Filmmaker Kim A. Snyder has suffered for five years from the affliction that was first called "The Yuppie Flu" and has been officially labeled Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control. Nearly 500,000 people have been known to have this affliction, yet many doctors refuse to diagnose it. Over the years, those who have experienced symptoms of the disease — everything from severe pain to complete paralysis — have been characterized as hypochondriacs or lazy.
This well-made documentary charts Snyder's exploration of CFS. At one point, she refers to it as "rotting from the inside out." The filmmaker visits the Lake Tahoe area where the flu-like sickness was originally discovered in 1988. Many of the original victims have not recovered. Snyder also interviews film director Blake Edwards, who has had CFS for 15 years; World Cup soccer star Michelle Akers, whose career was jeopardized by the illness; a woman whose CFS-afflicted sister committed suicide; and Stephen Paganetti, a bedridden Connecticut youth who heroically attended his high-school graduation on a gurney.
Although more women are suffering from this mysterious malady now than have breast cancer, the medical establishment has not taken CFS seriously nor devoted needed research time and money to it. Both the cause and the cure remain unknown, a mystery. I Remember Me is to be commended for its passionate overview of the troubling illness.
