British NHS categorise CFS as MUS (Psych)!

[Research 1st]

Saw this and was rather alarmed at the brazen denial of ME, via CFS, via Psych MUS..

Note the URL, is Somatization.

Many people suffering from medically unexplained symptoms such as exhaustion (fatigue), pain and heart palpitations also have depressionor anxiety disorders. Treating an associated psychological problem can often relieve the physical symptoms.

For others, the symptoms may be part of a poorly understood syndrome, such as:

• chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) – also known as ME, which causes persistent fatigue
• irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – a common condition affecting the digestive system, which can cause stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and/or constipation
• fibromyalgia – which causes pain all over the body

A psychological or life problem may play a role in these syndromes as well – for example, IBS symptoms can be brought on by stress in some people, and managing the stress can help to relieve the symptoms. However, there may be other triggers (for example, IBS and CFS can occur after infections).

Source: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/medically-unexplained-symptoms/pages/somatisation.aspx

More on MUS:

Will I get better?
Most people who see a doctor with bodily symptoms that are not due to physical illness are helped by talking about how their symptoms are caused and what they can do to help themselves.


Some people have symptoms for a long time, especially in the following circumstances:

• if they are under a lot of long-term stress;
• if they have had a lot of medical appointments and investigations. It is not always easy to understand that there may not be a single physical cause for the symptoms if doctors have spent a long time looking for a physical illness.

Even if you have had symptoms for a long time, there is much that can be done to help you live a better life and to avoid unnecessary treatments or investigations.
Source: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/medicallyunexplainedsymptoms.aspx

Look at the Criteria for British CFS used by psychiatrists!!!!

Eligibility criteria
Eligibility

• 18+
• Male or female
• Long lasting physical or mental fatigue which has not responded to usual treatment (three months or more)
• Profound disability where the fatigue symptoms are impacting on all areas of the person’s life
• People who frequently attend the GP surgery and are not responding to usual reassurance and advice
• Disturbed sleep pattern, e.g. the person is sleeping during the day or unable to get to sleep at night and has not responded to the
  usual treatment
  
  Source: http://www.national.slam.nhs.uk/services/adult-services/chronicfatigue/eligibility-criteria-2/

Clearly the above is not a disease, but made it into the PACE trial, and is likely studied as 'ME' as part of the UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative, in which Dr Holgate (MRC) asked Wessely (Psych) to select researchers for the 'Research Collaborative'.

Worrying times.

 

[SilverbladeTE]

British establishment at its finest...
why be surprised?

Like, leading WMD specialist testifies Saddam had no biological weapons...and lo and behold he's dead two days later and it's ruled a "suicide", despite all the evidence to the contrary

Like the Scottish ex-military SNP activist/politician, who somehow managed to shoot himself in the back of the head with a pistol and after that throw the gun 60 feet behind the car from a window open only 2 inches, oddly he had a dossier on the paedophiles in government and was going to expose them...dossier went missing..."suicide".

Go read up on the crap the media doesn't tell you about the Lockerbie Bombing, or Thomas Hamilton's mass murder of school kids

ie, British system LIES by routine, we're just one of the many casualty groups.
They have "plug n' play" pundits they can trot out to bullshit over any issue

.
Only answer is complete eradication of the British system, it is too sick, evil and twisted to fix.

 

[Hip]

Saw this and was rather alarmed at the brazen denial of ME, via CFS, via Psych MUS..

I think you misunderstood what you read. There is no "denial of ME" on the page you quoted.

Medically unexplained symptoms are synonymous with functional disorders.

 

[Valentijn]

I think you misunderstood what you read. There is no "denial of ME" on the page you quoted.

Medically unexplained symptoms are synonymous with functional disorders.

The page repeatedly conflates "unexplained" with "psychological".

 

[msf]

I would like to be shocked, but unfortunately I have had first hand experience of how the NHS deals with ME.

 

[msf]

How exactly do psychological issues cause IBS? I was under the impression that the gut is regulated by the autonomous nervous system. Or is this another of those cases where actually knowing something gets in the way of a good theory?

 

[alex3619]

The page repeatedly conflates "unexplained" with "psychological".

i.e. the fallacious psychogenic inference. See Sykes.

 

[Undisclosed]

What a load of crap. You can rate the page at the end of the page. I gave it a one because there was nothing lower.

 

[elliepeabody]

Just had a look and the leaflet appears to have been changed to remove CFS:

Is there a diagnosis for my symptoms?
We can give a name or a “diagnosis” for symptoms when:

• they occur together in a particular pattern in many people, or
• when they share a similar cause.

Diagnoses for certain patterns of medically unexplained symptoms include:

• Irritable bowel syndrome – troubling stomach symptoms
• Fibromyalgia – widespread bodily pain and tenderness
• Non-epileptic attack disorder – in epilepsy, fits are caused by problems with the electrical activity of the brain. In non-epileptic attack disorder, someone has fits that look like epileptic fits, but the electrical activity of the brain is normal.

 

[SilverbladeTE]

What a load of crap. You can rate the page at the end of the page. I gave it a one because there was nothing lower.

Really needs a negative rating of:
"Load of numpty f'ing bollocks dreamt up by a bunch inbred hamster shaggers who got their medical licences from Lucky Bags!"


(For those unfamiliar, "Lucky bags" were bags of sweets/candies with cheap toys/treats we used to get here in Britain. It was random what you got.)

 

[Hip]

The page repeatedly conflates "unexplained" with "psychological".

Can you point out where they are actually conflating "MUS" with "psychological".

By definition, a functional disorder / MUS is one where no physical cause has so far been found for physical symptoms, and the assumption is that a functional disorder may be due to as yet undiscovered physical factors, or may be due to mental factors.

So a functional disorder / MUS is a sort of diplomatic label that accommodates both sides — it accommodates the people who think physical factors likely cause the functional disorder, and it accommodates the people who think mental factors likely cause the functional disorder.

So if you call a disease like ME/CFS a functional disorder, you are not saying that disease is caused by mental factors. You are saying you don't know what causes the disease, but are suggesting that both mental and physical factors could be involved. You are keeping your etiological options open, in other words.


The above definition contrasts to the concept of somatisation. If you label some symptoms or a disease as somatisation, then you are specifically stating that those symptoms are caused by mental factors.


Now if you are like me, and your ME/CFS or medically unexplained symptoms were triggered by a viral infection, you may find the idea that your symptoms were somehow caused by mental factors highly unlikely. Indeed, I find the whole area of somatization shoddy science, full of unsubstantiated assumptions, with very little factual evidence.

And certainly the NHS page on MUS should have had more details about possible physical causes of MUS; there is too much emphasis on the possible mental causes.

But in terms of definitions, a functional disorder / MUS label is not equivalent to the psychological label.

 

[duncan]

Not sure if that is how the real world operates, @Hip . It's arguably like what a yellow traffic light signifies: Does it mean slow down, a red light is imminent - or hurry up, a red light is imminent?

The letter of the law might say one thing, but the interpretive practice speaks to something altogether different and more dangerous.

 

[Valentijn]

Can you point out where they are actually conflating "MUS" with "psychological".

In the causes, mechanisms, treatments, etc. All heavily feature psych theories.

 

[Hip]

The letter of the law might say one thing, but the interpretive practice speaks to something altogether different and more dangerous.

Undoubtedly true.

But presumably the NHS has to represent the current medical research status quo; it cannot take its own stance. The label functional disorder / MUS accommodates both sides of the argument. And unfortunately yes, this label does give scope for doctors and researchers to treat ME/CFS as a mentally caused disease.

 

[snowathlete]

Really needs a negative rating of:
"Load of numpty f'ing bollocks dreamt up by a bunch inbred hamster shaggers who got their medical licences from Lucky Bags!"


(For those unfamiliar, "Lucky bags" were bags of sweets/candies with cheap toys/treats we used to get here in Britain. It was random what you got.)

You can still get them btw. Plastic now but my daughter loves 'em.

 

[Ellie_Finesse]

I agree with what @Hip says and I also agree to a point what everyone else is saying.

MUS is what I believe to be exactly what it says on the tin. It describes all disorders and diseases of any kind, physical or brain/mind, that is poorly understood by the medical profession. To me it doesnt necessarily mean psychosomatic!

Yes they mentioned CFS, IBS etc, in there report, but from what I read they were not saying it was a psychosomatic disorder, it said it may play a role in these disorders. Maybe I have read it wrong, who know!

I sometimes think, as people, and quite rightly so considering the way in which some people are treated by the system, we read too much into things and easily misinterpret its meaning.......

You may think that I am being nieve, maybe I am. I just don't believe in taring everyone of same kind (ie in this case doctors) with the same brush. Surely not all psychiatrists/psychologists see everything unexplained as psychological! Maybe I'm missing the point here.

My family say that my biggest fault is seeing the good in people when they feel it shouldn't be given. I say I am poorly understood and maybe some of these doctors are too, no matter what their profession!

 

[Wildcat]

.
The 'misinterpreted by patients' authors of the UK CBT/GET PACE Trial MIchael Sharpe and Peter White. And the 'misinterpreted' Per Fink and Francis Creed.


http://admin.cambridge.org/academic/subjects/medicine/mental-health-psychiatry-and-clinical-psychology/medically-unexplained-symptoms-somatisation-and-bodily-distress-developing-better-clinical-services#


July 2011

Medically Unexplained Symptoms, Somatisation and Bodily Distress
Developing Better Clinical Services

• Editors:
• Francis Creed, University of Manchester
• Peter Henningsen, Technische Universität München
• Per Fink, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark

Francis Creed, Arthur Barsky, Kari Ann Leiknes, Peter Henningsen, Per Fink, Constanze Hausteiner-Wiehle, Winfried Rief, Kurt Kroenke, Alka Gudi, Peter White, Chris Burton, Jef de Bie, Wolfgang Söllner, Kurt Fritzsche, Christian Fazekas, Michael Sharpe, Gudrun Schneider, Sing Lee, Athula Sumipathala, Emma Weisblatt, Peter Hindley, Charlotte Rask, Christina van der Feltz, Else Guthrie, Andreas Schröder, Peter White, Astrid Larisch, Richard Byng


Medically unexplained symptoms and somatisation are the fifth most common reason for visits to doctors in the USA, and form one of the most expensive diagnostic categories in Europe. The range of disorders involved includes irritable bowel syndrome, chronic widespread pain and chronic fatigue syndrome. This book reviews the current literature, clarifies and disseminates clear information about the size and scope of the problem, and discusses current and future national and international guidelines. It also identifies barriers to progress and makes evidence-based recommendations for the management of medically unexplained symptoms and somatisation. Written and edited by leading experts in the field, this authoritative text defines international best practice and is an important resource for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, primary care doctors and those responsible for establishing health policy.

• Provides guidance about management of medically unexplained symptoms, filling the gap between theoretical insights and practical implementation

• Based on an initiative of a working group of the European Association of Consultation Liaison Psychiatrists and Psychosomatics, drawing together international expert knowledge

 

[Ellie_Finesse]

@Wildcat am not sure what you are trying to say, whether its in response to what I have said or if your meaning is something else. I could easily misinterpret your comment, which is basically what I was trying to say above........

I just wonder if you wouldn't mind clarifying your meaning in a way that maybe my brain can grasp today? I hope you don't mind but what you said is just not sinking in

 

[Wildcat]

.
My last post was to illustrate that psychiatrists Michael Sharpe and Peter White (UK CBT/GET PACE Trial), psychiatrists Per Fink (Denmark) and Francis Creed (DSMV) firmly link Medically Unexplained Symptoms with Psychosomatics. The patients are not misinterpreting what they read, or reading too much into things because of being distressed.
.

 

[Valentijn]

MUS is what I believe to be exactly what it says on the tin. It describes all disorders and diseases of any kind, physical or brain/mind, that is poorly understood by the medical profession. To me it doesnt necessarily mean psychosomatic!

That's nice, but it does mean "psychosomatic" to the people using the MUPS label, and it means "psychosomatic" to other practitioners. The reason it is preferred by those people is because the suckers patients they diagnose with it won't find it offensive unless they read all the papers explaining that MUPS is now the preferred way to label patients with a psychosomatic disorder.

It's a frequent tactic with these people. They take a positive or neutral term, and paste it on their latest nasty and twisted concept or treatment. CBT can be a very positive thing ... but the CBT used in ME bears no resemblance to the real CBT used in other biological illnesses. Yet they will say illness-denial CBT is a "real" therapy because illness-acceptance CBT is also used in those other illnesses. Similarly, some practitioners now call it "pacing" when they utilize GET, because GET has a deservedly bad reputation, and patients support pacing.

If something is medically unexplained, everyone should be rushing to find an explanation. Not "managing" MUPS patients by restricting their usage of the medical system and giving them antidepressants, CBT, GET, and tips for lifestyle changes and stress management.