Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which is also called Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME) or Encephalomyelitis, is a debilitating, often painful and isolating condition with many complex symptoms.

It is a recognised medical condition, but the cause is yet unknown. At present there is no cure but a good management plan can enable most young people to make a good or full recovery. At least 240,000 people have ME/CFS in the UK and at least 25,000 are children and young people from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Symptoms
The symptoms published by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are: Debilitating fatigue with all of the following features:

• new or with a specific onset (not lifelong)
• persistent and/or recurrent
• unexplained by other conditions
• has resulted in a substantial reduction in activity level
• characterised by post-exertional malaise and/or fatigue, typically delayed, for example by at least 24 hours, with slow recovery over several days

And one or more of the following symptoms:

• sleep problems
• muscle and/or joint pain without evidence of inflammation
• headaches
• painful lymph nodes (glands in the neck and groin)
• sore throat
• cognitive dysfunction (difficulty thinking, etc)
• physical or mental exertion makes symptoms worse
• general malaise or 'flu-like' symptoms
• dizziness and/or nausea
• heart palpitations in the absence of identified cardiac pathology.

These symptoms fluctuate in severity and may change in nature over time. Patients usually fall into 'mild', 'moderate' or 'severely' affected depending on severity of the symptoms.