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MANSFIELD -- Meaghan Peterson woke up one day in 1998 and was suddenly beset by shortness of breath and extreme, debilitating fatigue.

After months of extensive tests and a number of frightening misdiagnoses, it was determined that she had chronic fatigue syndrome, a medical condition which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently estimates affects more than 1 million Americans, of which only 20 percent have been diagnosed.

It was Peterson's painful maze to being properly diagnosed, her ambition to make people more aware of the affliction and offering hope to those who suffer from it which led to her involvement in a traveling photo exhibit titled "The Faces of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" which will be at the Boston Public Library July 16 to 23.

Her photo, taken together with her husband Scot and daughter Kelly, 3, is just one of the portraits and stories of CFS patients, family members and health care professionals included in the show, described as the first nationwide education and awareness campaign for CFS in the United States. The exhibit is sponsored by the CDC and the Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) Association of America.

It was especially important to Peterson, who has just turned 34 and is pregnant, that the photograph in the exhibit include her husband and daughter. "It portrayed my family side," said the Mansfield resident. "I wanted that out there because that was a fear of mine" - that she would not be able to have a family because of the medications that had commonly been used for treatment of CFS.

"I'm a wife, a mother" and while it took a long time, back working, though part-time, and getting her master's degree - all since the diagnosis of the affliction which she said changed her life forever and which she still copes with on a day-to-day basis, but that she has learned how to manage and live better over the years.

Peterson said the onset of conditions in her case was different from the norm for CFS patients in that they were sudden. Typically it's a gradual process, she said.

"I just woke up one day with crazy symptoms" which also included "a general pain," she said.

CFS is typically characterized by at least 6 months of "profound, incapacitating fatigue and postexertional malaise - a worsening of symptoms following physical or mental activity," according to the non-profit CFIDS Association. Other symptoms include impaired memory or concentration, sleep problems, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, a recurrent sore throat and tender lymph nodes.

The specific cause of the illness is not known. Some characteristics of the affliction, according to the CDC, is that while it can affect all ages, it most commonly occurs in people ages 40 to 59, and four times more frequently in women than in men.

It is less common in children than adults, but in that group, more prevalent in adolescents than in children under age 12.

CFS is sometimes seen in members of the same family, but there is no evidence that it is contagious. There may be a familial predisposition or a genetic link, but further research is needed, according to the CDC.

The illness follows a random course, with the patient alternating between periods of illness and relative well-being. The nature and level of symptoms can also change over time.

Some patients recover completely with time, others improve to a point where they can resume work and other activities, but continue to experience periodic CFS symptoms. Yet others get worse, according to the CDC which has conducted studies that found 40 to 60 percent of people with CFS report partial or total recovery. Treatments vary and are patient specific. Peterson said when she was first sick, she took medications "just to get by."

But she said she wanted to start a family and could not do that while on the medications she was taking. She started, and continues with, acupuncture once a week and is no longer taking the medications.

She said there are a range of treatments and that patients should be encouraged to find a therapy that works for them - whether medical or through alternative methods. Peterson is also confident that as more people and health care providers become aware of and are educated about the illness, people with CFS - unlike her experience where she was initially diagnosed with some terminal illnesses - will be diagnosed in a more timely manner, which according to the CDC could play an important role in improving the outcome for patients. There is more information about CFS now than there was when she was diagnosed, she said. "Now people don't have to go through all that necessarily. There is more known, more information and more hope."

Peterson herself has helped to lobby for the CFIDS Association, awareness and research, in Washington, D.C. after she became a member.

"It's changed my life because it dictates my life," said Peterson, who had to leave her full-time job as an administrative assistant in a Boston investment firm after the onslaught of symptoms of CFS. She now works part-time as an elementary school teacher.

Now, scheduling anything, she said, depends on how she feels at the time. And she's learned very well how to prioritize.

"It's a constant balance; a very delicate balance."

Yet she finds herself now at "the more functioning end of the spectrum." Peterson said working every day "helps me with the cognitive issues" she's had to deal with as a result of CFS. She's gotten an "unbelievable" amount of support from her husband and family and notes that it's not just her that lives with the symptoms of the illness, but also her family.

She still suffers from bouts of debilitating fatigue, has neurological issues, low blood pressure and problems sleeping.

But, Peterson emphasizes, as important as it is to her to make people aware of the condition, is to offer those who suffer from it hope that they can lead a productive, normal life.

And part of the proof is in the portrait, she said.

Susan lahoud can be reached at 508-236-0398 or slahoud@thesunchronicle.com.