Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: thedoc on 15/05/2012 15:33:54
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My doctor doesn't believe in chronic fatigue syndrome, but I'm often tired. How do I know if I have chronic fatigue syndrome, or if I'm just tired?
Asked by Katherine Hiscox
Visit the webpage for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/2416/)
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We answered this question on the show...
Yes, I think doctors not believing in this illness is still very common which I find surprising actually, given the evidence, given that the Chief Medical Officer a long time ago said it was a real illness and needs to be taken seriously and has given national guidance on what to do about this.
But even so, we know that only 52 % of GPs feel confident to making a diagnosis and I think we still need to do a lot of awareness raising.
If you're feeling tired, what should you do? Well, first of all remember, it’s only tiredness that actually stops you doing stuff. So, most of us, if we’re doing a lot of things are going to feel tired so this is tiredness that is really awful and will stop you going to work, going to school, doing socialising, or doing sport. If you think you might have chronic fatigue syndrome, then the national guidance is that you should have a range of screening blood to exclude other illnesses such as leukaemia or thyroid disease. You should go and see a doctor to exclude other causes such as depression, and so on. And if all of those other illnesses are rules out and you fit the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome then you've probably got chronic fatigue syndrome.