The new Chronic Fatigue Syndrome HealthPathway has undergone an intensive amount of work by one of our HealthPathways Clinical Editors, Dr Sarah Mollard.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID), remains a complicated and poorly understood disease.
CFS can be diagnosed with a careful history, a thorough examination, and appropriate blood tests to rule out any other significant disease. A step-by-step guide to assist general practitioners with diagnosis and investigations that can be undertaken is available in the ‘Assessment’ section of the CFS HealthPathway.
Managing CFS is a long-term challenge for the patient and family, and best practice is not well defined by the evidence. General practitioners may play a valuable role of providing long-term trusted support while the patient explores different management strategies. The ‘Management’ section describes a structured management approach, and important principles for patient self-management including pacing, which the patient can use to manage daily activities , sleep hygiene, and advice about exercise and stress management. The pathway also covers common questions about the role of pharmacological treatments, cognitive behavioural therapy and complementary and alternative medicines.
The ‘Referral’ section provides links to several referral pathways, including specialist multidisciplinary fatigue clinics.
Links to education and further information resources can be found in the ‘For health professionals’ section.
There are also informative links that can be provided to patients, along with links to sources that were referred to when developing the HealthPathway.
For a list of all localised pathways see:
Mid and North Coast Localised Pathways
Username: manchealth
Password: conn3ct3d
For further information about HealthPathways contact:
- Fiona Ryan (MNC)Â [email protected]
- Kerrie Keyte (NNSW)Â [email protected]