STRESS and ME/CFS
Regarding stress and ME/CFS, there are (in my opinion) two important points:
1 Chronic stress can disrupt the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and cortisol production from the adrenal glands. So when a significant acute stressor then appears - eg an infection - a past history of chronic stress could well be creating fertile ground for an infection to trigger ME/CFS
2 In addition, once ME/CFS has occurred, any form of on-going chronic stress - relating to problems with doctors, family, benefits, finances etc - is probably going to have a negative impact on any possible recovery proces in ME/CFS
The role of stress and immune system stressors - acute and chronic - on the body cannot therefore be ignored in ME/CFS.
And where present, these factors do need to be addressed in the overall management of ME/CFS
In addition:
1 We have an MEA information leaflet covering all aspects of stress and ME/CFS - from the MEA online shop:
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/shop/management-leaflets/coping-with-stress/
2 There is further information on stress and ME/CFS in both the MEA purple book and the CMO Working Group Report on ME/CFS - the latter can be downloaded from the document archive section on the MEA website:
www.meassociation.org.uk
3 I also cover stress (and legal cases involving stress) in 'Living with ME' (my Vermilion paperback) - which can be obtained free from any UK public library
Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, MEA