Comment on:
Randomised controlled trial of graded exercise in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome. [BMJ. 1997]
Managing chronic fatigue syndrome in children. [BMJ. 1997]
Editor—“Editor’s choice” in the issue of 7 June states, “we agree that myalgic encephalomyelitis (or chronic fatigue syndrome) is a serious condition” and “all conditions have a mental and physical component.” This is the stance of the patient organisations supporting patients with this condition. Unfortunately, some doctors have trivialised this illness; ridiculed patients and their supporters; and subjected a few of them, including children, to oppressive, perhaps even abusive, forms of treatment. Hopefully, this is now a thing of the past. We need, as Harvey Marcovitch says, to explore what might be done to help them.
You can read the rest of this comment here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2127632/pdf/9361550.pdf
Source: Franklin AJ. Graded exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome. Including patients who rated themselves as a little better would have altered results. BMJ. 1997 Oct 11;315(7113):947; author reply 948. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2127632/