ME

abbreviation (Health and Fitness) Short for myalgic encephalomyelitis, a benign but debilitating and often long-lasting condition which usually occurs after a viral infection and causes headaches, fever, muscular pain, extreme fatigue, and weakness. Etymology: The initial letters of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. History and Usage: ME, which has also been known as post-viral fatigue syndrome or post-viral syndrome (because it so often follows a viral infection), or Royal Free or Iceland disease (after two famous unexplained outbreaks), has been the cause of considerable debate in the medical world since the late seventies. Although there have been documented cases of the symptoms associated with ME since the fifties, no definite cause could at first be found (some connection with coxsackieviruses was identified in the late eighties); it is really only during the eighties that ME was recognized as anything more than a psychosomatic condition by doctors and public alike. The syndrome tends to attack high achievers with a busy lifestyle, causing them to take months or even years to recover from what at first sight appeared to be no more than an attack of flu--hence the colloquial nicknames which have been applied to it, including yuppie flu. The abbreviation ME has been in common use since the early eighties. Post-viral syndrome, or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), is a mysterious illness, a chronic disease a generation of doctors dismissed as 'shirker's sickness'. Woman's Day (Melbourne) 4 Jan. 1988, p. 29 Maria-Elsa Bragg, 23, has been battling for more than two years against the mystery disease ME...The illness, full name Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, affects about 150,000 Britons, mostly women. Sunday Mirror 16 Apr. 1989, p. 9 My local bookshop has just given 'ME' (myalgic encephalomyelitis) the final seal of approval, its own shelf. British Medical Journal 3 June 1989, p. 1532