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Upcoming International
ME/CFS Conference 2008
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 This will be the 3rd annual biomedical conference on ME/CFS which has been organised and hosted by UK Charity Invest in ME on the 23rd of May 2008.
Breakspear Hospital's Medical Director, Dr Jean Monro, will be presenting.
CPD Accredited (6 points) ME/CFS Conference.
To register, find out about sponsoring a GP, or for more information about this conference in London, visit: www.investinme.org
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NICE Guidelines
In the ME Association Annual Medical Conference, Professor Richard Baker, Chairman of the Guideline Development Group at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), gave the following summary of the 10 listed priorities included in the CFS/ME NICE Guidelines:
- There should be shared decision making between the ME sufferer and the healthcare professionals, including acknowledgement of Self-Help Groups.
- Patients have the right not to consent to treatment.
- Healthcare professionals should aim to establish a supportive, collaborative relationship with the patient.
- The guidelines provide diagnostic and therapeutic opinions and options, which include the provision of domiciliary services.
- Advice on symtpoms management should not be delayed until the diagnosis is confirmed.
- Diagnosis of CFS/ME can be made after 4 months of symptoms in an adult or 3 months ina child over 5.
- Healthcare professionals should pro-actively advise about fitness for work/education.
- There should be access to specialist ME/CFS care.
- There should be an individualised person centred programme of treatment and management.
- As there is no known cure, CBT/GET are the methods of treatment as there is some research evidence of them being helpful. Early treatment has also been shown to be beneficial.
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Chronic
fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) affects
many thousands of people of all types and ages.
The symptoms of both CFS and ME include:
- debilitating low energy levels
- painful muscles and joints
- disordered sleep
- gastric disturbances
- poor memory and concentration
- neuropsychological complaints
- painful lymph nodes
- prolonged fatigue after exercise
How Breakspear Hospital can help with chronic fatigue and myalgic encephalomyelitis
One of many chronic fatigue recovery stories
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In 2003, Lady Clare Kerr wrote a compelling article for The Times which explains about her recovery from chronic fatigue at Breakspear Hospital. Lady Clare Kerr is now a patron of Breakspear Hospital Trust.
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Breakspear Hospital has always had a policy of identifying causes and then offering treatment.
With our chronic fatigue patients, we search for infectious agents such as Epstein-Barr virus, Parvovirus B19 and bacterial, rickettsial and parasitic organisms using a variety of tests and laboratories.
The treatments Breakspear Hospital offers are anti-viral treatments, high-dose gamma globulin to treat Parvovirus and complex treatments for rickettsial and bacterial disease. We also use hyperthermia treatment to simulate the pyrexia of illness and support nutrition. Where people with CFS and/or ME have developed intolerances to foods, these are also recognised and treated using antigen-specific, low-dose immunotherapy, which is also referred to as provocation/neutralisation.
At Breakspear Hospital, we have found that the basis of
prolonged ill health in CFS or ME involves "cytokine shift".
In this condition the protein messengers between cells (cytokines)
work together to cause allergy and increased reactivity by a mechanism
involving antibodies instead of the normal activity against infectious
agents, such as viruses. This is a cytokine shift from a "TH1"
to a "TH2" pattern.
The situation is further complicated
as these two patterns interact. In chronic fatigue or ME patients, allergies are perpetuated and the
ability to wipe out viruses is compromised.
However, it is possible to reverse this
shift with a number of chronic fatigue treatment programmes that we offer at Breakspear
Hospital. We start with a series of skin and blood tests for bacterial
sensitivities, urine test for microbial organism products and peptides
(indolyl-acryloylglycine), and we also use a stool test for lysozyme, a
product of white cells called granulocytes, monocytes and macrophages.
(This is a marker for damage to the gut lining by bacteria or by
inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative
colitis.)
Then we stabilise allergies by using low-dose immunotherapy that stops allergic reactions, giving respite
to the chronic fatigue or myalgic encephalomyelitis sufferer. We also initiate a number of treatment programmes to stimulate the TH1 arm of the immune system that can deal with viruses.
Amongst the other treatments we use are mushroom products, and Transfer
Factor, which is an oral supplement.
Other agents that
can stimulate TH1 include some hormone products and bacterial agents
such as Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG), normally used in the
protection against tuberculosis. We also now have available a bacterial
product, known to help modulate the immune system. This is a high
potency probiotic preparation that
Escherichia coli, Bifidobacteria and others have a local effect,
protecting against gut mucosal injury through both TH1 and TH2 responses.
 Dr Terrance Daymond has recently joined the Breakspear medical team. He is a Rheumatologist and has a long-time interest in myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), which led him to become a patron of the local self-help group and clinical champion in NE England, helping to establish a multi-discipline team south of the Tyne. Similarly Dr Daymond has seen a large number of patients suffering from fibromyalgia and has actively treated them. Over the last three years he has been treating patients who have Lyme disease and has been connected with EuroLyme. For more information on Dr Daymond, see Our Team.
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Combination therapies for the treatment of chronic fatigue and myalgic encephalomyelitis are more effective than single agents.
Find out more about Breakspear Hospital's Chronic Fatigue Treatment Programme
You may wish to print out our colour pdf summary of the CFS/ME Treatment Programme. Alternatively, you may request a printed version of the CFS/ME Treatment Programme by requesting more information by email.
For further, in depth explanations of our CFS/ME programme, you may wish to read An Overview of the Management of Chronic Fatigue and Investigations, which explains in detail the processes affected by CFS/Me and the neurophysiological assessments of autonomic function undertaken by Dr Peter Julu.
For a price list, see Patient Information.
If you have any specific questions regarding prices, estimates and treatment programmes, please contact either one of our Patient Liaison Officers, Carly Day or Emma Roberts, by phone 01442 261 333 ext. 310, or email: cday@breakspearmedical.com or eroberts@breakspearmedical.com
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