ABSTRACT
Sometime around March 1995 I fell ill. I developed a pattern of wicked headaches, terrifying nightmares, and crushing fatigue, the kind where your chest hurts and you are so tired that you do not have the energy to breathe. In my workplace, I had endured a horrific year, filled with harassment from colleagues and a series of professional betrayals. I was finding it difficult to concentrate on reading, to remember friends’ phone numbers, and to keep my balance while walking. I thought that if I had some rest over the summer, I would improve. For years, I had been struggling with pain, and I thought I was just going through a ‘down’ period.
