Manchester author brings comfort and hope to ME-CFS sufferers

Like many ME-CFS sufferers, Brian Hopkinson’s battle with the condition hasn’t been an easy one.

As well as the physical challenges of this often misunderstood illness, the mental challenges have proved equally difficult. Met with insults and hostility, Brian has battled for decades to prove that this debilitating condition is not “all just in his head.”

The 71-year-old from Manchester has tirelessly campaigned for a better understanding of ME-CFS and its possible causes. Following years of reading, research and encouragement from fellow sufferers, Brian decided to put pen to paper and has written his first book on the subject. A Poisoned Life-A Nourished Soul, available on Amazon, documents Brian’s struggle with the disease from being a teenager, to finding new hope through his discovery of Reiki therapy.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling and complex illness. People with ME-CFS are often not able to do their usual activities, and at times they are confined to bed. Despite around 250,000 people suffering with ME-CFS in the UK, little is known about the condition and it’s often difficult to diagnose. There is currently no cure.

As Brian highlights in the book, he first started to notice that something wasn’t quite right when he was at school.

He said: “It’s been a gradual thing, but the first realisation that something wasn’t right was at school. I was great at soccer and cricket, but not very academic. One day my coordination just wasn’t right, I felt clumsy. I passed it off as just one of those things and it just didn’t improve so I got dropped from the soccer team. I was about 14 at the time and it was a real kick in the teeth.”

Brian also recalls periods of brain fog which he