We've finally made it to the best part: treatment strategies! As you may recall from Part 1 (read here), many patients who meet the diagnostic criteria for CFS/ME have a component of pain that meets the criteria for FM. They are co-morbid syndromes often occurring together with major overlapping in symptoms, so for that reason, I'm coupling the treatment approach together. In practice, my treatment plans are patient-centred depending on individual obstacles to health, bothers

In this post, I review the literature on the pathophysiology specific to CFS/ME to look at what’s going on at the cellular level – why do patients have particular symptom clusters? Even though FM has its own diagnostic criteria, recall from last week’s post that the pain experienced in CFS/ME patients can sometimes meet the criteria for FM. The conditions are often found together, so although I focus on CFS/ME, it may be relevant for FM patients too. Etiology – How does it al

Unfortunately, there's a negative stigma associated with having Fibromyalgia (FM) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) - also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). People with either diagnosis are often perceived as being ‘lazy’ hypochondriacs and some have been told that "it's all in your head." I've heard stories of patients being denied referrals for care because their doctor doesn’t believe in it. Many health practitioners and the general public are skeptical of the legit