5000 Styrians suffer from ME/CFS. Behind the combination of letters lies an insidious syndrome that deprives those affected of any quality of life – some can no longer even get out of bed. The first course on this subject has now started at Graz Med University.
Twelve medical students sit around the large table in the seminar room. Thomas Weber, an anesthetist with practices in Graz and St. Nikolai im Sausal, shows videos of those affected: Sandra (name changed) is in her late twenties and a teacher. She became infected with Covid at the end of 2023. ‘Since then I have had a fever every day, a sore throat, an increased heart rate of up to 160 even while walking, and difficulty sleeping…’ she sums up. “I am threatened with disability and social isolation. We patients are left alone.”
A second video shows Thomas Weber. All you see is a dark room, a little green light, you can make out a bed. The patient writes letters on the mattress with her index finger. Her parents try to guess what she wants to say. “The patient is 18 years old,” says Weber.
The further the disease progresses, the worse it becomes
That’s how bad ME/CFS, short for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, can get. “Some patients even have to be artificially fed.” Under stress, symptoms such as full-body pain, brain fog, and sleep disorders can worsen dramatically – sometimes forever.
Currently 5,000 Styrians are affected, two-thirds are women, most between 30 and 50 years old. “In 80 percent of cases, ME/CFS is caused by an infectious disease,” says Weber. This could be Corona, but also EPV (Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever) or flu.
Corona led to explosion
Since the pandemic, cases have exploded and the syndrome is gaining more public attention. The Med University of Graz has now taken a groundbreaking step: a course on ME/CFS is being offered in preparation for the clinical internship year. “If students are made aware of this, it is an important step,” says Thomas Wegscheider of the Clinical Skills Center of the Medical University. Because if they can recognize the disease and get help quickly, ME/CFS can be prevented from worsening. However, there is no cure.
Anesthetist Weber, who specialized in this disease as a pain expert, knows how urgently a course is needed: “Of the twelve students, only three had ever heard of it. Most doctors don’t know what ME/CFS is.” Patients often undergo an odyssey from several doctors and are wrongly diagnosed with a mental illness. “Despair is especially great in serious cases.”
There is already a center for the disease in Vienna – in the future there will be such a contact point in every federal state. There was nothing concrete to learn from politics in Styria on Tuesday, only this: “I am particularly pleased that the Medical University of Graz is taking this important step to raise awareness in our society,” said State Councilor for Health Karlheinz Kornhäusl (ÖVP).
Until then, Weber says it is important to inform doctors and patients about this so that they can receive help quickly.
Source: Krone
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