With an illness like diabetes, doctors are able to take a blood sample and accurately diagnose the condition. With M.E., there isn't a laboratory test to confirm or diagnose the illness.
Instead your doctor will need to do several things before finally deciding what's wrong with you:
Firstly your doctor will ask you lots of questions about your recent medical history. You can help your doctor by writing down your symptoms and how you feel. It can be helpful to keep a simple diary to show them. A doctor can tell a lot from just listening to you.
They'll ask about your symptoms - whether you have sleep problems or pain. And how your symptoms affect your social life, school, college or work. They'll check that you're not depressed or suffering from any other emotional problems that might otherwise explain your symptoms.
They'll carry out urine and blood tests and possibly some other tests to rule out other illnesses, which have similar symptoms to M.E. Remember, if your tests are normal it doesn't mean there's nothing wrong or that you're faking the illness.
All this will take some weeks to happen and you may have to visit your GP several times. It can help to take someone like a parent or friend with you when you see your GP. This can really help if you are having difficulties explaining your symptoms, remembering what is discussed or if you need a bit of moral support. Your GP may ask another doctor to see you to help them reach or confirm a diagnosis. See The medical team for more info.
They should be able to tell you quite early on whether they think you may have an illness like M.E. The Chief Medical Officer's report on CFS/ME recommends that when you've been off school for 15 days or more your doctor should start to investigate whether it's M.E. or something with similar symptoms.
Some doctors may never have cared for someone with M.E. before so may not be very confident in diagnosing the condition. Unfortunately there are also a small minority of doctors who don't believe in the illness because there is no diagnostic test and because they think there is not enough scientific evidence. If you are finding it difficult to get a diagnosis or if you are having problems establishing a good relationship with your GP, you may find it helpful to read the Action for M.E. information sheet NHS healthcare for people with M.E.
It can be frightening to go through tests and be asked so many questions. It can also be scary to feel so sick and not know why. When your doctor can confirm what's wrong it can sometimes be a real relief - to finally have a name for your illness. It can also help that you know other illnesses have been ruled out.
Diagnosing M.E. is like doing a jigsaw puzzle - looking at all the pieces, deciding where they fit and gradually building a picture - piece by piece.
To read more on the Chief Medical Officer's Report see Campaigns
For more information on your rights to treatment see Your rights
Information produced July 2003
Updated June 2004
