ME can be debilitating

It is thought there are some 200 people with Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

A support group is being set up by Michelle Yuill and Natalie Boyte, who have both had it for many years.

ME is difficult to diagnose because it has a wide range of symptoms and can affect people of any age at any time in different ways.

Raising awareness

Michelle Yuill and Natalie Boyte cannot work as a result of their conditions. They have to take medication to boost their immune systems.

They have now set up a support group and are asking more people with to come forward so they can support one another whilst raise awareness of the illness.

The women are also want somewhere in the island for severe sufferers of the condition, who cannot be cared for at home to be looked after.

They say this needs to be different to a nursing or care home with set agendas such as eating times because people with ME need to rest so much.

ME has only been recognised by doctors in recent years, after originally being dismissed as "yuppie flu".

The first symptoms are, in fact, often similar to flu, but they do not go away and, in many cases, may become worse.

Some people have such severe symptoms that they are confined to bed while others only suffer fatigue when they come up against stressful situations.