Misdiagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome
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The misdiagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome is very common, this takes the form of misdiagnosis, underdiagnosis or overdiagnosis.
- misdiagnosis - diagnosing another illness or medical condition instead of ME or CFS, for example depression, medically unexplained physical symptoms, or the symptom chronic fatigue
- underdiagnosis - failing to diagnose ME or CFS in patients meeting diagnostic criteria, e.g. blaming lifestyle factors for symptoms, or referring to patients as tired all the time or as being in good health
- overdiagnosis - diagnosing ME or CFS when it is not present, when the patient meets exclusion criteria from ME or CFS, especially diagnosing CFS instead of chronic fatigue or idiopathic chronic fatigue
- overdiagnosis - when CFS is diagnosed or referred interchangably with another illness, e.g., regarding all fibromyalgia patients as having CFS or using myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) to refer to patients meeting CFS diagnostic criteria but not ME diagnostic criteria.
