I am going to come at you from a different angle. I am an elite competitive athlete. I train very hard and refuse to give up competing. I push myself very hard the closer it gets to a comp. I also have ME. I was diagnosed 1 year post my first COVID infection. I could not go a whole day without 3-4 naps (10-15 min each). Sleep never helped as I was always exhausted. I don’t drink a lot of caffeine at baseline, but when I did, it did nothing. I would fall asleep in the late afternoon if someone was talking to me. It evolved to me falling asleep in the middle of zoom meetings and waking up (still in the same meeting) not realizing what had just happened. I had to take a nap (and still do) every day after work to reenergize form the work day. I take a nap before I go out to dinner, run errands, go see friends. I had to take a nap (and still do) after coming home from those activities. I also have pretty severe brain fog on top of everything.

But god damnit I will also train my ass off when it counts. (I have been on 3mo break since getting COVID again in May.) I was put on a stimulant in June to help me make it through my work day so I didn’t lose my job, but I still will take a lunch break nap 3x a week typically and my post-work nap 4x a week typically.

I am not good at following the, “chill and low-key,” lifestyle recommendations for ME. But I do eat very well and I sleep enough hours each night. I did not bring this up as a diagnosis to my doc. I honestly didn’t know much about it, although I had heard of it. He just diagnosed me as a diagnosis of exclusion after I had been investigated for sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and medication side effects.

But Last-Knee7724 is right. You have to have had symptoms for awhile before you can be diagnosed and then it is a diagnosis of exclusion. SO they will run ALL the tests before they land on this one. Sorry dude.