Full Description
Chronic fatigue syndromes are extremely common and it is important that frontline healthcare staff have access to authoritative information to guide their interactions with patients. This book is primarily aimed at General Practitioners, non-specialist physicians, nurses, and therapy staff, to explain how to recognise, diagnose, and treat the condition.
Current research clearly indicates that ME/CFS and Long Covid are chronic medical conditions caused by inflammation in the brain consequent upon infection rather than depression, psychological illness, or malingering. The latest information derived from studies on Long Covid and now applied to ME/CFS confirm that the illnesses have a clear underlying pathology and are not purely psychiatric or psychological. This is leading to potential new research-based treatments.
This useful and clearly organised book discusses extensive differential diagnoses to ensure that other treatable diseases which present as chronic fatigue are identified and managed. Research-based therapies are reviewed so that healthcare professionals can provide better guidance on management, including evidence (or lack thereof) to support alternative therapies.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
1: The history of chronic fatigue
2: When to suspect ME/CFS or Long Covid
3: The diagnosis of chronic fatigue
4: Primary ME/CFS or Long Covid versus secondary chronic fatigue
5: Theories of causation
6: What do you tell a patient?
7: Young people with chronic fatigue
8: What therapies are helpful?
9: What drug treatments are available?
10: Prognosis
11: Work, school & university
12: Benefits & pensions
13: Conclusions
Appendices
Index
