On same pgea course got chatting to a bright young neurologist who said that
most neuros now feel that CFS/ME is really somatised depression. The old
criteria still used by the colleges for CFS diagnosis do not accord with
longitudinal studies. For instance the criteria uses presence of
unrefreshing sleep in the diagnosis and it's absence an exclsusion, but
hardly any pts have only it as part of sleep distrubance. Nearly all have
classic depressive sleep symptoms. I have never seen a CF/ME pt who says
they are happy. practically all pts in the studies have strong depression
scores and their 'CF' organic depressive symps (EMW, loss appetite etc)
respond to ADs. Trouble is pts are the ones who vociferously say its purely
physical. True CF as diagnosed by the above criteria is a rare bird indeed.
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