Alastair Miller, Fiona Symington, Paul Garner, Maria Pedersen , 2025-05-14 10:11:00
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) affects around 250 000 people in the UK. Symptoms include fatigue, cognitive difficulties, pain, autonomic disturbances, disturbed sleep, and gastrointestinal upset. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) estimates that 25% of people with ME/CFS experience higher symptom levels and reduced function.1 These disabilities, and the patients’ belief that they won’t recover, can harm their mental wellbeing.2Recovery is possible, but patients need help to find their path. A constructive starting point requires experienced practitioners to recognise that the evolved biological control systems responsible for maintaining safety can sometimes become dysregulated.34 This perspective offers patients a coherent explanatory model and, for some, a foundation for meaningful therapeutic progress.56Guidance from NICE in 2021 on managing ME/CFS states that “recovery” may be only “a long period of remission” and that “many will need to adapt to living with ME/CFS.”7 For severe and very severe ME/CFS, the…
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Patients with severe ME/CFS need hope and expert multidisciplinary care
