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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics

Specialist services are vital to help people with ME/CFS

A blue stethoscope rests on a doctor's laptop keyboard beside a blood pressure gauge
‘When I first claimed sickness benefits, I had to pay privately to see a consultant as the DWP would not accept evidence from GPs.’ Photograph: Tek Image/Science Photo Library/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF

George Monbiot (Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed, 24 September) is right about one important thing: people with severe ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome) deserve much better care than many have received. But two different questions are being conflated: how patients have been treated, and what the evidence tells us about the causes and treatment of ME/CFS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence no longer recommends the old form of graded exercise therapy, in which activity was increased according to a predetermined schedule regardless of symptoms.

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