The Young ME Sufferers Trust www.tymestrust.org March 2004 ====== In Tymes Magazine : on the new Canadian diagnostic criteria and the naming and categorisation of ME ====== Tymes Trust has issued a Statement on the Canadian Definition of ME/CFS (2003). In our opinion it is the best contemporary definition. It was developed for clinical practice and was compiled by physicians who have seen over 20,000 patients. It addresses many misunderstandings caused by ‘catch-all’ definitions, which have so disastrously affected research into treatments and clinical practice. We believe that under the Canadian Definition it is harder for people with ‘chronic fatigue’ to be misdiagnosed with ME/CFS. We also endorse the use of the name Myalgic Encephalomyelitis as used by the World Health Organisation along with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, listed as a neurological disease under ICD10 G93.3. To use another name means there is no official categorisation. There are arguments both for and against the ‘itis’ ending, meaning ‘inflammation’ but in our opinion the WHO name and categorisation should be respected. The Department of Health tells us it recognises the WHO categorisation. After years of campaigning by individuals, by the ME Alliance including Tymes Trust, and by the Countess of Mar, the WHO Collaborating Centre in London is removing its dual listing of CFS as a mental disorder and also a neurological disease. Instructions from the WHO in Geneva make it clear that there can be only one categorisation for any illness and ME is neurological. ====== Copyright (c) 2004 The Young ME Sufferers Trust