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ME/CFS AUSTRALIA (SA) INC
Registered Charity 698
Mailing address:
GPO Box 383,
Adelaide,
South Australia 5001
Office:
266 Port Road,
Hindmarsh,
South Australia 5007
Ph: (08) 8346 3237
('834 MECFS')
Office Hours:
Wednesdays, 10am-3pm
Support Line:
(Mondays and Thursdays,
10am-3pm)
Ph: (08) 8346 3237
SA country callers:
Ph: 1300 128 339
(local call)
FIBROMYALGIA HELP: Contact Fibromyalgia SA at the Arthritis Foundation of SA 118 Richmond Road, Marleston 5033 Ph: (08) 8379 5711 |
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc supports the needs of sufferers of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and related illnesses. We do this by providing services and information to members.
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Disclaimer
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc aims to keep members informed of the various research projects, diets, medications, therapies etc. All communication, both verbal and written, is merely to disseminate information and not to make recommendations or directives.
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed on this Web site are not necessarily the official views of the Society or its Committee and are not simply an endorsement of products or services.
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Experts Recommend New Name For CFS
Monday 5 February 2007
ImmuneSupport.com has reported a meeting in January where they say a decision was taken to recommend a name change in the US.
The usage of the terms encephalopathy or encephalomyelitis has been a subject of some discussion in Australia, and here in SA.
Here is the announcement from ImmuneSupport.com:
An announcement from ProHealth Founder Rich Carson:
The CFS Name Change Advisory Board – whose combined research and clinical experience totals more than 150 years – met in Florida January 12, and reached a consensus agreement that a new name should be adopted for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. While it is certain that no name will please all patients, the group feels that the new name they propose will improve the legitimacy of the disease, and remove the stigma of having a disease with ‘fatigue’ as the primary descriptor. Their report follows.
A group of noted CFS researchers and clinicians met January 12 in Florida to discuss whether ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ was an appropriate name for the disease, and to suggest an alternative name if necessary. Patients and CFS clinicians have long held that ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ trivializes the serious nature of the disorder, and have called for a change of the name first adopted by the CDC in 1988.
The impetus for assembling the group was the belief that a panel of the world’s leading experts could provide legitimacy and scientific credibility to patients seeking a new name.
The committee, called “the CFS Name Change Advisory Board” by its organizer, CFS patient Rich Carson, included Drs. Lucinda Bateman, David Bell, Paul Cheney, Charles Lapp, Nancy Klimas, Anthony Komaroff, Leonard Jason, and Daniel Peterson. Dr. Peterson was unable to attend the meeting, but was consulted via telephone afterward.
Committee members agreed that CFS downplays the severity of the disease and is hurtful to patients, and discussion focused on alternative names. The majority of attention was spent discussing ‘ME’ – the name first used to describe the illness in an editorial published in The Lancet in 1956 by Sir Donald Acheson, MD. ‘ME’ has been used in many countries, including Great Britain.
‘ME’ has historically been used to describe ‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis’ (nervous system inflammation involving muscle pain) – a term that does not accurately describe the disease process in all patients. Committee members preferred ‘Myalgic Encephalopathy’ (nervous system pathology with associated muscle pain), which is also abbreviated ‘ME’. This satisfied the researchers that this form of the term ‘ME’ is diagnostically accurate.
Recent scientific advances point to the usefulness of the ME label, as brain pathology with often painful consequences, especially in muscle, is increasingly documented in patients with this condition.
The group recognized that dropping CFS completely from a new name could cause problems with disability and medical insurance claims, and recommended that ‘CFS’ should accompany any new name, at least for a period of time. It was acknowledged that CFS currently has some name recognition, though according to the CDC, less than 20 percent of the patients have been diagnosed.
The researchers expressed their belief that the term ‘ME/CFS’ (or ‘CFS/ME’) is diagnostically accurate and, unlike CFS, is not pejorative to patients. It was also noted that this move is consistent with events occurring in different countries, such as Canada, where ‘CFS’ was recently changed to ‘ME/CFS’.
In a recent related event, the board of directors of the International Association for CFS (IACFS) voted to recommend that the name of that organization be changed to the IACFS/ME. This motion is currently being voted on by its members, and if approved, the name of that organization will soon be changed.
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