CFS,depression- Hads score

[shortandsweet14]

Hi everyone..I was recently diagnosed with CFS...i had been ill for a couple of years but the last 12 months have been the worst.. I was dismissed for my job in Dec due to my ill ill health..vO have recently been referred to a CFS clinic..And got my results yesterday...it stated I had moderate//severe cfs/me..At the appt I was asked if I had deppression, I said no, although i sometimes am abit low due to losing my job, and financial worries as I was refused esa and have no income.. However in the letter he stated I had depression and anxiety..Hads scoring 17/21..does anyone know what this is? Also he wanted mw tested for acrocyanosos? Again advice please ..I will be speaking to my Gp abt these next week, but its been bugging me..Thanks.

[mitty999]

Hi, I have had ME for many years and am now bedbound. There is so much controversy regarding ME and the other syndrome CFS, They are NOT the same . I think it is vitally important to find out if you have ME and not Chronic Fatigue from another disease. ME is a serious neurological illness that affects the brain and production of Mitochondria (energy for organs ).

I have studied the disease for many years. I will try to help you. First , please go online to The Hummingbirds` Foundation for ME. There the exact cutting edge description of ME and CFS.

There you will find most of the very latest Canadian Work on ME. ME does cause depression not just because of resulting daily problems but because often there are changes in the brain. Very few doctors understand this disease. I had to buy my doctor the latest book with cutting edge research on the subject.. Under no circumstances attempt exercise until you are positive in your own mind that you do NOT have ME. It has been proven that exercise will cause people with ME to get far worse. Hope this helps.

[Zebra68]

Reapply for ESA. include the letter/report from the consultant plus letters from everyone else who know what you're like on a daily basis. When you fill out the form, take your time to put in as much detail as possible. Don't be afraid of using plenty of extra sheets. Put in lots and lots of examples. And above all, remember if you cannot do something repeatedly, reliably, in a reasonable time and safely, then you cannot do it. Eg, you might be able to walk 100m in the morning to the end of your garden and back, but if you cannot do that every day, all day and in the few minutes it takes the average person, or in a busy supermarket with all the noise and hustle and bustle, then you cannot do it. You have to be brutally honest with yourself about these things. When you have to go for the medical, make sure you're having a really bad day. Take someone with you and take any walking aids etc too.

When it comes to your ME, try not to beat yourself up about it. It's a crappy disease and losing your job is awful, I remember. But it's not your fault. Being depressed and angry and upset is a waste of energy and energy is precious. It needs to be saved for the good things in life, like sitting outside on a sunny day listening to the birds singing.

You need to learn to listen to your body. It's not easy, but essential. If your body needs rest at the moment, then rest. Learning to pace yourself also helps. This is the art of alternating activities with rest (proper lying down rest). It can feel quite regimented at first, but it does help and gradually you can increase the length of the activities between rests. You can also use this to save energy for a special event or abandon it completely when you need to be bad for ESA and PIP medicals. The other trick is learning to stop doing something before you get tired. This is not easy, especially when things are not so good. Just don't expect to get it right all of the time. ME is for the majority a relapsing remitting disease. In the long term, it can be about learning what things are worth a few days recovering in bed for.

The last thing is to remember that you're not alone. There are plenty of local support groups out there, as well as the national ones, such as the ME Association or Action for ME. There are also lots on Facebook. Good luck xxx