Three ME patients reveal the accusations they have endured

It's a controversial condition that has been swept under the carpet for decades amid claims that it is merely psychological.

Instead, the now-proven truth is myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is physical - and not just made up by mentally-ill patients.

Millions of lives around the world are being destroyed by the unrelenting condition, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Sufferers are often left house-bound, confined to their beds, reliant on feeding tubes and even needing help to get them in the shower.

But, despite evidence proving it is real coming to the forefront, ME remains incurable and dozens of people wrongly think it is just 'laziness'.

In the hope of ending ignorance surrounding the crippling ailment, MailOnline has heard from three long-standing sufferers.

Heartbreakingly, they revealed how doctors have blamed them for wasting their time, branded them attention-seekers and told their condition doesn't exist. 

Before being struck down by ME, Jennifer Chittick was out-going, hard-working and excited about her future as a primary school teacher (pictured at her graduation)

Before being struck down by ME, Jennifer Chittick was out-going, hard-working and excited about her future as a primary school teacher (pictured at her graduation)

ME Association medical adviser Dr Charles Shepherd said: 'ME is a condition that is all too easy for us to ignore because those afflicted by the condition are unseen by society.

'So we really welcome how MailOnline has given a platform for these three women to tell their heart-wrenching stories of life with this devastating, misunderstood disease.

'Sadly, there are another 250,000 people who also suffer from ME in the UK - and their own personal tales of tragedy remain largely hidden behind closed curtains.

'It is incredible to comprehend that some doctors still refuse to accept ME as a real medical condition, despite the countless stories of intense physical debility.' 

I have been treated like a hypochondriac for a decade - now my condition is worse than ever

Before being struck down by ME, Jennifer Chittick was out-going, hard-working and excited about her future as a primary school teacher.

Now, a decade after falling ill, the 31-year-old is weaker than ever, completely bed-bound and reliant on her retired parents to care for her.

During her agonising battle to get diagnosed, doctors repeatedly dismissed her debilitating symptoms as being merely a product of her imagination.

And she claims this delay, fuelled by ignorance among the medical community, is the reason she is as poorly as she is today.

Ms Chittick, from Glasgow, said: 'Throughout my time with ME, the treatment I've received from doctors has been deplorable.

'I am treated like a hypochondriac and an inconvenience, a blinkered patient who refuses to get the help her doctors believe she needs.'

GP appointments were a weekly occurrence when she first became ill in 2009, months after graduating from university and landing her first teaching job.

She said: 'I was extremely nauseous, exhausted, dizzy and found it hard to concentrate. I began having to take more and more time off.

Now, a decade after falling ill, the 31-year-old is weaker than ever, completely bed-bound and reliant on her retired parents to care for her (pictured at home in bed)

Now, a decade after falling ill, the 31-year-old is weaker than ever, completely bed-bound and reliant on her retired parents to care for her (pictured at home in bed)

WHAT IS CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME? 

Some 250,000 people in Britain suffer from the condition, which comes with flu-like symptoms, extreme tiredness and mental lethargy that can last for years.

Other symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), or myalgic encephalopathy (ME), include disturbed sleep, poor memory and reduced concentration.

The cause of the illness is unclear, provoking the heated debate that has lasted for decades among the medical community. 

Some experts think the disease is triggered by a virus, in a similar way to glandular fever. It has also been linked to infections, operations and accidents.

But skeptics think it is merely a psychological condition because of a lack of a physical cause, leading to a stigma that has led to sufferers being dismissed as having nothing more than 'yuppie flu' because it appeared to only strike young professionals when it rose to prominence in the 1980s. 

Some patients return to full health and others deteriorate progressively, however, most fluctuate between good and bad periods.

There is no cure for CFS, with the majority of treatments to reduce symptoms being ineffective. They include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), graded exercise therapy and medications such as antidepressants.

The World Health Organization and the Department of Health and Social Care recognise CFS as a medical condition. 

Worldwide it is believed that 17 million people suffer with CFS, according to the ME Association.

'Eventually I became so weak that I couldn't dress myself or get off the couch and had to stop work altogether.'

In March 2010, she collapsed at home and was whisked away to an unnamed hospital – the three days she spent there were 'amongst the worst of my life'.

Ms Chittick claims to have heard cruel nurses mutter the phrase 'attention-seeker' under their breath when they walked past her laying helplessly in bed.

And before she discharged with no answers to her ailment, medics allegedly refused to help her sit up in bed, give her water or even let her shower.

'Despite my condition deteriorating drastically, I was repeatedly told that I'd be better after a good sleep and be back at work within a fortnight,' Ms Chittick said.

'As time dragged on and I became worse, my doctors became frustrated and angry with me. They were insistent that there was nothing seriously wrong with me.

'They started suggesting I was suffering from anxiety and depression and complained about the 'considerable amount of time' I was taking up.'

It was only in late 2011, when she paid to see a private neurologist based in London who specialises in the condition that she was diagnosed with ME.

She said: 'Receiving the diagnosis was confirmation that everything my family and I were going through wasn't the result of my imagination or hypochondria.'

Over the years, Ms Chittick claims GPs have refused to visit her at home on the grounds that 'ME doesn't affect your ability to walk into the surgery'.

She also alleges they have shouted at her, asked her to accept her illness is anxiety, and refuse to carry out tests that may have proven she had ME.

In hope of combating her symptoms, doctors gave her cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), provided by mental health specialists.

But the hour-long sessions failed to work. Nurses said it was because of a lack of motivation, a claim that was 'soul-destroying' for Ms Chittick to hear.

Gradual exercise therapy also proved unsuccessful. The physiotherapist treating her reportedly said this was because she was not trying hard enough.

Ms Chittick said the lack of belief that her condition was real made her feel 'even more frustrated, alone and hopeless'.

'I strongly believe that if I'd received different treatment from doctors, I would not be as ill as I am today,' she said.

'The stress that doctors have caused has been a disaster for my health and contributed massively to the living nightmare of the last ten years.'

She added: 'It should not have taken over a year to receive a diagnosis… I should not have had to struggle and fight to get the care and support I need.'

Ms Chittick hopes the 'damaging attitudes' she has encountered from doctors will one day be a 'thing of the past' and sufferers will be treated with the respect they deserve.

However, the founder of the SCREW ME support page which has several hundred followers on Facebook, isn't alone in her battle with ignorant medics.

For years doctors told Jo Moss she was suffering from anxiety and depression or that she would be less tired if she didn't sleep so much

For years doctors told Jo Moss she was suffering from anxiety and depression or that she would be less tired if she didn't sleep so much

I've been too weak to venture far my bed for six years - but doctors have said the condition causing my fatigue doesn't exist 

For years doctors told Jo Moss she was suffering from anxiety and depression or that she would be less tired if she didn't sleep so much.

Now, 13 years after she was diagnosed with ME, the 44-year-old has been too weak to get out of bed for six years and doctors still don't know how to help her.

WHAT IS THE PACE TRIAL? 

The 2011 PACE trial, published in The Lancet, was the largest trial to date of people with the mysterious and debilitating

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