News from Japan

Discussion in 'Regional news' started by Sly Saint, Mar 1, 2021.

  1. Sly Saint

    Sly Saint Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    9,962
    Location:
    UK
    Moved posts
    full article here:
    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210227/p2a/00m/0na/023000c
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 1, 2021
    Yann04, sebaaa, Yessica and 28 others like this.
  2. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    55,768
    Location:
    UK
    Sad to see the situation is so bad for people with ME/CFS in Japan.
     
    Yann04, Snow Leopard, Ash and 29 others like this.
  3. Sid

    Sid Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,190
    Brutal. My best wishes to patients in Japan.
     
    Yann04, Ash, sebaaa and 26 others like this.
  4. Mij

    Mij Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    9,694
    Ash, Yann04, sebaaa and 18 others like this.
  5. DokaGirl

    DokaGirl Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    3,664
    Thank you @Sly Saint for posting this.
    We need to see how pwME are treated in other countries - sad to say it's the usual appalling mess.

    I agree @Sid brutal.

    Thanks @Mij for posting this hopeful message from a doctor.

    Re the article from Japan, it's disheartening to see how far we still have to go for the public, the medical community and governments for pwME to just be treated with respect! (And, some individuals seem to need and delight in picking on others. Something the powers that be could help alleviate if they cared to.)
     
    Ash, Yann04, Yessica and 15 others like this.
  6. shak8

    shak8 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,448
    Location:
    Absurdistan
    Cultural factors in Japan make ME more than a nightmare.
     
    Ash, Yann04, sebaaa and 10 others like this.
  7. Sid

    Sid Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,190
    Every time I get disheartened about how bad thing are here in the Anglosphere for PWME I see an article like this and realise things can be MUCH worse in many places. I find that the society I live in is too passive-aggressive and hypocritical for people to just straight up hurl abuse at me like what this poor chap in Japan experienced. I tend to just get shunned rather than receive outpourings of vile verbal/written abuse, though that has happened too on occasion, especially from elderly male MDs.
     
    Ash, Yann04, livinglighter and 18 others like this.
  8. DokaGirl

    DokaGirl Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    3,664
    @Sid

    I'm in the Anglosphere, just across the pond. You said it, passive-aggressive. Although some of my nearest and dearest have been less than supportive, to put it quite mildly. And, I've also had unfortunate experiences with some senior physicians who have dismissed ME as not a serious physiological disease. No one that I can recall has hurled insults at me, but a handful of staff in one medical facility were unpleasant in a range of ways.

    There is something nagging at me though. I don't count myself lucky with my experiences. Some of which have been quite threatening. On the other hand, sometimes the ME situation is now more understood. Things are slowly improving, but we still have a long way to go.
     
    livinglighter, FMMM1, sebaaa and 5 others like this.
  9. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    29,560
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    Interesting to see this Nikkan Gendai Healthcare article which seems to have no problem in labelling the post-Covid syndrome as ME/CFS. It mentions diagnostic symptoms and treatments.
    Linked on the Long Covid thread: Possibility of ME or PVFS after COVID-19, Long Covid
     
    sebaaa, cfsandmore, MEMarge and 7 others like this.
  10. Wyva

    Wyva Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,748
    Location:
    Budapest, Hungary
    Japanese experts suspect neuroimmune disease causing pain, fatigue as COVID-19 aftereffect

    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210310/p2a/00m/0sc/024000c

    "TOKYO -- Many coronavirus patients continue to feel fatigued after they no longer have the virus, so much so that it is difficult for them to carry on with their everyday lives -- a symptom that is believed to be an aftereffect of COVID-19.

    It is highly suspected that such symptoms are caused by a neuroimmune disease called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Experts in Japan and overseas are sounding the alarm, with one saying, "There is a good chance that the new coronavirus is acting as a trigger." The Mainichi Shimbun looked into the link between COVID-19 and ME/CFS, a disease for which patients are eagerly awaiting the establishment of treatment."
    This is how it begins but the entire article is about the possible connection with ME/CFS.
     
    Ash, sebaaa, cfsandmore and 12 others like this.
  11. Snowdrop

    Snowdrop Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,134
    Location:
    Canada
    I don't know if this is posted elsewhere but it gives some overview of what the Japanese ME association is trying to accomplish for ME sufferers there:

    https://mecfsjapan.com/
     
    Ash, sebaaa, alktipping and 13 others like this.
  12. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    29,560
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    Interesting ME/CFS study out from a Japanese team looking at B cells
    Skewing of the B cell receptor repertoire in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, 2021, Sato et al

    The use of three criteria (Fukuda, CCC and ICC) to select the ME/CFS participants and a good description of ME/CFS in the abstract suggests that the hospital involved might have clinicians with a decent awareness of the illness.

    Edit - one of the authors of this paper is Dr Takashi Yamamura - see post #15 below about a video of a conversation between him and Dr Nath.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2021
  13. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    29,560
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    sebaaa, cfsandmore, Ariel and 5 others like this.
  14. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    29,560
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
  15. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    29,560
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    Very interesting video from the Japan ME Association with a conversation between Avi Nath and Takashi Yamamura. Link to the thread here:
    Skewing of the B cell receptor repertoire in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, 2021, Sato et al
    The President of the Japan ME Association, Miyako Shinohara (apologies, I almost certainly have that wrong), made some comments about ME/CFS and Long Covid in Japan that I'll summarise here.

    It took a long time for Long Covid to be recognised as a medical condition in Japan. Few people are making the connection between ME/CFS and Long Covid. Government funding for Long Covid research has not recognised the connection. Long Covid is now getting more attention, but very little mention of ME/CFS. (So, more or less like everywhere really.)
     
  16. Sly Saint

    Sly Saint Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    9,962
    Location:
    UK
    Japanese youths suffering fatigue from aftereffects of COVID infection

    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211124/p2a/00m/0na/018000c
     
    cfsandmore, Hutan, Grigor and 3 others like this.
  17. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    29,560
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/10/07/national/long-covid-japan-patients/
    You may need a free account to read it. It talks about the rise in popularity of kampo medicine (Japanese traditional medicine with herbs) as a treatment for Long Covid.

     
  18. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    13,768
    Location:
    Canada
  19. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    29,560
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    'Will I ever be cured?': The agonizing long-term effects of COVID-19
    Sayako Akita , Feb 2022
    Article in The Japan Times

    Covers EAT (Epipharangeal Abrasive Therapy), which discussed more here:
    Epipharyngeal Abrasive Therapy (EAT) Has Potential as a Novel Method for Long COVID Treatment, 2022, Imai et al

    Also mentions a couple of clinics (I think not associated with that therapy):
    We've seen quite a bit from Wakiro Sato I think. Most recently he was one of the named reviewers of Professor Tate's paper.
     
  20. Ravn

    Ravn Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,188
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    This suggests that the fear suffered by many doctors of advising bed rest and of scaring patients with a harsh prognosis is a Western cultural phenomenon.
     

Share This Page