Chch support group starting

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 19

Chch support group starting

M.E. could be more widespread In Christchurch and the surrounding area than the health authorities might care to admit. More than 100 people who think they have the disease telephoned a Christchurch woman, Mrs Sandra Hyder, who is forming a support group for sufferers, in the three days after she announced her intention. “Because of others unlikely to ring who may also have the disease, I think this is the tip of the iceberg,” says Mrs Hyder. Her daughter, Karen, a promising Canterbury representative swimmer, aged 14, has M.E. Between 12 and 15 of the callers have been diagnosed as having the disease, Mrs Hyder says. These include three in Christchurch. Two had been seen by a specialist and were put in touch with one another. They, thought they were the only sufferers in the area. Mrs Hyder says there are only a few general practitioners who are fully informed and understand the disease. She considers both G.Pj and $P Health Department have a responsibility to issue accurate in-

formation on M.E. so that warnings can be issued about the need for rest. She talked to one man in his thirties who had attempted to continue hard physical work with M.E. That was a year ago, and he has not worked since. Simply by not knowing that rest is essential, many others could be incapacitated, she adds. Mrs Hyder says that one specialist, who examined a patient referred to him by a general practitioner who suggested M.E. had been contracted, told the patient he could not make a diagnosis because there was no outbreak in the area. She says Both Peter Bradshaw, from the Dunedin support group, and Professor Campbell Murdoch, from the Medical School, would be visiting Christchurch to talk to sufferers and interested people. The Christchurch medical health officer, Dr W. Malpress, says M.E. is not being identified locally and a virus has not been identified as causing it. It was “a fairly well documented syndrome,” but to the department’s knowledge was not affecting people in Christchurch: