ME: What to take to your doctor & health care provider

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• Read this article: What To Do Before During And After Your Doctor's Appointment

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• Read and print this handout for clinicians and patients authored by the U.S. ME/CFS Clinician Coalition, a group of U.S. ME experts, has authored a handout on the basics of diagnosis and management of ME/CFS: Diagnosing and Treating MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS/ CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME (ME/CFS), published in August 2019.

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• Read and print this article to take to your doctor:
  Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: What Every Family Physician Needs to Know, by By Mary Dimmock, Susan Levine, MD, and Terri L. Wilder,MSW, in the Winter 2018 edition of Family Doctor: A Journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians.

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• Print and take this letter from the Workwell Foundation regarding cautions around exercise for ME patients.:

          ME/CFS GET Letter to Health Care Providers​

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• Share this 10 minute video : Diagnosis and Management of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome​

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• Have available to share #MEAction's 2019 ME Research Summary by Jaime Selzer

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• Consider printing and taking one of the Consensus Criteria on our ME Info page.

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- The most thorough diagnostic criteria for ME is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis – Adult & Paediatric: International Consensus Primer for Medical Practitioners, known as the ICC (international Consensus Criteria). It is mostly used by researchers, however, there are some ME specialist physicians who prefer this criteria.

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- The most widely accepted is the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Clinical Case Definition and Guidelines for Medical Practitioners.  An Overview of the Consensus Document,  known as the CCC (Canadian Consensus Criteria)

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- The simplest is the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) ME/CFS Clinicians’ Guide, which is part of the IOM's very comprehensive report Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness. This  criteria suggests a  new name for the illness, Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID), which is confusing, and has not been adopted. These IOM criteria place the symptom of post exertional malaise (PEM) at the center of the diagnosis. As this criteria captures a broader ME/CFS cohort (including ME patients)  than those cited above, the IOM criteria is seen by many as a screening, rather than diagnosing criteria.

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- For children and adolescents: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Diagnosis and Management in Young People: A Primer (2017) Rowe, P. C., Underhill, R. A., Friedman, K. J., Gurwitt, A., Medow, M. S., Schwartz, M. S., . . . Rowe, K. S. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 5(121). doi: 10.3389/fped.2017.00121

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• Take this article by Alma Pauw to your next dental appointment: It’s All About ME: Creating Awareness for Dental Hygienists about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

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