when he was first struck down by Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) in 1991. He experienced severe, persistent fatigue and chronic pain because his body was unable to recover after expending even the smallest amounts of energy.
In July last year he was hit by what he suspects was another bout of the illness, which left him slumped in an armchair for three months – and only now is he approaching full recovery.
The East Sutherland and Edderton councillor said: “People don’t understand how remarkably exhausting this condition is. I have great sympathy for other sufferers out there who do have it for longer.”
When Mr McGillivray was admitted to Raigmore Hospital 25 years ago, an expert in ME, Dr Ho Yen, led a team of consultants there who were prepared to diagnose him.
His condition was triggered by a breakout of the Coxsackie virus, a flu strain which swept through Tain Academy, where he worked as a computing teacher for 30 years.
As well as “extreme tiredness, muscular pain and pulsating headaches,” he recalls the psychological effects of ME as he attempted to finish writing an educational textbook: “I was concentrating and using up energy, and so other parts of me were shutting down to compensate. I started going deaf because of it. It was very, very strange.”
Mr McGillivray said that he was able to gradually make his way back to work over the course of about a year.
When he fell ill again last July after battling a virus, medics suspected that he had angina, but this was quickly ruled out after tests.
The councillor added: “I think now there is perhaps a lack of awareness about the condition and a reticence to diagnose it.
“Communication is important. Just knowing what other people have come through is encouraging. It’s excellent to see there is an ME awareness month and that it is coming back into the light now.”
