I received this short email from Madeleine Hatlo:
Dear Joan,
Thank you for your debate article. We have a lot of contributions sent to us these days, and unfortunately we don’t have space for this one in our paper.
Best regards,
Madeleine Hatlo
Debattansvarlig, Dagbladet
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So, they are not taking forward a debate related to my letter.
I sent the following back. It'll be for information only. They clearly don't want to engage in debate. Nope. Sad.
Dear Madeleine,
That is disappointing. I hope you reconsider.
People with ME are often misunderstood, vulnerable and due to absence of good quality medical care will end up spending a lot of money on things like the Lightening Process. That is shocking in 2020.
As a neurological disease, often a highly debilitating and severe one, there needs to be clarity so that patients are not misled. Publications such as Dagbladet play an important role in the dissemination of information and sharing debate.
Some further information for you to think on:
Prof Malcolm Hooper’s Magical Medicine – How to make a Disease Disappear may well help you too:
http://www.investinme.org/Documents/Library/magical-medicine.pdf
Whilst this document is now perhaps a bit dated it does provide a comprehensive round up of the medical evidence for ME and shenanigans that have gone on to minimise this information and to largely view ME as psychological/psycho-social problem.
In 2015, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), now the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), published a report on ME/CFS called “Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness.” The IOM committee summarized the evidence base and proposed redefining the diagnostic criteria to facilitate timely diagnosis and to improve understanding of the illness among healthcare professionals and the public:
https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/healthcare-providers/diagnosis/iom-2015-diagnostic-criteria.html
Full report can be found here:
https://www.nap.edu/resource/19012/MECFScliniciansguide.pdf
Prof Brian Hughes’s article may help you to understand more:
https://thesciencebit.net/2019/03/2...k-twice-before-accusing-them-of-trolling-you/
I’ve also attached two documents detailing the disease ME (Canadian and International criteria) which are well used within medicine and research to understand the condition well.
I hope that Dagbladet you will reconsider and engage in a debate about ME, the psychologization of their condition and the abuse and neglect that this can cause. It has gone on for decades and has caused enormous distress to patients and their families.
Regards,
Joan Crawford
Chartered Counselling Psychologist
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Perhaps David will have more luck
