News from Japan

[Trish]

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.

And a recent one. There was no problem with my father being advised to take months to rest when he had a recurring post viral condition from the 1930's to 1960's. Every time it recurred he rested, sometimes for several months, until he completely recovered, then got on with his active life. The same happened with me after what was probably glandular fever in the 1970's. 6 months in bed, then back to an active life. Neither of us needed rehabilitation therapy or GET or whatever. We simply rested until we were fully recovered.

That had changed completely by the time I got sick in 1989. Then it was take a week or 2 off if you must, but don't rest too much, then go back to work and when it recurs the same - stay active, get back to work, put up with feeling dreadful.

 

[Sean]

Yes, there is a reason we used to do convalescence.

And it had nothing to do with malingering or being psycho-pathologically sensitive to one's bodily sensations.

 

[Andy]

Japan ME Association joins the World ME Alliance, World ME Alliance, was previously IAFME: International Alliance for ME

 

[Jaybee00]

There is a blue photo challenge on Twitter. If you search bluephotochallenge# a bunch of Japanese MECFS tweets come up. Actually most of the posts from these 2 accounts.

Twitter translation added:
I will deliver flowers today * I hope that myalgic encephalomyelitis will be widely known and that a cure will be found.

Twitter translation: good morning! It was a fine day for cherry blossom viewing. Let's do our best again today!

 

[Jaybee00]

Some more.

Twitter translation: Blue Photo Challenge Summer is over... This summer was hot! I got a sunburn on my arms. How was your summer? Let's go cheerfully with a smile this week~

 

[Sly Saint]

64th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Neurology May 31 to June 3

[S-23] Symposium 23
Thu. Jun 1, 2023 3:35 PM - 5:35 PM Room7 (幕張メッセ国際会議場 3F 303)

Chair：Hideto Nakajima（Nihon University, Neurology, Japan）,Motohiro Yukitake（Kouhoukai Takagi Hospital, Japan）

[S-23-5] Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
Wakiro Sato (National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Institute of Neuroscience, Dept of Immunology, Japan)

64th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Neurology/Symposium 23 (atlas.jp)

 

[rvallee]

Long Covid discussed in the Japanese legislature:

Although I'm not so sure about the quality of what's discussed. "Post infectious symptoms, or so-called conduct disorder". Not quite.

 

[Arnie Pye]

Conduct Disorder is a brand new insulting name for Long Covid - or at least I haven't heard it before.

 

[Trish]

Maybe it's a translation problem.

 

[Yann04]

Moved posts


full article here:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210227/p2a/00m/0na/023000c

As a random note, while this is disgustingly horrible. Some members said it would not happen in the west. It definitely does.
This is the comment section of a post by Diana (Physics Girl) on long COVID. These are the top comments, not scrolling down or anything.
[TRIGGER WARNING: Extremely ableist and denialist rhetoric]

 

[Yan]

Although I'm not so sure about the quality of what's discussed. "Post infectious symptoms, or so-called conduct disorder". Not quite.

I just accidentally found this video on youtube and watched a little of it. That "conduct disorder" was indeed a mistaken translation. He was referring to "korona kouishou(コロナ後遺症)" which is understood as Long Covid in japanese. The thing is that kouishou can be written with different kanji, 行為症, and that would have a meaning of conduct+illness.

That video and many others are posted on a channel that calls itself as something like National Association for Long Covid Patients and their Families.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuP9bBKsN4I2nwyOcxbJT3w

 

[SNT Gatchaman]

Phase-dependent trends in the prevalence of myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome ME/CFS related to long COVID: A criteria-based retrospective study in Japan (2024, PLOS ONE)

 

[Yan]

3 weeks old local news documentary from Toyama prefecture which follows the daily life of a 30 year old man suffering from Long Covid for 2 years. It also shows background from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, then tells about the societal pressure to get better and back to work/school etc that is leading to many suicides.

The video has auto-generated english subtitles but those are quite horrible. Long Covid is still machine-translated either as behavioral disorder or just plain coronavirus infection. It could still be possible to grasp the real meaning while watching the video. Personally I found this quite well made and interesting documentary.

 

[Hutan]

The relationship between long COVID, labor productivity, and socioeconomic losses in Japan: A cohort study 2025 Masaki et al