Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) is a debilitating acquired neurological disease which has been recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 1969 as a distinct organic neurological disorder with the code G.93.3.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis symptoms are manifested by virtually all bodily systems including: cognitive, cardiac, cardiovascular, immunological, endocrinological, respiratory, hormonal, gastrointestinal and musculo-skeletal dysfunctions and damage.
M.E. is a neurological illness of extraordinarily incapacitating dimensions that affects virtually every bodily system -- not a problem of medically unexplained 'chronic fatigue.' Many with M.E. are housebound or bedbound. People with M.E would give anything to instead only be severely 'fatigued' or tired all the time.
For more information, and to see a full symptom list for M.E. (available in Word or PDF format), see:
http://www.ahummingbirdsguide.com/themesymptomlist.htm
Also note that it should not be assumed that because you may have some percentage of the symptoms on the list that you necessarily have M.E. - many of them are common in a variety of other illnesses and it is the pattern of symptoms (and the acute onset type) which enables a M.E. diagnosis to be made, as well as the presence of a number of core characteristics and symptoms (and test results) which are always present in the illness, and without which a diagnosis of M.E. should never be made. (For example, damage to the brain, the CNS, which is visible on brain scans, and the unique form of muscle weakness/paralysis seen in M.E. and so on.) Even having a large number or percentage of the symptoms on this list does NOT necessarily mean a M.E. diagnosis is likely or even a possibility.
Appropriate tests should be conducted which can help confirm a M.E. diagnosis. If all tests are normal then a diagnosis of M.E. cannot be correct. M.E. is not the same thing as 'CFS.' See:
http://www.ahummingbirdsguide.com/testingforme.htm
Both of these papers are fully referenced and have been compiled using information produced by the world's leading and most experienced M.E. experts.
Acknowledegements: This video is voiced by Lyn Bassett.
Tags: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis CFS CFIDS CFS/ME ME/CFS activism advocacy severe
