Search results

Doesn’t this raise the possibility that what we are seeing is a neurological condition. Further I assume the ‘improved symptoms’ are self reported and as such there is the possibility that there was no objective change, with the failure to identify any changes in brain function rather being...

This is interesting given people with ME frequently (but not universally) find they are unable to tolerate alcohol. If, as is likely, a significant aspect of Long Covid is Covid-19 triggered ME, then we would expect significant numbers of those with Long Covid to develop alcohol intolerance...

Thank you, another excellent resource. We do need a good book or documentary pulling all this information together and making it more generally accessible.

I signed into Amazon to up rate the existing reviews, and ended up adding my own:

An excellent review.

Very much my experience too. My relapses can be associated either with single episodes of over exertion, where I feel it is easier to attribute a causal relationship, or following periods of general increased activity during a spell of relative good health when it is harder to attribute a...

A balanced piece by @Valerie Eliot Smith and I hope the ME organisations can produce a collective or at least a coordinated response.

At least even if Said Javid moves one sooner rather than later at least he has stated his position very publicly and that is on the record. If subsequent ministers seek to change direction, Javid’s words can be cited and they hopefully would feel the need to have good evidence to defend their...

I had heard of this idea some time ago, and it is not necessarily as irrational as it might first sound. If you think of depression, particularly what used to be called endogenous depression, as a biomedical condition, then feeling depressed arises in this situation from the neurochemistry, and...

Perez was also involved in a series of articles (discussed in threads here) describing current practice/good practice in treating FND in relation to the various professions allied to medicine. These articles present a whole set of interventions and clinical management strategies as well...

I have not looked at the paper itself, but I assume much of the measuring of outcomes was by existing mental health questionnaires that fail to distinguish between mental health issues that limit people’s life and physical health issues that restrict what they are physically able to do. If this...

I will need to think about this, but I am not sure I understand the point here. Do we know that there are people with ME that do/would not experience Long Term Symptom Exacerbation in at least some circumstances? I personally would see LTSE as an aspect of sustained or repeated PEM, and as such...

The logical fallacy in going from the specific to the general is centre stage in this argument. It is as rational to say that given glucose may boost short term athletic performance in a healthy person in specific circumstances, we should regularly give diabetics glucose without reference to...

It does seem that a lot of researchers focus on specific aspects of Long Covid without any attempt at understanding the bigger picture. One is reminded of the parable of the blind men describing an elephant, made more confusing by the fact that we don’t even know if the room contains any other...

Yes, for us the BPS model has been ‘psychologised’, where even someone like Prof Crawley, who claims to regard ME as a biomedical condition explicitly believes that the underlying physiology can be corrected by talking therapies and behavioural change (and that anyone who disagrees with her...

My first suspicion was that this uses extracts from a longer hopefully clearer piece selected by someone who did not quite understand what they were reading. From their website: “Our courses are co-designed, alongside people with lived experience and professionals by experience, to help you...

I second @Trish. Also given the variability of individuals’ health people with ME and indirectly their carers on such a list might need to drop in or out on a regular basis. I think it is more practical to identify charities or patient groups willing to advertise the need for volunteers for...

A fascinating avenue of research: a possibility of answering the hypotheses/speculation that some conditions are the result of chronic viral infections, obviously including ME suggested to result from chronic EBV infection or other chronic infection of a to be identified retro virus. Though I...

Great to see these results. I had hoped there would be people somewhere doing the same in relation to Covid 19, there was such an opportunity to look at a whole population in the early stages of the pandemic and then follow up over several years.

Though there is no guarantee that the BPS oriented will recognise themselves in the criticism. For example such as Prof Crawley say they understand ME is a biomedical condition while still believing it can be cured by talking, exercise and lifestyle changes. We should not underestimate the...