ME/CFS rep
For all of us with ME/CFS. For all of us with chronic illness. For all of us who wish to be seen and heard and loved and understood. I get you and you’re not alone.
I hope these books help heal a part of your heart, or that they teach you something valuable. Sending you love and vitality 💛
Pls note: Piranesi and Cinder House are (only) inspired by the authors’ experiences with ME, and some books don’t specify ME in a character but show the experience anyway.
created by moss-mylk
last updated July, 2026
Comments
Hey guys, i dont normally post stuff like this on here but i saw an instagram post/gofundme that broke my heart. Tw // for abuse mentions
A trans 21yo with severe ME (this means completely or partly bedbound) is being violently abused (several ways) by their caregiver.
They’re in the deep south. They need money for groceries and to escape. They cannot go to a shelter due to their health/care needs. They can only do a hotel. This is a beyond horrible situation. If anyone can donate money (whatever you can), please do. If you can even get in touch with this person/the gofundme organiser to offer further support or resources please do.
ME is soul crushing and physically debilitating. People can die from it. There is such little support for it. People who are bedbound can sometimes bot talkc not think, not be able to provess sound or touch. Might struggle to even sit. Might have wasted muscles and organs. Might need help being fed. Im heartbroken for rhis person. Please help
also commenting to help share it further!
Commenting to spread it more—If anyone has the means to donate or help, please do!!!
Hey guys, i dont normally post stuff like this on here but i saw an instagram post/gofundme that broke my heart. Tw // for abuse mentions
A trans 21yo with severe ME (this means completely or partly bedbound) is being violently abused (several ways) by their caregiver.
They’re in the deep south. They need money for groceries and to escape. They cannot go to a shelter due to their health/care needs. They can only do a hotel. This is a beyond horrible situation. If anyone can donate money (whatever you can), please do. If you can even get in touch with this person/the gofundme organiser to offer further support or resources please do.
ME is soul crushing and physically debilitating. People can die from it. There is such little support for it. People who are bedbound can sometimes bot talkc not think, not be able to provess sound or touch. Might struggle to even sit. Might have wasted muscles and organs. Might need help being fed. Im heartbroken for rhis person. Please help
also commenting to help share it further!
Commenting to spread it more—If anyone has the means to donate or help, please do!!!
Instant bookmark! Fabulous list my sweet Moss ❤️ going to see how many of these I can get from the library or KU
omg thank you so much for making this list!!! this chronic illness can be so lonely so seeing representation and lists like this is really nice🫂🩷
I totally totally get this. Thank you for commenting and it’s so nice to meet others with ME too, to know we are not alone 🫂
of course!! its always bittersweet finding more people with ME- it’s nice to know you’re not alone but just so sad that we’re all going through this. If you ever wanna talk, just let me know🫂🫂🫂🫂
There's a book that just came out where both main characters suffer from chronic pain called It's All in Your Head by Sabina Nordqvist. I have an inkling it's going to be a series and the next book is going to have a MC with ME/CFS (she's one of the side characters in this book and the book sets up for her happily ever after toooo)
Oooooh good to know!!! Thank u. How much does the one currently out portray ME? I may add that one anyway
Thank you. Grief catapulted me in chronic fatigue and freeze for years. I’m only now in the past year or so starting to really work my way out. I appreciate this list!
Big big hug and sending u all the vitality and healing! If you have any tips for recovery, id love to know 💛 i suspect mine has combo root of viral and trauma
Thank you so much. Omg I typed a whole thing and accidentally swiped away. Frickin mercury retrograde. I did a mix of grief and CBT therapy, lots of crying, praying, letting the fatigue take me. Ancestral veneration, Zoloft. Yoga, meditation. Doing the ever looming “it “ tired anyway. Mothering, which helped most days. I used the finch app which helped me commit to the mundane things like chores, and stepping outside. You know… “The work “ . And repeat. It was very very hard. It still is sometimes. Healing hurts.
Not ignoring. Spoons. Thank u sm for writing this all out for me <3 i will reply
Oh please don’t worry! I always expect for replies to die off eventually or we’d all keep talking forever ever. It’s okay 🤗
This popped up in my feed right after I just found out that POTS has been causing my debilitating exhaustion attacks, and that there's not a whole lot I can do to make it better. This is such a cool list that I will definitely be keeping an eye on. Thank you for making it. It feels like a little hug, if that makes sense.
Oh big hug and im so sorry. I hope you find everything you need and more. I know One For All and Take Down the Prince are both POTS rep!
I'll definitely check those out! Thank you!
Realised i meant *Down with the Prince - sorry!
Yayyy we love to see it! (The list, not the chronic illness.) I have little to no scientific evidence to back this up but I swear to god my 2-year CFS was some kind of prodrome for my migraines, which started suddenly right around the same time the CFS symptoms almost completely went away, except as associated migraine symptoms. An incredibly zero-sum trade if you ask me lol. I'm just saying this to illustrate how much we still have to learn about both conditions, and books -- fiction and nonfiction -- have such an important role in advancing our understanding. The more these topics become part of our societal conversation, the closer we come to adequately characterizing and treating our conditions.
Thank you for sharing <33 would u like the be ijna chronic illness discord?
Hooooow have I not come across this until now? (Actually I guess if I'm honest, it didn't even occur to me to search lists for something ME specific! We so rarely are there)
Thank you! 🫡
You might check out Survival Kit by AH Haga. Written by someone with ME, it's the story of a woman with Severe ME surviving a zombie apoc with her wife. The rep is beautiful!
Thank you for this!!!
You’re so welcome! 💛🥰🌾 may i ask if u have cfs? /neu
I was diagnosed with CFS about 6 years ago, and CRPS about 3 years ago. It’s really nice to see some lists like this 🤎
💛🤍 i have CFS too. It’s nice to meet other people who get it. Id love to be buds?
i haven't read these yet: but here are some other me/cfs books from my own chronic illness collection: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating - Elisabeth Tova Bailey and The State of Me - Nasim Marie Jafry
Thank u so much!!!! And i dint know the snail one was ME rep 🥹🥹🥹 it’s in my tbr!
thank you mossy, i love this!
Thank YOU notlizlemon 💛 remind me (if u comfy) - u experience chronic fatigue as part of another chronic illness, right?
yeah my experience is a little tricky, I was at one point diagnosed with CFS when I was in my early 20s, but later doctors have said that the diagnosis would be kind of redundant since I also have Hashimoto's thyroiditis (hypo), sleep apnea, depression, and ADHD, which all probably are implicated in my weird fatigue/insomnia cycles
Sending u love and vitality always 💛💛
