Carol Baker knows all too well what it is like to live with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Ms Baker is one of the estimated 460,000 Australians affected CFS or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

She has been suffering from CFS for 47 years and said many people were living undiagnosed with the condition.

Now, for the first time in Australia, sufferers of CFS now have access to a specialised clinic and smartphone application to help manage the debilitating condition.

Griffith University on the Gold Coast has opened a specialised clinic and launched a smart phone application for patients struggling with the condition.

Ms Baker said the opening was an acknowledgment that CFS was a serious and life threatening condition.

"You can't see chronic fatigue, you can only feel it," Ms Baker said.

"There are times when you are extremely tired, when you cannot get out of bed, you cannot move.

"When you literally have to crawl to go to the bathroom, you cannot feed yourself," she said.

Sorry, this video has expired Chronic fatigue syndrome clinic opens on Qld's Gold Coast ( Tom Forbes )

Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik said the clinic would provide individualised care for patients.

"The aim of this clinic is first and foremost to tailor individual management plans and then from that feed that information back along with the testing we do within the research centre," she said.

Patients wanting treatment at the clinic need to be referred by their general practitioner.

The smart phone application – CliniHelp - was also launched in conjunction with the opening.

It allows clinicians to accurately monitor the progress of patients who record their symptoms and monitor changes in their condition.

Queensland Science Minister Ian Walker was at the clinic opening and app launch.

He said the technology would assist patients and help reduce health care costs.

"This app is a very practical way to cap costs because it means that patients do a lot of the work themselves," he said.

"They do it practically, they do it immediately and then I think the important thing is that the clinicians can then interpret the data.

"So I think it will take pressure off our resources but more importantly it will help those 86,000 Queenslanders who have this disease.

The clinic has the backing of the Alison Hunter Memorial Foundation which supports biomedical research into chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Alison Hunter, 19, died from complications arising from CFS/ME in 1996 and her mother Christine Hunter said the clinic would help doctors who sometimes struggle to diagnose the condition.

"Doctors spend a lot of time trying to help but with no real guidance," she said.

"Patients with ME/CFS can be very reactive to treatments and it's a wonderful facility. There's nowhere like it in Australia."

Griffith University researchers are also trying to discover the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, which predominantly affects people aged in their 40 and 50s.