The fight against Me/CFS: Bettina's shocking story from Hard

The fight against Me/CFS: Bettina's shocking story from Hard

Hard, Österreich - in Vorarlberg, Bettina Todorovic suffers from the extremely stressful disease Myalgian encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which is often triggered by viral diseases such as Covid-19. Your everyday life has been severely restricted for more than a year, even the simplest actions such as showers or brushing your teeth are an enormous challenge for the 48-year-old. "It feels like I was caught in a cage," Bettina describes her reality of life. The symptoms of ME/CFS significantly weaken the quality of life and make them almost completely dependent on help. Despite the serious impairments, she regularly visits doctors, which exceeds her strength and requires a day-long recovery, as she describes in an interview with

Bettina fell ill with Covid-19 and found that her performance has dropped drastically. "After work, I was so tired that I preferred to sleep than eat," she explains. It is frustrating that their applications for rehabilitation and care allowance have been rejected, and many people, also in authorities, have difficulty understanding the seriousness of their illness. "We feel abandoned," said her husband Nenad, emphasizing that there are no sufficient support offers for ME/CFS patients in Vorarlberg. He demands more research and attention for this disease so that those affected finally get the recognition and help they need.

In another context, the well -known moderator Bettina Tietjen addressed her father's dementia in her book "Laughing" and found that such diseases are often proven with stigmatization and lack of education. Her book describes both the difficult moments and the moments of laughter she experienced with her father. "There are many fears of contact because relatives often try to master the situation in their own four walls," says Tietjen in an interview with Kielerleben . She hopes that her work, which represents a homage to her father, is both informative and encouraging for those affected and relatives.