I wonder if anyone has experienced something similar to me and would greatly appreciate any advice.

In November 2002 I had some sort of infection, a severe sore throat, then a very bad sinus infection which needed to be treated with antibiotics. I had no other flu/cold symptoms. I was signed off work for 2 weeks. The sore throat carried on for several weeks after and I felt unable to cope with my job (I work for a bank as a computer programmer) as I was very tired and also had anxiety attacks. I went to the doctor who did the usual blood tests (anaemia, TSH for thyroid, etc) which all came back negative. He referred me to a counsellor but refused to do any more tests.

Then early 2003 I noticed some burning chest pains. I had a barium x-ray which again did not show anything up, so it wasn't reflux but the specialist still prescribed some medication that stops the stomach producing stomach acid. This had absolutely no effect and I have pain to this day.

I gained 22 pounds last year, I don't overeat, in fact I have very little appetite, and I tried to exercise. I have a greyhound who needs 3 walks a day and a huge garden, so there is plenty of opportunity for me.

In October I started on the Schwarzbein Principle and hoped that my symptoms were related to eating too many carbs and possibly upsetting my hormones (I am 41). I did feel better for a while and had more energy but did not lose any weight. Then I started to get muscle spasms in my upper back and pains in my thighs, arms and shoulders. I have the odd feeling that my muscles don't want to take on any goodness, i.e. good food, exercise, and when I do exercise, they become weak and I don't feel good afterwards.

I can still do things like gardening and walking if it is on a straight surface but get bad muscle pain if I overdo it. By accident I came across the symptoms for Fibromyalgia of which I seem to have many but two chiropractors that I regularly see think I have ME (CFS) and one of them who tested several tender points said that the infection I had in 2002 damaged my muscles.

I used to be physically very strong and never had problems to lose weight, now I feel totally stuck and scared that I am going to stay this way. I am waiting for the results of my saliva adrenal hormone tests and hope they might reveal something and next month I am doing the female hormone tests. I still wish that I have something simple which can be sorted by a pill...

There are people here whose symptoms are a lot worse than mine but it would be so reassuring if I knew that others experience similar symptoms.

What do you think? (Sorry for such a long post)

Michaela