ME/CFS Information

Penrith & Eden District ME Information Resource
Their home page provides a useful brief description of ME and its symptoms.
They list the common symptoms of ME as follows:

• Overwhelming physical & mental fatigue on minimal exertion with prolonged and delayed recovery time.
• Cognitive impairment (eg. poor short-term memory, difficulties with word finding, poor concentration).
• Malaise; feeling flu-like and generally unwell especially following mental or physical activity
• Pain (muscular, joint pain, nerve pain, headache)
• Sleep Disturbance (insomnia, hypersomnia, unrefreshing sleep, disturbed sleep/wake cycle)
• Digestive disturbances (eg. nausea, loss/increase in appetite, food intolerance, diarrhoea/constipation)
• Other symptoms may include: temperature disturbance, vertigo/dizziness, light/noise sensitivity, alcohol/drug/chemical intolerance, sore throat, pins & needles, numbness, problems with balance, problems with sitting and standing for long periods, tender/swollen glands, problems with vision, muscle weakness & twitching, sweats, fevers/chills, & in rare cases seizures, contractures of the hands or feet, loss of speech, breathing difficulties, muscle spasms (including the gullet) and inability to swallow

These symptoms must be present for 6 months and substantially affect daily life before a diagnosis can be made.
Symptoms usually follow a common viral infection from which the person doesn't recover (called 'sudden onset'). More rarely, symptoms can appear gradually with no precipitating event (called 'gradual onset').

This information should help you to determine whether you have symptoms which indicate that you could have ME.
If you are permanently exhausted, presumably you have considered the obvious causes such as:

you are trying to do too much

you are under a lot of stress (eg constant fear is very tiring)

you have a rotten diet and/or your calorie intake is too low

you are not sleeping adequately

you don't get adequate exercise

If you can find no explanation for your exhaustion, you should expect your GP to arrange for you to have tests, including blood tests, for things like anaemia, liver function, thyroid function, diabetes, hypoglycaemia, infections, vitamin deficiencies etc. Don't be fobbed off with the dubious claim that depression causes tiredness. My experience is that it's the other way round. Even when depression is the main problem, you should be given tests to check for a physical cause (eg vitamin B deficiency).

If depression is really the problem, it will be alleviated (but not necessarily cured) by vigorous exercise such as a good workout in the gym or a couple of hours brisk heavy walking. If you have ME, such exercise, far from helping, will make you feel worse and you'll need to stop very quickly. In fact the effects may be adverse enough that you have no choice but to stop.

The ME Association
They have produced an excellent publication for health professionals in pdf format:
ME/CFS/PVFS An exploration of the key clinical issues

Action for ME
They have produced a document:
Guidance on the management of CFS/M.E.
Also see:
Booklets and Guides
Action for ME support groups

Information about research may be found at MERGE, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Research Group for Education and Support.

M.E. Society of America
An organization that seeks to promote understanding of myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.), a multi-system disease adversely affecting the heart, brain, neuroendocrine, immune, and circulatory systems.

www.co-cure.org
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) & Fibromyalgia Canadian Clinical Case Definition
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols.

CBT and GET
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Graded Exercise Therapy (GET), Comments from the Canadian Clinical Case Definition.

DWP Medical Guides
includes advice for doctors appointed by Medical Services to interview claimants for assessing their capacity to work.

CMO CFS/ME working group report

fmaware.org How CFS and Fibromyalgia Stress Can Make You Gain Weight