FOR years it has divided medical opinion. Sceptics have called it "yuppie flu" and believe it is a figment of the imagination, while sufferers say it has ruined their lives. The chronic tiredness condition, ME (Myalgic Encephalitis), affects dozens of East Lancashire people. Many have sought respite and specialist care from a consultant-led clinic. Now, to their despair, that has ended and medics have said the condition, otherwise known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), should be managed by a patient's GP. Chief reporter JASON HEAVEY talked to one sufferer.

SEVERAL years ago Sheila Fish had an idea.

She enjoyed fell walking and saw an opportunity to introduce it to pupils at St Augustine's RC High School, Billington. It was a typical move by a teacher who liked physical activity and the outdoors.

She was a member of Clitheroe Ramblers and the thought of starting a fell walking group for the youngsters at the school excited her.

Today, sitting at her home in Stonyhurst, Sheila is a pale shadow of her former self. She spends most of her week in bed - on a bad day 17 hours out of 24 - and her teaching career, cruelly cut short at the age of 51, is a just a memory.

Luckily, Sheila has managed to cope with her condition. For that, she owes a big debt of gratitude to Dr Norman Williamson, the former consultant immunologist at Royal Preston Hospital, whose clinic provided the only specialist treatment for East Lancashire sufferers. But his retirement has marked the end of the specialist ME clinic. It has now been discontinued and left sufferers without any specialist service.

The move has sparked anger and upset among sufferers who have launched a protest campaign to try and get an alternative service introduced.

Sheila, 55, said: "At first, I started struggling with my energy levels, but I had no idea what was happening.

"I had some time off work with a flu-like virus, which I had had before, and I then got sinusitis. It is quite traumatic when you feel like you are not getting any better.

"My sick notes eventually put my illness down to chronic fatigue. But there was no treatment. I read books, but had no idea what was going on.

"Eventually, I finished work where I had taught for 17 years. But I was not psychologically prepared for retirement. People who retire early normally have their health.

"My life really went to pot at first and I could not do much. But I have learned to manage the condition. I only go shopping if I have to and I do most by mail order.

"I used to be very sociable, but now it is an effort to have a conversation on the telephone. My concentration levels are affected and so is my short-term memory.

"People are sceptical and you can understand what they are thinking. When I do go out I probably don't look ill. But what people don't realise is that in order to go out I would probably have rested for a couple of days before.

"I only got to grips with the condition when I started to see Dr Williamson. He told me that it was not all in the mind and that I had a serious illness." The term ME is virtually defunct among the medical profession, according to Dr Stephen Morton, East Lancashire's director of public health. He said there were no plans for any Lancashire health authorities to pay for an alternative service.

Dr Morton said: "Dr Williamson's replacement does not consider ME to be part of immunology.

"The term ME has fallen out of use and the Royal College of General Practitioners, Physicians and Psychiatrists recently issued a joint statement saying that a specialist approach to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome had become a minority view.

"The medical consensus now is that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome does not fall into the workload of an immunologist.

"We would expect CFS to be treated and managed within general practice and if GPs have concerns they should refer patients to a consultant physician."

The Blackburn and District ME/CFS Support Group has more than 150 members and covers the whole of East Lancashire. Its next meeting is tomorrow at Wilpshire Methodist Church Hall at 7.30pm. For more information call group leader Audrey Attwood on 01254 248390.

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