Strassheim, Victoria, Newton, Julia L, Collins, Tracy · Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021 · DOI
This study listened to five people living with the most severe form of ME/CFS—those who are bedbound, housebound, or wheelchair-dependent—to understand what their daily lives are really like. By interviewing them and analyzing their stories, researchers found three main themes: how they experience living with the illness, the major challenges it creates, and how they try to manage their condition. This research helps doctors and scientists better understand the needs of the most severely affected patients.
People with severe ME/CFS are rarely included in research because their illness makes participation difficult, leaving their needs largely invisible in the medical literature. This study prioritizes their voices and experiences, providing insights that can help healthcare providers and researchers better support and engage with the most severely affected population. Understanding these lived experiences is crucial for developing appropriate services and recognition for this highly vulnerable group.
This qualitative study does not establish cause-and-effect relationships, measure disease progression across a population, or identify biomarkers for severe ME/CFS. The findings reflect the experiences of five individuals and cannot be generalized to all people with severe ME/CFS. It also does not test any interventions or provide evidence for specific treatment approaches.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Strassheim, Victoria, Newton, Julia L, & Collins, Tracy (2021). Experiences of Living with Severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020168
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-strassheim-2021-experiences-living,
author = {Strassheim, Victoria and Newton, Julia L and Collins, Tracy},
title = {Experiences of Living with Severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.},
journal = {Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.3390/healthcare9020168},
note = {PubMed: 33562474},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/strassheim-2021-experiences-living},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/strassheim-2021-experiences-living
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