http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/observations/2015/11/time-swot-chronic-fatigue
Not perfect and once again a title shortened to "chronic fatigue"...but pretty good for a short piece.
Have personally never heard of this newspaper or the author so no idea as to any previous coverage of ME or CFS
Maybe someone in the UK can weigh in
There is no comment section, but the author is on Twitter if you want to send thanks ... or links to Tuller and Coyne
Not perfect and once again a title shortened to "chronic fatigue"...but pretty good for a short piece.
Have personally never heard of this newspaper or the author so no idea as to any previous coverage of ME or CFS
Maybe someone in the UK can weigh in
There is no comment section, but the author is on Twitter if you want to send thanks ... or links to Tuller and Coyne
Time to swot up on chronic fatigue
Future general practitioners need to be made aware that “psychosomatic” should not be the default suspicion.
MICHAEL BROOKS
Around 250,000 people in the UK suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). The symptoms include debilitating tiredness, pains, dizziness, insomnia and depression. The standard recommended treatment has three strands: cognitive behavioural therapy, an exercise programme (“graded exercise therapy”) and medication that counters some of the pain, nausea, sleeping problems and other symptoms.
That prescription has been reinforced by a review published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, which followed a group of sufferers and concluded that cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise therapy are better than “specialised medical care”.
The ME Association, however, responded with a detailed criticism of the study. It complains that cognitive behavioural therapy treatment attaches a label that marks CFS as a psychological disease while doing little good. Moreover, graded exercise therapy makes a significant proportion of people worse, it argued, and the hypothesis that those with CFS respond to the therapy because they are inactive and deconditioned “is no longer tenable”. The association pointed to research showing that sufferers have “significant abnormalities in the muscle, brain and immune system”, which are likely to contribute to CFS symptoms and induce fatigue in those compelled, against their inclination, to exercise as part of their treatment...
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