[Effect of ECT on chronic fatigue syndrome]

This is a case report of a 71-year-old woman with periodic depression manifested by atypical symptoms, i.e. extreme fatigue, who was successfully treated with ECT. At the onset of symptoms, about 30 years earlier, the patient had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and had been unable to walk for six years until she was successfully treated with ECT. The misdiagnosis of CFS/ME as depression is well described in the literature. The opposite - depression being diagnosed as CFS/ME - does not seem to have been previously reported.