Goochie

I believe I have read on here before about people who are dealing with M.E. My wife-to-be has been unwell sicne January, and infact lost her £20k+ job as a result of it. Our GP seems unable to help and has even begun to shrug is shoulders when we ask him whats' wrong with her. It has reached the stage now where she is almost scared of going to see the doctor for fear of looking like a hypocondriact (sp?). Having done much research in books, and today on the web into possible causes for her symptoms I found the following describing M.E.

"Muscle symptoms include severe fatigue upon exercise, muscle pain and spasms, influenza-like malaise, clumsiness, poor memory, concentration and balance. Non-refreshing sleep, sore throats, enlarged glands, joint pains, depression."

She has every one of these and nothing more.

If anyone has experience of M.E. diagnosis could you please let me know how long it took to diagnose etc. and if you had similar problems with GP's etc.

Any help greatly appreciated.

darlodge

My girlfriend currently has everyone of the symptoms of ME (or Chronic fatigue syndrome as it is also known).

She has been off work for 8 months and is currently showing no signs of returning as her Doctor is unable to diagnose or solve the problem.

She has been referred to a specialist in this field who has done tests after test (blood, kidneys, liver, lungs, heart etc. etc.) all have come back clear

She is going back to the specialist in a few weeks for the next stage of tests (xray, cat scan (I think) and the results of the last tests.

If your wife has got ME (or CFS) apparently (and I don’t know this for sure) it works its self out in time and there is nothing that can be done (medically) to solve the problem. Time is the biggest factor.

My girlfriend sleeps most of the day as a result of her problem. She finds it very difficult to walk distances of over 500m, doing 30 minutes of housework (polishing, washing-up etc.) will make her sleep for most of the day. The main thing she can do is relax. I know its not easy.

And all you can do is support and assist. I am sure you are doing this already but its as frustrating for you as it is for her.

Darren

darlodge

Also see here

Darren

Atom290

I know someone who had ME, and they're doctor could do nothing for them.

She went to see a nutritionalist and they gave her a diet, avoiding yeast, sugars, and alchol.

So veg and meats ok, boring life when it came to food, but shes back at work and goes to the gym now.

Maybe worth a look, I imagine that anything is worth a try

Good luck, I know there is a lot of bad press about this disease, so hang in there

Leslie

Its a very difficult situation and as someone says takes a lot of patience until it sorts itself out.

I wish you both all the good luck and hope it soon goes away.

Les

Goochie

We went back to our GP last night and suggested M.E. He diddnt really want to comment on it one way or another, still very frustrating as we feel he still thinks she's wasting his time.

I'm half tempted to change surgeries but that will probably achieve nothing as they will just assume it's a virus until she's been there another 5-6 months

RobinSherwood

Goochie & Darlodge,

ME or CFS is hard to diagnose as very few doctors actually understand the cause and hence do not know what they are looking for. What we call 'true' ME or CFS has very definite clinical signs that can be diagnosed and in most cases treated.

I don't feel it appropriate to comment more in this forum, but I work for one of the top Physicians treating ME, who for the record also happens to be my father.

If you wan't to pm me I will give you what info I can.

Kind regards,

Robin

john banks

The following document I have found extremely useful as a reasonably balanced reference (although the more extreme rejected it from either "for" or "against" camps) on how to help people with fatigue symptoms that are persistent and without other explanation. If your GP is struggling, perhaps you could print it off or give them the link, give them chance to read it, or at least the key points, and then discuss its contents in a double appointment.

http://www.publications.doh.gov.uk/c...fsmereport.pdf

RobinSherwood

John,

A useful document for sure.

Certainly if taking it along to the GP helps to get the doctor to take the issue seriously that is fantastic.

I would take issue about some of the elements though having read it.

Here we can definitely say that all true cases of ME/CFS that we have seen have definite clinical signs that can be found under examination.

Some of the triggers they mention are correct but it almost always takes a combination af more than one for ME/CFS to occurr. (Two in particular in fact).

The Autonomic Nervous sytem plays a major role in this disease (my father has lectured at St Mary's on the effects of problems with the Autonomic Nervous System with this and other diseases).

I could post a lot more on this subject, but I am keen not to upset anyone who may interpret my posting being in any way 'commercial' as we are a solely private practice.

Kind regards,

Robin

turbotroll

Have you ever read the meatbolic typing diet by william wolcott - this has its basis in the auto and symp nervous systems, detailing how to eat for each metabolic type. I'm a fibromyalgia sufferer and have found the book very informative. You could also try this website : www.westonaprice.org