Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Idiopathic Chronic Fatigue, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Conditions
Keywords
Idiopathic Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic encephalomyelitis
Brief summary
The investigators' long-term goal is to identify, and then provide general practitioners with evidence-based recommendations for therapeutic interventions for unexplained chronic fatigue (UCF). The investigators' central hypothesis guiding this application is that some complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners have developed management approaches that are more helpful to patients with UCF than usual care.
Detailed description
An objective is to identify certain types of clinicians (or individual physicians) who appear to have identified effective treatments for patients with UCF, or to find that clinicians who report themselves to be effective are not. Study subjects will be UCF patients new to the practice of one of four groups of participating clinicians: 1) a control group of MDs in practice-based research networks, 2) MDs trained in CAM, 3) naturopathic doctors (non MDs trained in special naturopathic schools), and 4) MDs who specialize in chronic fatigue. Our rationale for this comparison is that its successful completion will potentially guide future searches for effective medical strategies for the treatment of UCF that may have been developed outside the mainstream medical community. It may also provide necessary information for follow-up studies that will help to identify specific effective treatments. This information includes which clinicians provide the best treatments (as evidenced by having patients with the best results), what are the characteristics of patients who respond to a particular treatment, how the data collection procedures might need to be refined and what sample sizes are necessary.
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
University of Utah
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
21 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
1. Age 21 through 65. 2. Has severe debilitating fatigue that substantially reduces the quality of life. 3. Does not have any organic, psychological, or lifestyle problems that are the primary disorder and are likely to be the cause of this fatigue (see exclusionary criteria) 4. The severe, unexplained fatigue has persisted for at least six months. 5. Has not been previously treated by current physician for chronic fatigue. 6. Can speak and read English. 7. Is not pregnant or planning to become pregnant within six months. 8. Has a telephone.
Exclusion criteria
No known history of: 1. Bipolar disorder 2. Psychosis 3. Major Depressive Disorder 4. Sleep disorder 5. Anemia 6. Thyroid disease 7. Rheumatoid Arthritis 8. Systemic Lupus 9. Cancer 10. Heart disease 11. Liver disease
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Differences among four groups of clinicians with respect to patient treatment outcome | Six months |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed