When you're ill with M.E., your GP (short for General Practitioner) will be one of the people who will look after you. A GP is a doctor working at a surgery or health centre near to where you live. Your GP will have other medically trained people working with them such as nurses.
Some people with M.E. will go to the hospital for tests. These may be blood tests and other investigations depending on what your problems are. Some people can be admitted to hospital to stay overnight or longer. See A guide to hospitals for more information.
If you're under the age of 18 you may be cared for by a paediatrician - a doctor who has special training in the medical care of children. They can work in hospitals and in the community. Some paediatricians know a lot about M.E. and others are experts in other medical conditions.
If you are over the age of 18 you may be referred to a doctor who has a special interest in looking after adults with M.E. Your GP may also refer you to another doctor if they are unsure about diagnosing you or need advice on the management of your illness.
Your doctor - whether it is your GP, paediatrician or specialist, can be helpful and supportive in many practical ways - they can help with any educational or work issues and can support you and your parents/carer if applying for social security benefits.
It can take several weeks before your medical team will be sure that you have M.E. See Diagnosis for more information.
Tips
1. Keeping a simple diary of your symptoms can be helpful for you to see how your illness changes from day to day and whether certain things make your symptoms worse. It can also be really useful for your medical team to see this and helps you to stay a bit more in control of your medical care.
2. If you have questions that you want to ask the medical team, write them down beforehand, as it's easy to forget! Take notes of any advice or instructions your doctor gives you, or get a parent or carer to do this for you. Request written information on a particular problem.
3. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask a parent or carer to get the healthcare team to explain things in a way that you understand. The medical profession can sometimes use words that don't make a lot of sense unless you are a doctor so don't be afraid to tell them you don't understand what they are saying.
4. If you're unhappy about what is happening to you, or if you feel uncomfortable about any aspect of your medical care, it's really good to talk about your worries with a parent, carer or another adult. If you feel able to talk to the medical person concerned this can also be helpful. Sometimes simple misunderstandings can become bigger problems as time goes on, so don't bottle up any concerns.
5. Remember, it's your body so try and get as involved in your medical care as your health allows.
6. Your doctor should make you aware of all available treatments and present you and your parents or carer with choices where possible.
Information produced July 2003
Updated June 2004
