Paul Garner on Long Covid and ME/CFS - BMJ articles and other media.

[Jonathan Edwards]

Please, Prof. Garner, go and do something harmless like cultivating parsnips. They're very tasty when roasted.

Yes, but even parsnips can be overdone and shrivel up.
Maybe he should just try yoga.

 

[rvallee]

Zero 'likes' on this one for PG suggests a profound lack of success, even below the baseline expectation of zero.

But he'll swear that millions have benefited from this and the only reason it's being resisted is because of hundreds of unhinged activists, or something like it. Those recovered vouching for it are right around the corner, you can't see them, or talk to them, or know anything about them other than the fact that they totally exist and whatnot.

 

[MrMagoo]

But he'll swear that millions have benefited from this and the only reason it's being resisted is because of hundreds of unhinged activists, or something like it. Those recovered vouching for it are right around the corner, you can't see them, or talk to them, or know anything about them other than the fact that they totally exist and whatnot.

He can say what he wants, nobody particularly respects him on the subject, or wants to hear it.

There are people out there just now on the internet who are swearing that Prince Harry doesn’t have kids and the children you see are actors, doesn’t make it believable.

 

[Peter T]

He can say what he wants, nobody particularly respects him on the subject, or wants to hear it.

But he is getting air time and column inches. He is part of a grouping that has the ears of policy makers and who are saying what many service providers are wanting to hear. Change is happening but it is be no means clear that inappropriate psychological and exercise based interventions will not continue as the default health provision for ME/CFS and Long Covid.

 

[Trish]

I can't help wondering whether somebody is paying him to campaign for brain training and against ME/CFS being recognised as a physical disease. Why else would someone with presumably a solid track record in his field choose to expend effort in retirement on something that he must surely know is unevidenced in any scientific sense and has such potential for harm? His statements like 'NICE bans walking' is so clearly untrue he is making a fool of himself.

We know Sharpe and White have conflicts of interest by being employed by insurance companies to diagnose ME/CFS as psychosomatic so they don't have to pay people disability. Maybe they are employing Garner too.

 

[InitialConditions]

I can't help wondering whether somebody is paying him to campaign for brain training and against ME/CFS being recognised as a physical disease. Why else would someone with presumably a solid track record in his field choose to expend effort in retirement on something that he must surely know is unevidenced in any scientific sense and has such potential for harm? His statements like 'NICE bans walking' is so clearly untrue he is making a fool of himself.

We know Sharpe and White have conflicts of interest by being employed by insurance companies to diagnose ME/CFS as psychosomatic so they don't have to pay people disability. Maybe they are employing Garner too.

I think this is unlikely, although I do believe he is intent on influencing treatment and care via guidelines, etc.

As i have said before (probably in this thread): he had a very powerful experience in that he recovered around the time he was introduced to the mind–body stuff and clearly attributes it to that. He simply cannot grasp that his experiences — ill for only ~6 months; had periods where he admits to feeling fully well between crashes; was able to do intense exercise and go scuba diving; scared himself silly in the initial months — do not apply to everyone else.

This does seem to have become his hobby horse for retirement.

But he is making a fool of himself, and it's fascinating to watch.

 

[Kitty]

But he is making a fool of himself, and it's fascinating to watch.

I thought that too initially, but it seems to be more than taking a position and being too stubborn to back down. The sheer level of obsession and irrationality makes me think that if I were his friend I'd be worried about his wellbeing.

 

[Mij]

The wolf has officially entered the henhouse.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years later . . . we had a wolf (woof) problem. Our coop was pretty secure so this wolf couldn't figure out how to get in, but he tried and continues to come around after dark (about 7pm), and instead of going out and socializing, he continues to annoy pwME and LC.

He doesn’t seem to be digging any holes, but there are signs of it tampering with the coop trying to get back in. I’m not opposed to trapping it, but he continues yelling into the void at the first sign of human activity.

Will this wolf keep coming back? Yes. I would expect it to keep coming back, he keeps checking in case there is a change that will let it get in.

We assumed he would eventually give up, but it's been 2 1/2 years.

 

[Sly Saint]

Fast forward 2 1/2 years later . . . we had a wolf (woof) problem. Our coop was pretty secure so this wolf couldn't figure out how to get in, but he tried and continues to come around after dark (about 7pm), and instead of going out and socializing, he continues to annoy pwME and LC.

He doesn’t seem to be digging any holes, but there are signs of it tampering with the coop trying to get back in. I’m not opposed to trapping it, but he continues yelling into the void at the first sign of human activity.

Will this wolf keep coming back? Yes. I would expect it to keep coming back, he keeps checking in case there is a change that will let it get in.

We assumed he would eventually give up, but it's been 2 1/2 years.

I think he is permanently stuck under an imaginary full moon.

 

[MrMagoo]

I can't help wondering whether somebody is paying him to campaign for brain training and against ME/CFS being recognised as a physical disease. Why else would someone with presumably a solid track record in his field choose to expend effort in retirement on something that he must surely know is unevidenced in any scientific sense and has such potential for harm? His statements like 'NICE bans walking' is so clearly untrue he is making a fool of himself.

We know Sharpe and White have conflicts of interest by being employed by insurance companies to diagnose ME/CFS as psychosomatic so they don't have to pay people disability. Maybe they are employing Garner too.

I suspect it’s all ego.
I’m no psychoanalyst/head dr/Fraser Crane/Freud fan but I did attend the school of life and there’s just a lot which fits.

 

[MrMagoo]

I thought that too initially, but it seems to be more than taking a position and being too stubborn to back down. The sheer level of obsession and irrationality makes me think that if I were his friend I'd be worried about his wellbeing.

Are you familiar with the tv comedy writer Graham Linehan?
His “journey” is fascinating. And very upsetting. Whether you dislike or like his viewpoint/opinion it’s a really interesting progression - the effect it’s had on his life.