Chronic fatigue syndrome classed as psychological illness on work's absence documentation

[OliveK]

I am suffering from post viral fatigue after a horrific year of illness. Obviously I am hoping that this is reasonably short lived. But i am also aware that I could be on a pathway to CFS/ME/long covid.
I was looking into the absence procedures for work and they require you to classify your illness/reason for absence.
AIBU to feel uncomfortable with CFS to be listed in the Psychological category? It just seems to be harking back to all that yuppie flu bullshit. I'm not wildly comfortable with having a long term "Psychological illness" on my record. I mean no disrespect to anyone for whom that may be the case. But I am physically unwell!

If there’s no pathology then they can’t call it a physical illness

There suddenly seems to be an awful lot of fibromyalgia, CFS and post viral fatigue etc

Absolutely you are not being unreasonable.

What does no pathology mean? No symptoms?

@Welovecrumpets you sound sceptical?

It means there is no physical cause found.

No physical cause does not mean it is psychological. Unexplained infertility means no physical cause can be found, doesn’t mean it’s psychological.

It's officially a Neurological condition (although as it's a diagnosis of exclusion it's likely to cover several conditions).
It is definitely not a psychological condition, and any psychological therapy is focused on learning to cope with chronic illness and pacing rather than "treatment".

Like Fibromyalgia, there is no defining test that confirms CFS/ME so it's definition currently is neurological. Until further funding is put into research that's how it will stay.

I’m a nurse and whilst not the same I’m experiencing something causing physical symptoms that as a pp has said is classed as neurological but not psychological.

been having daily vomiting pretty much for 3 years, lost consciousness and ended up in a&e due to dehydration from it and all scans and endoscopies have come back normal, and bloods with no pathological cause found (so abnormality, disease etc) explaining symptoms so they call them functional disorders when they can’t find a physical cause

@Mercury2702 that sounds awful

Would I be reasonable to not tick the "psychological" box?

There is a neurological category.

@Whatevershallidowithmylife is there something somewhere that I could reference to confirm to my employers to say it shouldn't be in the psychological category?

The nearest at present is neurological, it’s definitely not psychological, nhs doesn’t consider it psychological and doesn’t treat as psychological either.

It is not a psychological illness and it doesn't have a certain cause, either physical or mental, but it manifests in the whole body. Silly to put it under 'psychological' as it isn't similar to other psychological disorders like mental health issues.

Can't imagine why there is a lot of post viral fatigue around after a viral pandemic.

It's just come from nowhere, can't imagine why.

Functional neurological disorders are that- neurological disorders that manifest in the body, of unknown aetiology (causes).

CFS is not considered a FND anyway, I don't think. I have been reading up about CFS/Long Covid and one obvious pathway is problems processing iron absorption, I also had this after Covid and have felt a bit better for taking iron supplements (although they are not well absorbed apparently due to the faulty processing).

I think it means theres no definitive test that can be done as its not a disease - it’s a diagnosis based on a range of symptoms that have been excluded for other diseases.
”Diagnosing fibromyalgia can be difficult as there's no specific test to diagnose the condition.
The symptoms of fibromyalgia can also vary from person to person and are similar to those of several other conditions”

I'm pretty sure that like fibromyalgia etc it used to be considered psychological (I was literally sent to a psychiatrist!)
I would not say it's psychological, I don't know what options you have to tick, is there viral or something?
You can check the NHS site etc and I would suggest to HR that they update their forms in line with current thinking

Yanbu. It's clear when people describe their CFS that the symptoms are very much aligned with very real neurological conditions like mine.

It's ignorant to imply it is psychological in basis when it is widely agreed that there is a physical cause (it's just not identified yet ). But then the tests to identify my condition have only been improved in the last few years, so many people who were told it was all in their head are now finding out that it wasn't

Quite. Such a mystery....

FND, CFS and Fibro have long been classified as ‘psychological’ illnesses. Simply because they can’t find any physical problems.

Neither NHS/NICE guidelines nor WHO classify as psychological so just refer to them. They both classify as neurological. That doesn't stop some medical professionals to not have caught up with the times though, so always useful to familiarise yourself with the guidelines to refer to if necessary

As norasand said, ME/CFS is classified as neurological. Hoping this link works...
https://meassociation.org.uk/medical-matters/items/classification-me-cfs/

Not true. Look up latest cfs....m.e ... fibro research... brain scans results etc. btw M.S was Apparantly psychological...until people started dieing from it. Watch your words.

When i was trying to get life insurance fibro...m.e..cfs was classed as psychological....i wasn't happy at their classification. Btw they wouldn't insure me
.because....it could be M.S or something... precise words...kid you not.

OP - Would you be as bothered if a health condition was being officially labelled neurological when you knew it WAS psychological?

I suspect not.

I suspect the real reason you're bothered is because you don't want people thinking you're 'mentally ill' (which can cause ALL manner of physical symptoms!)

Oh how far we haven't come...

Why are you "uncomfortable" about a psychological illness?

"Physically" unwell doesn't trump "psychologically unwell.\

Whilst you are not wrong for wanting an accurate record, your own language suggests a lot of prejudice.

You might want to look into long covid and such so you can educate yourself and stop saying such stupid things.

A general estimate is that 28%, of people who have had covid will develop long covid.

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/long-covid-fog/#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20carried%20out,million%20people%20in%20the%20UK.

No, come off it. That's not the issue. I have had mental health problems and am not ashamed to talk about them. But my physical (neurological) condition is very much physical and the treatments for it at therefore physical (and involve a mixture of medication and resting/not over exerting). (And it has so many overlaps with my friends symptoms -she has CFS)

People care because getting the right remedy and care is crucial