This week is ME Awareness Week and a local sufferer is keen to promote the work of the Mid and West Wales ME Group.

Ruth Roberts, of Llanteg, has had ME for almost 10 years, since she was 40, and has been forced to use a mobility scooter for shopping trips etc.

"However, minor things can cause relapses and I have been virtually housebound after a dental injection a month ago," said Ruth.

"Added to which I also care for another ME sufferer who has been ill for three years. Far from being unique, I also have a friend living less than two miles away who also cares for a sufferer.

"However, as we are usually too ill to campaign on our own behalf, this illness is very much the 'poor relation' and does not receive either adequate funding for research or recognition."

The Mid and West Wales ME Group covers a large area, but due to a lack of volunteers there are no meetings held in Pembrokeshire.

Membership costs £5 a year and members get bi- monthly newsletters and also there is a large library of medical books that can be borrowed by post.

Meetings are due to be held in the Gwendraeth Day Centre, Pontiets, on June 10 and August 12 at 2 pm. Other meetings in Ceredigion are usually held in members' homes.

For more information, the Pembrokeshire contact is Huldah George and she can be contacted on 01239 613246. There is a Listening Ear service available by telephoning 01970 820788 (Sharonrose Ellis), while the chairman and membership secretary is Tony Thompson, tel. 01970 636515. Alternatively, visit midwalesmegroup.org.uk, while information can also be obtained from Action for ME (AFME.org.uk) or the M.E. Asssociation (ME Association.org.uk).

ABOUT 'ME'

Did you know that almost a quarter of a million people suffer from the debilitating illness of ME (sometimes also called Chronic Fatigue or Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome)?

There is no cure and no one treatment helps everyone, although patients have found that rest in the initial stages and energy management or pacing are the most helpful management approaches. This illness can come on gradually or suddenly (often after a viral illess).

However, as many people have to wait months (or years) for a firm diagnosis they often struggle on through the early stages after being told to 'carry on as normal' after all their tests come back negative. ME is only able to be diagnosed by a process of eliminating other illnesses first.

Patients can have a varied list of symptoms, but most of us suffer from the all consuming fatigue which can make us too weak to get out of bed.

It is important to find symptomatic relief (conventional or complementary) for sleep problems, pain, allergies, digestion problems etc. Some people recover after a few months, others more gradually while many do not.

Up to 25 per cent of patients are severely affected and it strikes all ages and social classes. It is also the cause of most long term absence of children from schools.

This is a forgotten and neglected illness with doctors only able to treat individual symptoms and not the illness as a whole. At present, Wales has no dedicated clinic for the management of ME and patients are often left to find out about their illness via books, the net or local support groups.

Sufferers are often forgotten - living their lives behind closed doors and spending most of their days resting, or sometimes bedridden and having to lie in darkened and slient rooms.

As patients are only seen out when they are having a 'good' day - often after having rested for weeks first, people assume that they are 'getting better' - whereas the truth is often that they afterwards have to suffer many days or weeks of pain after the exertion.