Five years after representing Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics, former sprinter Beth Dobbin now spends more than 22 hours a day in bed, as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a chronic and debilitating illness, has dramatically changed her life.
The 32-year-old athlete is speaking publicly about her condition to raise awareness, despite fears that the physical and mental demands of an interview could worsen her symptoms for months.
Dobbin said even routine activities, such as attending a blood test, had previously left her confined to bed for extended periods.
“I’ve done little things like attend a blood test at the doctors and been in bed for months after. So doing this interview, chatting away for 30 minutes, that could have an impact on me in 2027,” she said.
“But I felt like it was really important to do that to get the message out.”
She now leaves her bed mainly to eat or use the bathroom and has managed to leave her home on only five occasions this year.
Describing the impact of the illness, Dobbin said she had lost much of the life she once knew, including her independence, ability to work and capacity to exercise.
“It’s life-decimating like I can’t even put into words. I feel like I’ve lost everything,” she said.
“I have still got my family, but I’ve lost my independence, my health, the ability to work, the ability to exercise.”
ME, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), is a long-term condition associated with profound fatigue, sleep disturbances, pain and difficulties with concentration and memory.
One of its defining features is post-exertional malaise, in which physical, cognitive or emotional activity can trigger a worsening of symptoms. The deterioration may begin after the activity and last for days or, in severe cases, much longer.
For people with severe ME, ordinary experiences such as conversation, bright lights or loud sounds can become difficult to tolerate.
Dobbin’s illness began after back-to-back infections with COVID-19 and glandular fever during the winter of 2021-22. She said she had not realised she had contracted either infection until retrospective tests revealed the results.
Initially, the signs appeared relatively minor. She was sleeping more than usual and recording slightly slower running times, but nothing immediately suggested the scale of the health problems that would follow.
She later developed soreness around the glands in her neck and armpits and a persistent feeling that something was wrong.
Doctors working with British Athletics conducted tests but were unable to establish the cause of her symptoms. Believing she might still be recovering from glandular fever, she continued training and competing.
Despite her deteriorating health, Dobbin qualified for the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships in 2022, a particularly demanding season as international athletics schedules were compressed following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, her condition continued to worsen as the competitions progressed.
At the World Championships, she struggled with a painful throat and experienced unusual disruptions to her sleep. By the Commonwealth Games, she was becoming dizzy while running and experiencing more soreness than usual.
The situation reached a distressing point at the European Championships, where she false-started after losing sensation in her legs while in the starting blocks.
Following the race, she described the experience as her “year of hell” in an emotional interview with BBC Sport.
What had appeared to be a temporary decline in the performance of an elite athlete was part of a much deeper health crisis that would ultimately take her away from competitive sport and severely restrict her everyday life.
For Dobbin, however, the consequences have become impossible to ignore. The athlete who once trained and competed at the highest level now has to weigh even a short conversation against the possibility of a prolonged deterioration in her health.
Despite those risks, she believes sharing her experience is important enough to warrant the effort.
