ME & CFS: Thousands suffer from condition

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Thousands suffer from condition

Monday, June 11, 2012

Leicester Mercury Follow

Dr Trevor Friedman is a consultant liaison psychiatrist with the

Leicestershire chronic fatigue syndrome team.

It comes under the umbrella of the Leicestershire Partnership NHS

Trust, which runs mental and community health services.

He estimates that thousands of people in Leicestershire are affected

by ME or chronic fatigue syndrome to varying degrees and many will get

better.

Dr Friedman said: " One of the problems patients have often had is that

people say 'it's all in your head', but it is a real illness.

" There has been a bit of research into the management of the condition

and one of the most effective treatments has found to be cognitive

behaviour therapy, in which our team has the medical and nursing

expertise. "

The cause of illness is not fully understood, but it can affect people

who have had viral illness which has cleared but they are left with

chronic fatigue.

It is also thought that in some people, especially those who are very

active, there can be a " software " error in the messages sent from the

body to brain, and cognitive behaviour therapy helps to " re-programme "

this.

Dr Friedman said: " There is a varying degree in how confident doctors

are in managing the condition.

" Some are unaware there are expert services available and consequently

there are some patients who struggle for a long time before they get

help. They can always ask their GP for a referral to a specialist. "