Treat fatigue syndrome - experts
Thursday February 11th, 2010
People with chronic fatigue syndrome - also known as ME - should be given treatment and can be helped, experts said today.
Exercise therapy and treatment for depression can all help get people back on their feet, doctors said.
The
experts at King's College, London, UK, spoke out after a woman was acquitted
by a British court of trying to kill her bed-ridden daughter, who had
a severe form of the disease.
The condition, often called ME or myalgic encephalomyelitis, has been controversial over the years as no single cause has ever been found.
Some doctors have regarded it as a form of depression whilst researchers have occasionally reported links to viral infections.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dr Alastair Santhouse warns that refusal to treat the condition can have "disastrous effects", leading to patients to declare that doctors have given them up as "hopeless".
He says the media image of the disease is as "progressive, paralysing and commonly fatal" - although in fact there are "uncertainties and controversies" around the diagnosis and that the most serious cases are "fortunately unusual".
Dr Santhouse says sometimes patients can experience "dramatic recovery" and can improve through the recommended treatments.
These include graded exercise therapy - introducing exercise gradually - and the talking treatment, cognitive behavioural therapy.
He writes: "We owe it to our patients and to our professionalism to do what we can to help those with this potentially treatable condition because, notwithstanding the difficulties, this is our primary duty."
British Medical Journal on-line February 11 2010
Tags: Fitness | General Health | UK News
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