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I used a £20 Wilko version of that in the house for several years! :laugh: (This was before I inherited my current chair.)

We had these chairs in the meeting area of our office, and that was true for me too. My chair has bare teak arms, but both the original owner (my granddad, who was 6" shorter than me) and I found that you can position yourself so that the arms are at a perfect height, and this, along with the...

I guess to test these things, you need to use clothing from the person rather than have them present, so that you can be sure it's not another kind of cue. Not that anyone would ever fund such a study anyway, but it's still an interesting thought!

This is a bit of an aside, but I wonder if dogs can detect whether or not someone is in PEM due to a tiny difference in their smell? They're such amazing animals that it wouldn't surprise me. And if they could, it's a potential biomarker. Probably a nonsensical idea, but...

I certainly found it worthwhile to get my wonderful 1970s Gimson & Slater rock 'n rest chair reupholstered, as I've never found anything as comfortable. A relative with a bad back also swears by his modern Ekornes Stressless chair too, though. It's slightly wider than mine, but is not a huge...

I also wonder whether some of this work is treading similar paths to those already followed in ME, and will ultimately produce similarly disappointing results. I hope not, of course, but when you get new researchers entering a field, it's inevitable that there'll be some reinventing of the wheel.

It seems to be part of a series on chronic pain called The Pain that Can't be Seen, which I think started this week.

Most daily living activities are actually a whole series of steps when you break them down, and that's the problem. I usually know from experience when I can start but not complete an activity such as showering without making PEM worse; I also know that if I start, I probably will complete it...

Had my F2F appointment today. I do appear to have lipoedema, but possibly not Dercum's, which is interesting. Some of my lipomas join up to form rafts, and this apparently may just be a feature of lipoedema. There are a couple of areas I get lipomas that aren't typical of lipoedema, but it...

Radio 4 has been promoting some recordings by CBeebies to help get children to sleep, which are called Calming Sounds. I tried listening to the sound of waves one night when I felt a bit overstimulated, and found it quite nice. Which sounds are pleasant vs unpleasant is a really individual...

We're normal human beings? Well, fancy that. ETA: Sorry, feeling sleep deprived and grumpy today!

I've been wondering what the new approach will be, given that the draft guideline only makes recommendations against treatments. That's sound enough, as we don't have any evidenced treatments, but it leaves patients in a zero-option limbo that's particularly difficult for the newly-diagnosed...

As a non-medic, the only thing I can think of is that ME appears to affect our bodies' ability to process sodium and simple sugars. Some of us suffer low blood pressure and fluid levels, and have to increase our salt intake to compensate; many report that consuming sugar seems to make their...

My resting heart rate is elevated slightly when I'm in PEM (I alway get immune-type symptoms and overstimulation), going from around 55-56 to 60-62. Not a drastic difference, but the RHR increase often appears ahead of the PEM and serves as a useful signal to go straight into rest mode. In my...

I saw another online comment yesterday from someone who (like me) found their function restored temporarily to normal after receiving the AZ vaccine. There does appear to be a subgroup of patients who benefit significantly from stimulation of their immune system, either after a vaccination...

Years ago I used to go on group hikes with a trigeminal neuralgia sufferer, whose pain could be triggered by any light touch on his face (including wind). Battling against a freezing easterly on the Yorkshire coast didn't seem to be a problem; he always said it was more likely to be set off by a...

I don't know, but at least I haven't had any ME-type disbelief from doctors about the symptoms I get if I eat potato products. Food intolerance was suggested to me as the most likely cause by the consultant at the gastrointestinal clinic I was referred to, as I'd had sudden-onset severe IBS...

I agree, it was! I find podcasts so much easier to access than videos.

In my experience it's employers, channelled through patients. Employers expect sick employees to Do Something to improve the situation, and so the employee is pressured to go back to the GP, who in turn tries to help. One example (of many over a working life): about 12 years ago I was signed...

Listening to it in instalments this morning. For anyone who finds certain electronic music tones physically painful, just skip the first 45 seconds (you won't miss important content). The music's hideous, at least to my autistic brain, but the spoken content is really clear at low volume and...