Patient organisations in ME and CFS seek only understanding

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7457.112-b

BMJ 2004;329:112-113 (10 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7457.112-b

Letter

Patient organisations in ME and CFS seek only understanding

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—To compare general practitioners' attitudes topatients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or myalgic encephalomyelitis(ME) and those with irritable bowel syndrome was disappointingin the study by Raine et al.¹ Particularly disappointing wasthat the study was conducted in the months after the chief medicalofficer recognised—with considerable attendant publicity—theseverity and impact of chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitison the lives of those affected.²

One outcome of the study was that pressure groups were perceivedas influencing clinical encounters, making it harder to legitimisethe symptoms. That the authors labelled patients' organisations"pressure groups" was interesting in itself.

The organisations cover a range of views on the illness andthe solutions needed. This organisation carries out an informationrole for patients and professionals and provides a range ofservices no different from that of any other medium sized charity(www.afme.org.uk). We campaign vigorously . . . [Full text of this article]

Chris Clark, chief executive

Action for ME, London EC1M 9BL chris@afme.org.uk

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