|
Dr Nigel Speight’s article published in GP magazine “Pulse”
Dr Nigel Speight wrote an article on Managing ME/CFS in Children & Young People that was produced in “Pulse” 13th August 2005 - a free magazine for GP’s with a wide readership. He provided a list of things the GP can do that we think would prove helpful for GP’s dealing with ME/CFS in people of all ages.
Dr Speight and Pulse have given their permission for us to re-produce this and we hope you can share this with your own GP to help you manage your illness.
Things the GP can do
- Engage/sympathise and generally validate the person; actually using the term ME rather than CFS can be powerfully symbolic in this respect; say you believe their illness is genuine and is “not all in the mind”
- Offer to keep seeing the person throughout his/her illness, even if the Consultant is also involved.
- Offer practical support as needed, for example sick notes for school, work, letters for extra allowances for examination, support for benefits and disabled stickers where appropriate.
- Offer symptomatic treatment, for example analgesics, low dose tricyclics for pain and insomnia, melatonin for sleep reversal, diet and pizotifen for super-added migraine etc.
- Look out for opportunities to reduce adverse factors, such as prophylactic antibiotics if frequent relapsing tonsillitis.
- Check that the whole extended family is “on-side” and attempt to ameliorate if not.
- Offer second opinions, act as patient’s advocate if patient and family feel their relationship with secondary care is sub-optimal.
- Keep an eye open for secondary psychological problems (eg depression) and manage these in their own right.
- Put in touch with national and/or local ME support groups.
Nigel Speight is Consultant Paediatrician at the University Hospital of North Durham and medical Advisor to Association of Young People with ME and Patron of ME North East.
|