AHMF: 98 Conference: Scott

Nine year CFS case study - male

Dr L Scott

Dr Lorna Scott, a Sydney general practitioner, presents a case which illustrates a well-educated professional male who has been disabled by CFS for 9 years. Being his marital partner, she has observed the chronic remitting and relapsing course of his illness at first hand. Relapses included episodes of extreme sleep disturbance, impaired alertness and concentration accompanied by disabling fatigue, muscle weakness and bowel disturbance.

Successful treatment strategies have included: diagnosis and treatment of bowel infections that included, giardia, yersinia in the ileum, and oral and oesophageal candida; maximising absorption of nutrients through supplements; improving digestion through the use of bitter herbs and digestive enzymes; treating chronic constipation; organising good eating and sleep patterns; and coming to terms emotionally with the chronic need to rest as a recuperative necessity. Rest has been very important, also learning to resist the urge to work, exercise, achieve to maximal capacity in the "window of opportunity" when energy becomes suddenly and unpredictably available.

As a clinical psychologist, this patient witnessed and treated many depressed patients prior to his illness. He himself suffered a depressive episode. This case history contrasts the enormous difference in flavour between his experience of depression as a psychological entity, with the depressed functioning and despair that results from chronic physical debility.