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| ME sufferer Nathalie Wright, who has written for the Telegraph about her experience. Photo: Connie Bloomfield |
by Dr Charles Shepherd, The Telegraph,
7 December 2015
For too long the medical community has dismissed 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' as a mental illness which can be cured with therapy and exercise
Back in 1955, a mysterious polio-like illness affected 262 doctors and nurses at London’s Royal Free Hospital. The hospital had to close for just over three months.
The outbreak was written up in The Lancet and a new neurological disease entered medical language: myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, as it still remains in the WHO Classification of Diseases. "Myalgic" referred to the muscle symptoms; "encephalomyelitis" referred to the various neurological symptoms.
Others were not convinced that ME was a neurological disease, and two decades later two psychiatrists, without interviewing any of the patients, wrote a paper for the British Medical Journal where they concluded that the Royal Free outbreak was due to mass hysteria.
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Back in 1955, a mysterious polio-like illness affected 262 doctors and nurses at London’s Royal Free Hospital. The hospital had to close for just over three months.
The outbreak was written up in The Lancet and a new neurological disease entered medical language: myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, as it still remains in the WHO Classification of Diseases. "Myalgic" referred to the muscle symptoms; "encephalomyelitis" referred to the various neurological symptoms.
Others were not convinced that ME was a neurological disease, and two decades later two psychiatrists, without interviewing any of the patients, wrote a paper for the British Medical Journal where they concluded that the Royal Free outbreak was due to mass hysteria.