Thread by @TomKindlon

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“ME/CFS: What Psychiatrists & Psychologists need to know” by @DoctorsWithME (March 2022)

doctorswith.me/me-cfs-what-ps…

#MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #NeuroME #MEcfs #CFS #PwME #CFSME

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“#ME/#CFS is a chronic, complex, multi-system biological illness with often devastating consequences. It affects all age groups including children, and all social classes. About 75% of sufferers are female”

#MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #MEcfs #PwME #CFSME #ChronicFatigueSyndrome

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ME/CFS “has a worse quality of life score than many other serious illnesses including cancer, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis and MS. 25% of patients are housebound or bedbound.”

#MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #MEcfs #CFS #PwME #MyalgicE #SevereME

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“Severely affected [#ME/#CFS] patients can struggle to perform ALL activities of daily living, and extreme cases may even need tube feeding. ME/CFS is not psychosomatic, and psychological therapies will not cure the disease”

#SevereME #SevereMECFS #SevereCFS #VerySevereME

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“Is ME/CFS one of the Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS)?

No. #ME/#CFS is not #MedicallyUnexplainedSymptoms (#MUS), #PPS, #FND, #PRS, #FII, #PDA, #BSS, #BDD…#MECFS is not “functional” or psychosomatic, and these psychological constructs do not apply to ME/CFS”

#PwME

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“Are ME/#CFS patients deconditioned?
#MECFS is not caused by deconditioning.Patients do become deconditioned due to prolonged inactivity, but this is a result of the illness & not the cause.Therefore it cannot be reversed without first reversing the underlying illness (contd)”

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“(Contd.) In practice it is not the patients’ level of fitness that limit their ability to function, but their inability to generate energy to power activity, along with multiple other physiological disturbances in all body systems”

#MEcfs #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #CFS #PwME

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“Do Psychiatrists need to know how to diagnose ME/CFS?

Yes. The symptoms of #ME/#CFS span every body system, so #MECFS patients can present to any specialty. Fluctuating cognitive deficit, altered sleep pattern, disparate symptoms and (contd)”

#ChronicFatigueSyndrome #PwME

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“(Contd) behavioural adaptations required for energy management (e.g. social isolation) can all lead to Psychiatric referral. Standard scoring systems for anxiety and depression are non-specific and will mislead clinicians into misdiagnosing #ME/#CFS as psychiatric”

#MEcfs

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Psychiatrists have an important role to play in the diagnostic process by:

•Detecting other causes of symptoms eg ADHD/autism/dementia/brain tumour
•Making a positive diagnosis of #ME/#CFS where relevant
•Giving crucial early advice as soon as #MECFS is suspected
Etc.