Status
Not open for further replies.
I missed this gem the first time I read the FT article:



I wonder if Dr Nicholson is aware that his KCL colleague and “expert in the field” once claimed: “we believe that understanding of the postviral fatigue syndrome has been hindered by doctors who suffer from the condition also researching it. Though medical training affords insight into the subjective effects of illness, it is axiomatic that objectivity is not similarly enhanced” (https://www.bmj.com/content/296/6623/696)

I forgot who he was, but Nicholson's an FND mate of Sharpe, Wessely, Carson, Stone, etc.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-tim-nicholson

I expect that the BPS crew will be keen to set up or influence/shape any Covid-19 patient groups that they can.
 
I have heard and read about many post-COVID long haulers experiencing mood swings. Are these individuals at heightened risk of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression etc I have never /read/heard this complaint coming from the ME community, and really hope this doesn't get mixed into the salad.
 
I forgot who he was, but Nicholson's an FND mate of Sharpe, Wessely, Carson, Stone, etc.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-tim-nicholson

I expect that the BPS crew will be keen to set up or influence/shape any Covid-19 patient groups that they can.
Hmmmm.
He runs a specialist clinic for Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) at the Maudsley Hospital.
I wonder what he'll think about his own conversion disorder. The cognitive dissonance must be crushing.
 
Re: H1N1

Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is associated with pandemic influenza infection, but not with an adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine
Per Magnus et al. Vaccine. 2015.
Abstract


Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is associated to infections and it has been suggested that vaccination can trigger the disease. However, little is known about the specific association between clinically manifest influenza/influenza vaccine and CFS/ME. As part of a registry surveillance of adverse effects after mass vaccination in Norway during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, we had the opportunity to estimate and contrast the risk of CFS/ME after infection and vaccination.

Methods: Using the unique personal identification number assigned to everybody who is registered as resident in Norway, we followed the complete Norwegian population as of October 1, 2009, through national registries of vaccination, communicable diseases, primary health, and specialist health care until December 31, 2012. Hazard ratios (HRs) of CFS/ME, as diagnosed in the specialist health care services (diagnostic code G93.3 in the International Classification of Diseases, Version 10), after influenza infection and/or vaccination were estimated using Cox proportional-hazards regression.

Results: The incidence rate of CFS/ME was 2.08 per 100,000 person-months at risk. The adjusted HR of CFS/ME after pandemic vaccination was 0.97 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.91-1.04), while it was 2.04 (95% CI: 1.78-2.33) after being diagnosed with influenza infection during the peak pandemic period.

Conclusions: Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection was associated with a more than two-fold increased risk of CFS/ME. We found no indication of increased risk of CFS/ME after vaccination. Our findings are consistent with a model whereby symptomatic infection, rather than antigenic stimulation may trigger CFS/ME.

Keywords: Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME); Cohort; Influenza vaccine; Pandemic influenza.
 
I have heard and read about many post-COVID long haulers experiencing mood swings. Are these individuals at heightened risk of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression etc I have never /read/heard this complaint coming from the ME community, and really hope this doesn't get mixed into the salad.

I have heard the term emotional lability used when describing ME patients over the years.

I think any patient suffering quite serious level of disability, without proper diagnosis or support with no effective treatment and no answers are going to find themselves with a bit of a short fuse. They're going to start having financial, relationship, self esteem and career problems on top of the physical ones. Added to that many are too unwell to take part in hobbies and social activities that would otherwise provide a welcome, if brief, relief from their problems.

Ironically, this is a biopyschosocial problem, by which I mean that if BPS did what it said on the tin rather than patient blame and gaslight, considerable psychological suffering could easily be avoided.
 
How is it that it's the people with ME that have the problem of a dualist view?

We have argued against our symptoms being relieved by their psychological treatment. BPS views the illness as possibly triggered by a physical assault and then our 'psychology' perpetuates the illness.

I feel more needs to be untangled here. After all, what could be any more dualist than splitting mental health and physical health and then consulting for insurance companies that support one (physical) as worthy of coverage and not the other (mental).

The BPS cabal is playing fast and loose with this concept of dualism. And they seem rather confused.
 
particularly if his symptoms were mild and did not stop him working
It's really going to come down to this. Those who do recover will think of it as their success and positive attitude. Those who don't...?

Not exactly ideal to have the fate of millions hinged on pure chance. I'd like to speak to medicine's manager, please, this is all very silly.
 
Well, if an expert in the field said it, it must be true. If the charge is to be made, let us have some specifics.

Do journalists no longer believe in Who, What, Where, When, Why?

Many of them don't seem to. Is it the same sort of laziness as that which just quotes people's Tweets rather than bothering to ask for a comment?

?? It's already free access from the link I posted.

That may depend on your browser, your status with the FT, and the number of articles you've already accessed. If ever you can't get at an FT article without being offered multiple subscription options, Googling on "site:FT.com" plus a string from the quoted text in quotation marks usually does the trick.
 
I have heard the term emotional lability used when describing ME patients over the years.

I think any patient suffering quite serious level of disability, without proper diagnosis or support with no effective treatment and no answers are going to find themselves with a bit of a short fuse. They're going to start having financial, relationship, self esteem and career problems on top of the physical ones. Added to that many are too unwell to take part in hobbies and social activities that would otherwise provide a welcome, if brief, relief from their problems.

Ironically, this is a biopyschosocial problem, by which I mean that if BPS did what it said on the tin rather than patient blame and gaslight, considerable psychological suffering could easily be avoided.
Mood swings can also be a direct result of physiological pathology.
 
So...no change then.

The only thing that the numbers alter is the amount of wear and tear on doctors derision muscles.

Well known medical fact that people get sick, then they either recover or die.

Apart from the fact that it isn't true, and medicine has known this since at least 1919.

And longer, that's why there was the word 'invalid'. The victorian's knew all about sickly failing to thrive, bedbound, attic dwelling sorts
 
I have heard and read about many post-COVID long haulers experiencing mood swings. Are these individuals at heightened risk of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression etc I have never /read/heard this complaint coming from the ME community, and really hope this doesn't get mixed into the salad.

Emotional lability was a symptom of ME in the early days, which in the context seemed to be thought of as part of the neurological problems. It was distinct from BPS depression and things. We hear less of it now because people soon learn that any hint of emotional problems sends medics off in the wrong direction.
 
In the FT article, one of the post-Covid symptoms that infectious disease professor Paul Garner mentions that he is afflicted by is...

...my arms and legs are permanently fizzing as if injected with Szechuan peppercorns.

This odd symptom of "fizzing" in the extremities is something I specifically associate with my own case of ME. I don't know if it shows up in other illnesses, but if the cause were known, it might tell us something about ME. My guess is that it might be cytokine related, just because I think I had experienced a similar sensations during the heights of pre-ME bouts of the flu.

Meanwhile...

I wonder if Dr Nicholson is aware that his KCL colleague and “expert in the field” once claimed: “we believe that understanding of the postviral fatigue syndrome has been hindered by doctors who suffer from the condition also researching it. Though medical training affords insight into the subjective effects of illness, it is axiomatic that objectivity is not similarly enhanced” (https://www.bmj.com/content/296/6623/696)

I wonder if that "KCL colleague and 'expert in the field'” is aware of the story of Dr. David Fajgenbaum, who saved his own life by searching for drugs that could be repurposed to treat Castleman's disease. He's now looking for drugs that can be repurposed to fight Covid-19. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/27/heal...ajgenbaum-drug-review-scn-wellness/index.html

Moderator note: This post has been copied and some posts moved to a new thread: Sensations of fizzing or buzzing, or paraesthesia in limbs
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This letter in today’s FT took me all day to write and I suffered for the exertion but I hope it was worth it.

I decided that it would have a better chance of being published if I didn’t name the KCL psychiatrist in question. When writing letters for publication it’s always a compromise between saying what you want to say and what you think is likely to be published.

I would also have liked to raise my concerns about the reported allegations of “death threats” and the conflation of “chronic fatigue” with ME/CFS but I know from experience that long letters that try to make too many points don’t get published in newspapers. Instead I sent a polite email to the author.



[URL]https://www.ft.com/content/a2bd17a9-41fb-48fa-8fae-445ff22d6bae

[/URL]
 

Attachments

  • 815A56F6-ABAA-47D7-94E2-0728BAE1435A.jpeg
    815A56F6-ABAA-47D7-94E2-0728BAE1435A.jpeg
    570.3 KB · Views: 26
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom