How can we help?
Who are we?
We are a team of specialist health professionals. We provide assessment and treatment for patients who have symptoms consistent with ME/CFS and who are aged 16 and over and are registered with a Portsmouth City GP. Our team is made up of a specialist occupational therapist, a specialist physiotherapist and a psychologist, along with administrative support.
How do I access the service?
Our service is accessed by GP referral. As part of the referral process we ask GPs to carry out a range of blood tests in order to exclude any other underlying condition that could be causing the symptoms.
What do we offer for patients?
We support GPs and other medical professionals with the process of diagnosing ME/CFS. Our treatments are based on a self-management approach. Any medical care would continue to be accessed via your GP. We help people to understand the condition and support them to find ways to stabilise the symptoms and build up their energy resources gradually. We work with people who are mildly or moderately affected and those who are severely affected.
Treatment is individually tailored to help each person to manage their symptoms and improve their functioning and overall quality of life. The approaches we use are recommended by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE). We offer both individual and group treatments. The length of sessions varies from up to an hour for individual sessions to 2 hours for group sessions, with breaks included.
Our treatments include the following components:
- Foundation Course – two educational sessions which explore the symptoms of ME/CFS, maintaining factors and an introduction to energy management techniques and that we will explore in more detail at future appointments.
- Energy management – this includes understanding different types of activity (cognitive, physical, emotional and social) and working together to find the right balance between activity and rest. We explore pacing, rest, routines, sleep habits and how to adapt activities to make them more manageable. We recognise that there is a risk of post-exertional malaise when people push past their energy limit so we support people to find a sustainable level of activity. If appropriate we can support people to gradually improve their abilities whilst staying within their energy limits.
- Relaxation and mindfulness training. Rest is a key aspect of managing ME/CFS and we support and encourage people to explore a variety of strategies.
- Psychological therapies to support people in coping with the condition and how it affects their lives.
- Physical functioning and mobility - this includes incorporating a level of movement into daily activities to maintain joint and muscle flexibility without worsening symptoms of ME/CFS. We aim to support people to have as much independence as possible in their activities, ranging from personal hygiene to activities of daily living, working and social interaction. Such movement is undertaken within the person's energy limits and avoids pushing through their boundaries of tolerance. We are able to offer individualised support to people who feel ready to progress their physical activity beyond their current activities of daily living and/or would like to incorporate physical activity or exercise into managing their ME/CFS.
- Relapse plans and coping with flare-ups.
- Support and advice with employment and education.
Living with ME/CFS can understandably affect a person’s mood and we therefore have close links with Talking Change. We can refer people to clinicians who have a comprehensive understanding of ME/CFS. Talking Change can provide specialist support for conditions such as anxiety, depression, OCD and PTSD.