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.
Chronic Fatigue provides frontline healthcare staff with access to authoritative information to guide their interactions with patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndromes including ME/CFS and Long Covid.
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
Dr Gavin Spickett is a retired consultant in immunology, allergy, and general medicine. He trained in medicine at the University of Oxford and earned his DPhil at the MRC Cellular Immunology Unit, Oxford. He completed general medical training in Ipswich and trained in immunology, allergy, and immunopathology at the MRC Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, and the Department of Immunology at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. In 1991, he took up the position of consultant clinical immunologist, allergist, and general physician in Newcastle, where he worked until retirement in 2021. During his career, he developed the Regional Clinical Immunology and Allergy service and the associated laboratory service. He established and led the Regional Chronic Fatigue Network and was the lead clinician for ME/CFS at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. In 2017, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the UK Primary Immunodeficiency Network for his work for patients with primary immunodeficiencies.
