One in 100 pupils 'sick with ME'

Link




I can't see how that could possibly be right.
I think it would be more accurate to say "One in 100 pupils are depressed and unfit" as everyone I know who has ME falls into that category.

However, does anyone have personal experience with ME sufferers and would you agree or disagree?

I absolutely hate it when people say things like "ME/CFS aren't real, it's all in the head" etcetc. I had glandular fever when I started my AS levels 3 years ago which subsequently gave me CFS. It is truly crippling. I had to abandon my studies, too achy and tired to make the 5 min walk to school. I practically lost all my friends and now looking back, I probably was depressed.

Perhaps though, the worst part of it all wasn't watching my friends go away to university or missing out on my education, it was people saying I was "lazy" and "making it up" which really did me in.

Well I for one do not think that it is made up and that some people do have it, but many cases turn out to be due to depression - such as yourself. As I have mentioned previously, I think it is doctors either being lazy or unable to give a correct diagnosis so they revert to using blanket terms and this leads to the stigma.

Someone I used to know had ME. But I'm confused exactly what it is as I hadn't heard of it before until I met this guy.

Now I don't doubt he has it, I'm not a Doctor or scientist so it wouldn't be my place to judge on medical matters. But in this person at least there was a tendency to use it as a scapegoat for everything. When confronted about anything it was typical for him to fall back on the old ME excuse even if it had nothing to do with it. Unless attention seeking can be a psychological symptom of ME?

I tried to keep an open mind about him but it's hard to be sympathetic. Perhaps he did have ME and was just nasty as well.

I don't think most people actively 'want' a particular diagnosis. They go to the doctor, give a truthful and accurate representation of their symptoms, and then trust in the doctor's opinion. <snip>

This thread is hugely upsetting. Do any of you making rude judgements actually have first hand experience of M.E? Well I do.
I was severely affected for 5 years. I had to crawl to the bathroom like a sick dog

and i was on a feeding tube for 6 months.

I was never depressed. I was a seriously ill young teenager who missed out on years of education to intense nausea, insomnia, heart problems, muscle wastage, chronic pain, migraines, sound and light sensitivity

... I was bed bound and on tramadol for a good many years. Hospitilised 3 times.
So if the poster who said a "good nights sleep" can do wonders would like to come and say that to a REAL sufferer of the worst kind of ME, that would be grand.
Im one of the lucky ones who recover. Others are not so lucky. I still keep in touch with people in the M.E community and many have sadly, been apart of it for decades.

Edit: im aware that not all posters are of the above opinion and im gateful for that. I encountered the above ignorance too many times during my illness though and i take it very personally.

Just a random thing but with all these stats I hear about how many people have liver cancer, aids, STDs, bowel cancer, lung cancer, diabetes the list is endless (don't forget disabilities)

I think if you actually summed up the so called evidence you would find that nearly everybody in the UK would need to be terminally ill or is severly hampered in life to make the data work.

I just do not see all these sick people everywhere......

You'd be suprised at how many people 'want' a diagnosis, 'want ' to be able to justify the sick role , 'want' free money a 'free' car and not to have to bother about nasty things such as getting a job ...

attention seeking takes many forms and factitious illness, somatisation and the exageration of symptoms are fairly common behaviours.

the greatest problem that is faced by people with 'ME' is the broad brush nature of the diagnosis due to a lack of objective clinical or pathology findings - admittedly not helped by the reluctance to perform certain diagnostic tests (e.g. LP), this does a disservice to those who genuinely have things like the post viral syndromes ...

ME could just be like autism and is merely a label for many problems due to lazy doctors who can't be bothered to actually find the cause of the problem.

ME could just be like autism and is merely a label for many problems due to lazy doctors who can't be bothered to actually find the cause of the problem.

I know two supposedly with ME. One is a skiver and clearly just has lifestyle issues. The other works hard and has to take Wednesdays off. She goes horse riding when she can and seems very cheerful... there's no reason why but she looks exhausted most of the time, and it was triggered by a virus.

I wasn't sure it existed until I talked to her, she does have some kind of chronic fatigue syndrome. I'm sure a lot of people make it up though.

I'm diagnosed as dyspraxic, which I highly doubt. They're diagnose anything these days.

I've been diagnosed as dyspraxic, seems like a load of rubbish to me, just a new way to describe clumsy people .

Then why bother getting diagnosed. Someone already said it earlier, but these diagnosises arent exactly the easiest things to get, so I dont see why youd go through that if you think its a 'load of rubbish'.

Erm....

Are you suggesting Autism isn't a real diagnosis?

If it wasn't so offensive, this level of ignorance would be laughable.