'I felt exhausted and lethargic for no reason but the answer was in my Irish genes'

"Ellen Troy, who suffered for years with lethargy and unexplained fatigue, recalls feeling exhausted for no reason."

"I had the symptoms of somebody who was very anaemic but I had a healthy colour. After eating a meal, I would suffer a slump and it was as if the plug was pulled out of me."

Ellen Troy suffered for years from persistent lethargy and unexplained fatigue. She is a Scottish-born biochemist living in Castleknock, Dublin. She frequently felt exhausted for no apparent reason and experienced daily energy slumps. Her appearance remained a healthy colour despite symptoms resembling severe anaemia. The episodes commonly followed meals, when she would suddenly lose energy and feel as if a plug had been pulled out of her. These prolonged, postprandial falls in energy significantly disrupted her normal functioning and reflected a mismatch between outward appearance and internal physiological distress.

Read at Independent