Jan's column: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Recent news is that a virus has been discovered for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). It still has to be confirmed but it seems to be definitely the case that a virus is connected with the syndrome. This discovery will drastically change the attitude towards chronic fatigue syndrome and towards the patients, both medically and socially. In the past, patients suffering from CFS were usually not taken seriously. They were seen as having no real disease; as if they were feigning their complaints, as if it was all in their mind. Consequently, insurance companies often did not want to pay for this condition.

Now that a virus has been discovered, the insurance companies will have to pay out. The doctors will treat patients with CFS as real patients and will understand them much better.

This change is quite strange in a way, especially for the patients. For them basically, nothing has changed; their symptoms are the same. It is only the label that allows them to be taken seriously. This happens quite often in ‘normal’ medicine. Patients who are not understood are sent away and treated as charlatans or deceivers. Doctors often use the expression "Madam, you have no disease." This is very confusing for patients because, for them, the complaints are very real, so how can a doctor say that they have nothing?

Scientifically, this situation is very undesirable. In the past, the virus was also present but the fact that it was not known made doctors treat it as a non-disease. In homeopathy, this situation does not occur. The symptoms are always taken seriously; they are what they are. For homeopathy, the chronic fatigue syndrome has basically not changed with the discovery of the virus and it will continue to be treated as before. The knowledge of the virus is a welcome addition but symptoms and treatment remained unchanged.