About Me

Hi my name is Jenny, this blog is where I write about my life living with the incurable illness M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Myalgic Encephalopathy*).  I have called the blog Jenny Helen, my spoonie life because I want the name to reflect the fact that my illness impacts all aspects of my life, and that as a result I will be writing about everything and anything.  It is also something that I will probably suffer from for the rest of my life.

The term spoonie is used by people with chronic illnesses as a way of identifying with one another, anyone who has a chronic illness can call themselves as a spoonie.  There is now a large community surrounding the term on places like twitter, instagram, tumbler and chat forums.  The word originated from the spoon theory, which is a way of explaining to non-ill people what it is like to have a chronic illness, read more about the spoon theory here.

*Also referred to as CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) by some people, and now SEID in the US (Systematic Exertion Intolerance Syndrome) read more about the naming issue here.


In order to give context to the blog, I think that it is a good idea to share a little bit about myself and the things that have brought me to where I am today.  Therefore here is a quick synopsis of my life.

I live in England, and grew up with an active lifestyle.  At some point in my mid teens I had glandular fever, we are not sure when exactly as I was only tested for it once I had started getting symptoms of M.E.  However it is thought that this is what caused the onset of my M.E. in 2007 when I was 15.  I then had to drop out of school, and about 8 months into my illness I begin tutoring to catch up on my GCSE's, after two years of hard work I left school with 5 GCSE's not including English.  I then went on to join sixth form college on a part-time timetable for three years where I obtained 3 A-levels 1 AS and GCSE english.  After a gap year to focus on my health I attended university to study biochemistry.  This is a testament to what you can do with very little qualifications and a lot of hard work!  Unfortunately I have recently had to drop out of university (in January 2015) due to the worsening of my condition, my M.E. had became too severe for me to continue.  I have not lost hope though, and plan to return at some point in the near future.  In the mean time it gives me more time to focus on my hobbies such as knitting, and to explore the local area.  I have enjoyed writing this blog and will continue to do so as long as I have things that I am interested in writing about.

I have written an overview of the illness here, I will continually update the blog with my knowledge of the illness, (and it's reputation in the in the media) by writing new posts.

Feel free to join me by subscribing to my bloglovin' for a list of my other social media links see here.

I hope that you enjoy reading this, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions!

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