• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

BBC1 tonight — Doctor in the House, featuring "chronic fatigue"

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Oh, dear. Just found this in Radio Times for a programme on BBC1 tonight (9pm 22nd May:

Doctor in the House

This series has a way of delivering more than you expect. Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s ability to delve into the deeper issues behind people’s problems can make for astonishing results.

When seemingly fit and healthy James from Lincolnshire says, “Every day of my life for the last 20 years has felt like wading through treacle,” he seems unfixable. At 36 he has chronic fatigue, a constant exhaustion that nobody has been able to explain. And neither can Dr R to start with, until he stumbles on a solution that is life-changingly simple.

Remains to be seen if the programme is as wide of the mark as that write-up, but it sounds like we're going to be conflating chronic fatigue with ME/CFS. Again.

Link to Radio Times article: http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/fpy7s2/doctor-in-the-house--series-2-episode-2
 
Last edited:

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Interestingly, two of the newspapers carry previews that are rather better phrased:

Guardian:
Doctor in the House
9pm, BBC1

Dr Rangan visits two more households hampered by health concerns, to offer detailed diagnoses that a standard GP appointment might miss. Firstly, to assist Wirral-based Emma, a victim of crippling panic attacks that she attempts to dampen via antidepressants, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and sugary foods. Then the doctor meets James, an outwardly healthy thirtysomething suffering from debilitating exhaustion issues. Mark Gibbings-Jones

The Times:
Doctor in the House
BBC One, 9pmDr Rangan Chatterjee, who reaches the places that other doctors can’t, has two complex house visits on his hands this evening. Luckily for him, he has two months to help his patients — try funding that on the NHS. First up is Emma, who has suffered from extreme anxiety and terrifying panic attacks for 15 years — might her diet of takeaways and booze be the cause? Chatterjee also visits James, a perfectly fit and healthy thirtysomething dogged by exhaustion and insomnia. “I can’t get doctors to listen,” he says, “and if you can’t get doctors to listen, no one else will listen.” Chatterjee to the rescue.

So it may just be the Radio Times writer who put his own "chronic fatigue" interpretation on things. We'll have to wait and see.


 

SamanthaJ

Senior Member
Messages
219
Looking forward to the solution that is 'life-changingly simple'! You have to brace yourself for BBC coverage, don't you? Reading between the lines, I wonder if he'll end up with a different diagnosis. The bit about not getting doctors to listen rings true, obviously.
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Looking forward to the solution that is 'life-changingly simple'! You have to brace yourself for BBC coverage, don't you? Reading between the lines, I wonder if he'll end up with a different diagnosis. The bit about not getting doctors to listen rings true, obviously.

Yep to all that. I'm hoping that the programme itself will avoid conflating this guy's exhaustion and sleep problems with ME/CFS. And if the doc finds a solution for someone with those problems, that's great, and it may help other people with similar problems. I just hope it's made clear that the guy doesn't have ME — else all of us in the UK will be getting phone calls tomorrow from helpful relatives saying "Turns out all you have to do is ... "
 

Skippa

Anti-BS
Messages
841
Uh oh, will NOT be watching, I guess it will be very triggering.

Waiting for the solution to be exercise. And CBT to reinforce it. "Life-changingly simple". Oh dear.
 

Hilary

Senior Member
Messages
190
Location
UK
I've been half watching it and as far as I've noticed ME hasn't been mentioned (although I didn't watch right from the beginning so I may have missed significant stuff). They just focused on his fatigue, insomnia and night sweats. There was some attention paid to difficulties he had faced earlier in life (homelessness I think was mentioned) and resulting anxiety, but they also did blood tests and found an unusually high level of homocysteine -and I didn't notice any serious attempt to dismiss his problems as psychological. He was given a combined supplement with B12 and folate (and I don't know what else) and the homocysteine level dropped dramatically and bingo - he recovered.
Sorry to be a bit vague - trying to do two things at once.. Open to correction if someone else has been paying attention better than me..
 

MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
I've been half watching it and as far as I've noticed ME hasn't been mentioned (although I didn't watch right from the beginning so I may have missed significant stuff). They just focused on his fatigue, insomnia and night sweats. There was some attention paid to difficulties he had faced earlier in life (homelessness I think was mentioned) and resulting anxiety, but they also did blood tests and found an unusually high level of homocysteine -and I didn't notice any serious attempt to dismiss his problems as psychological. He was given a combined supplement with B12 and folate (and I don't know what else) and the homocysteine level dropped dramatically and bingo - he recovered.
Sorry to be a bit vague - trying to do two things at once.. Open to correction if someone else has been paying attention better than me..
I watched pretty intently, and it was indeed his homocysteine that needed a very high level of supplementation, after which he was sleeping well and functioning well. There are quite a few threads on homocysteine here, but I'm not sure whether I'm susceptible to low levels. It could be that different people are short of different things.
 
Messages
1,478
I watched it as well. There was no mention of ME and very little mention of chronic fatigue. In fact they had quite a bit of coverage of him at the gym. His main symptoms were not sleeping well and night sweats. It also did highlight the fact that GPs can't deal with complex conditions very well.

They indicated at the end that his presumably dysfunctional methylation (they just said metabolic pathway) was a result of a genetic predisposition. His homocysteine levels were over 30 before supplementation and ended up being 7 after oral supplementation with b12 b6 and folate.

If only everything were that simple to treat.
 

KME

Messages
91
Location
Ireland
I too missed the beginning but in the portion I saw there was no mention of ME or CFS, only of "exhaustion" and "chronic fatigue". As others said homocysteine seemed to be the key. His was apparently very elevated at 34.something. He had had what he was told was a mini-stroke or TIA at age 20 or so. The doctor then spoke about checking him for a genetic pathway that might be working slower, but did not say which pathway it was. He put him on this supplement: NT Factor Advanced Physician's Formula with B Vitamin Complex https://www.nutri-link.co.uk/shop/nt-factor-advanced-physicians-w-b-vit-complex-x-150-tablets.html The doctor described it as B12, B6 and folate but there are a good few more things in it. The guy helpfully held it up to the camera so you could see the full name. He had a very good and very fast response to it in terms of improvement in energy, which surprised the doctor. Repeat blood tests showed his homocysteine had gone back down to 7.
 

wastwater

Senior Member
Messages
1,271
Location
uk
I saw this per chance but turned off when they started mentioning sleep apnea but a friend who watched the whole thing thought it was rather good
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
So, turns out it was good. That doc is interesting — very strong emphasis on food and the gut, and very willing to use supplements to address problems there.

While this wasn't about me/cfs, the guy did have a condition that might easily be confused for it in the current climate (witness the Radio Times' "chronic fatigue"). He would presumably have met the junk Oxford criteria so could have ended up with an ME diagnosis — his first stroke of luck was that he didn't, his second was getting on this programme with a doctor willing to spend real time understanding his condition.

Quite thought provoking stuff, really.
 
Messages
1,478
To me it just confirms that calling any disease by a generic symptom is always going to cause confusion. It's akin to saying "headache syndrome". No wonder there is an apathy by GPs to get the diagnosis right when they have 5-10 minutes. We need a biomarker!

The pernicious anemia society have picked up on this program as well and are discussing the show on their forum. Funny how many of us have the same experience of incorrect diagnosis and treatment by GPs.
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Does anyone know if it is possible to get an appointment with this Doctor?

Yes, he sees patients privately in Manchester as well as being a GP for the NHS.

His website is here: https://drchatterjee.com/clinic/

Presumably his NHS consultations are 10 minutes long, his private ones an hour or two. Not that we have a two-tier health service, oh no sir-ee ;-)

From his website:

He investigates and treats a wide range of conditions including diabetes, skin problems, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, stress management, insomnia, autoimmune conditions, digestive problems as well as food intolerances.

He also has a passion for preventive medicine and optimising one’s health span.

He has a keen interest in the health of the gut microbiome and his BSc Honours Degree in Immunology helps him navigate this complex and exciting new field.
 
Last edited:
@Jo Best
Yes, he sees patients privately in Manchester as well as being a GP for the NHS.

His website is here: https://drchatterjee.com/clinic/

Presumably his NHS consultations are 10 minutes long, his private ones an hour or two. Not that we have a two-tier health service, oh no sir-ee ;-)

From his website:
As his website says
He investigates and treats a wide range of conditions including diabetes, skin problems, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, stress management, insomnia, autoimmune conditions, digestive problems as well as food intolerances.

He also has a passion for preventive medicine and optimising one’s health span.

He has a keen interest in the health of the gut microbiome and his BSc Honours Degree in Immunology helps him navigate this complex and exciting new field.
Perhaps making him aware of the developments that IiME are involved with in this area is worthwhile?
 
Messages
1,478
Anyone ever had their homocysteine levels checked?
No ... But I had already ear marked it for my next GP visit (which I have been putting off for ages since the advent of MUS). In the UK, it isn't a standard test (similarly for MMA), but they can send it off to specialist labaratories which makes it expensive. I'm building a case at the moment, although I am not confident that he will agree.