Victorians with ME/CFS Awareness

International ME/CFS Awareness Day

Saturday 12th May 2007

AWARENESS WEEK 2007

Prevalence

The South Australian ME/CFS Guidelines For General Practitioners quote the Australian prevalence of up to 0.5% of the population. This means that in:

Victoria: up to 25,000 people may be affected.

Australia: up to 102,000 people may be affected.

How does this compare to the prevalence of other illnesses?

The Canadian Guidelines - ME/CFS: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols ( page 9 of the original document) cite:

Illness Prevalence in women per 100,000 of the population

AIDS	12
Breast Cancer	26
Lung Cancer	33
ME/CFS	522
Diabetes	900

ME/CFS is a cause of major morbidity (illness) and even mortality. But we know that early diagnosis makes recovery more likely, that symptoms can generally be treated and that less than 5% of ME/CFS diagnoses can be attributed to a psychosomatic disorder (The Canadian Guidelines).

An Invisible Illness

ME/CFS is an invisible illness and it ranges in severity from mild to severe. You probably won't see anybody with severe ME/CFS. They spend their time in bed and struggle to carry out any activities of daily living. Many can't even attend a doctor readily and often do not receive appropriate medical care.

You probably will see people with moderate ME/CFS but you may not know it. These are the people who attend the doctor or a Support Group on a good day. They generally look normal, especially to the untrained eye. If they are careful, they can look after themselves most of the time but these are the people who retreat to a bed or a recliner on a bad day and you won't see them then. They may cancel an appointment or a social event at short notice. Sometimes they will not be seen outside their homes for days, weeks or months if their symptoms flare. They have difficulty planning ahead because they cannot predict how they will feel on the day.

You will see people with mild ME/CFS but you still may not know it. They attempt to live a normal life trying to pace themselves so that they don't make themselves worse.

All these people will have post exertional malaise. If they do too much activity, they fail to recover normally and will in fact make their symptoms worse. Post exertional malaise is a mandatory symptom for the Canadian definition of ME/CFS.

Does the W.H.O recognise ME/CFS?

YES! ME/CFS is classified as a neurological illness (ICD 10 G93.3). People with ME/CFS have evidence of both physiological and biochemical abnormalities.

To Learn More

Click on the link to the Medical page on this site.