Medscape/Miriam Tucker: Much Can Be Done to Ease 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' Symptoms

[Cheshire]

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — The illness commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome is complex and currently incurable, but clinicians can still do a great deal to manage symptoms and improve patients' quality of life, experts agree.

In a 2-day meeting held March 2 and 3, 2018, specialists in the condition, now termed myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), met to discuss their assessment and treatment approaches. The aim of the "summit," organized by Lucinda Bateman, MD, and held at her Bateman-Horne Center facility here, was to initiate development of expert consensus ME/CFS guidance for primary care and specialist clinicians, and to identify research priorities to address major knowledge gaps.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/893766

See also this thread about Dr. Bateman's Summary of Clinicians' Summit March 2-3, 2018

 

[Chris]

This distinction has been made before but I always love it when a doctor makes it:

One revealing question is, "What would you be doing now if you weren't ill?" Typically, as opposed to depressed patients, those with ME/CFS will have a laundry list. "Our patients are trapped in bodies that don't work," Bateman said. "They're desperate to do more."

 

[Andy]

Another good quote

Notably missing from the recommended treatment list are cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at overcoming "false illness beliefs" and "graded exercise." (A trial published in 2011 suggested those interventions were helpful, but it has since been faulted by the ME/CFS community because of its patient selection criteria and methodological issues.) The summit panel voted unanimously to include a statement rejecting those modalities as inappropriate and potentially harmful.

 

[mango]