Yuppie flu campaigners fight 'mental illness' label

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Source: Daily MailDate: November 15, 2007URL:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?

in_article_id=494200 & in_page_id=1770 Yuppie flu campaigners

fight 'mental illness' label

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'Yuppie flu' campaigners are going to court to try to force the

Government'shealth watchdog to stop defining it as a psychiatric

illness. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence

(Nice) could have to rewrite its new guidelines on chronic fatigue

syndrome, also known as ME. A pressure group is taking High Court

action in what is understood to be the first case of its kind. The

One Click Group, which has 8,000 online supporters worldwide, is

challenging Nice's treatment advice on the groundsthat it labels

sufferers as mentally ill. Nice told doctors in August this year

that they should prescribe psychologicaltherapy and " graded "

exercise for ME patients. But Jane , director ofOne Click,

said Nice ignored studies that show ME is a recognised

medicalcondition and not a psychiatric illness. Ms 's son Ben,

13, wasdiagnosed with a form of ME six years ago. The former public

relations manager from London said: " This is going to be a

against Goliath case. The guidelines have excluded the majority of

the medical evidence which proves that ME is a physical not a

psychological illness. They (Nice) haven't listened to the

patients. " ME is estimated to affect a quarter of a million people

in Britain, especially children. Symptoms include poor quality

sleep, headaches and bouts of infections. The Medical Research

Council (MRC) is carrying out two large clinical trails into the

effectiveness of treatments at a cost of 2.5 million pounds. The

medical profession is fiercely divided over the exact cause.

Someexperts are sceptical that ME is a specific illness and say the

symptoms are caused by mental health problems. Others say that it is

caused by a virus and that the type of exercise recommended by Nice

can even make the illness worse. It is understood to be the first

time that Nice has faced court action over its own health guidance.

Earlier this year, drug companies lost a case against Nice over its

refusal to fund lifesaving dementia drugs. The One Click Group is

being represented by Saunders solicitors which is expected to lodge

court papers next Wednesday for the judicial review. Dr

Sheppard of the ME Association said: " The Nice guideline is

seriously flawed because they take a 'one size fits all' approach to

an illness which manifests itself in many different ways. There is

no evidence that sufferers do benefit from psychological therapies. "

Dr Neil Abbot from ME Research UK said: 'There is undue emphasis in

the final Nice guideline on psycho-social strategies.'