Medical Questions » Syndrome Questions » Question No. 965
| Question: | I have been diagnosed as havinq myalgic encephalomyelitis. Can you explain this disease for me? |
| Answer: | Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME or chronic fatigue syndrome) is one of a number of diseases categorised as post-viral syndromes. No-one can fully explain the condition, because these syndromes have only recently been recognised and remarkably little is known about them.
It appears that in some people, a viral infection such as influenza is followed by a chronic inflammation of many organs of the body. It is rather like a prolonged dose of the flu, but without the runny nose and fever—just aches and pains and tiredness.
The symptoms of ME vary dramatically from one patient to another, and there are no specific blood or other tests to make the diagnosis. This makes the task for doctors very difficult, and explains why some of these people have at times been described as malingerers.
Symptoms can include arrhritis, muscle pains, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, skin rashes, abdominal cramps, depression, mood changes and severe tiredness. A wide range of treatments have been tried to help these people, but all are experimental and there are none that I could justifiably mention here.
Most people have the disease for many months or a few years, and it then slowly fades away, but in the meantime the victim has lost job, career, pride, money and possibly family. The only other point of note is that women are affected five times more than men.
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