 ME sufferers are sometimes forced to give up work |
Around 150 campaigners gathered outside the Houses of Parliament on Sunday to call for more money to fund research into chronic fatigue syndrome. Action for ME is calling for government cash to find a cure for the condition which costs the UK some �3.5bn a year.
The charity claims just 1% of that, �35 million would help the country's 240,000 sufferers.
Symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome range from extreme tiredness to unexplained muscle pains.
Priority status
The charity's spokeswoman Samantha Radford said the campaign had gone "really well".
As well as the gathering outside the Palace of Westminster, banners were displayed on Westminster Bridge.
"Most people are not well enough to come along, so the banners we used were made up from 5,000 postcards sent in by people who have the illness," she added.
The Medical Research Council has said that chronic fatigue syndrome and ME is a neglected field and has given it priority status.
'Neglect'
Action for ME has gathered 28,000 signatures in support of a Commons petition asking the government for research cash.
The petition is set to be handed into the House of Commons in the next couple of weeks.
Chris Clark, chief executive of Action for ME, said: "People with ME have experienced 50 years of neglect.
"Thankfully the government is acting to remedy the absence of NHS services, but we are appealing to them to back this up by promoting scientific inquiry into the illness."
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