Sunday Times readers comments: "The ‘invisible illness’: what it feels like to live with chronic fatigue syndrome or ME"

Sunday Times publishes three readers accounts of their personal experiences of ME.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/magazine...yelitis-me-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-7ghbwdkbj

And at the bottom

Shame they don't tackle their own ignorance..

 

https://newscommercial.co.uk/brands/the-sunday-times/style
I guess 'Style' is predominantly a magazine marketed at women, although, apparently, 40% of the readership are men.

 

Is there a way to access this avoiding the pay wall at all? Thanks!

 

If you register I think you can view two free articles a week. Or, sometimes the ME Association reprints a full copy of newspaper articles on their website.

 

There were also 3 letters in response to Liddle’s article.

There are many adjectives which come to mind when thinking about how to describe Liddle but brave is not among them.

 

the Times or AfME?

 

Yes.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1109804146805362691

 

I guess that that is to be interpreted in the same way as "courageous" in Yes Minister.

 

Arrghh, I'm unable to like that post because that Dr Colin Johnstone who wrote the first letter is the doctor I saw who told me my devastating bring-you-to-your-knees symptoms could just be me mistaking normal everyday bodily functions for symptoms, as I recounted in my post no. 19 here: https://www.s4me.info/threads/lette...ice-re-cbt-and-get-feb-2019.8306/#post-146498 . Funny how he comes across sounding halfway reasonable in the letter; it's certainly not what he was like when I saw him. After my visit with him, he wrote my GP that because my routine tests had come back normal, I should 'move on and accept' that 'the cause lies elsewhere', obviously a code phrase for 'it's psychological, then'. He was also so rude to a friend's girlfriend with ME that he made her cry. He is definitely no ME expert. It gives me PTSD just to see that letter!

 

I'm inclined to consider CJ's lovely letter as just more gaslighting of PwME.
It's always nastier when they couch their ignorance in sweet sounding waffle that could mean anything.

 

Yes, I think you're absolutely right about that! Ugh.

 

You have confirmed my suspicions about Dr Johnstone, who I have not heard of. He couches and qualifies like the best of the BPS crowd. 'Predominantly'physical etc. And to hope that Liddle's outpouring of bile could 'generate a more rational debate' was certainly not his intention.

 

Rod Liddle was brave?!

 

Reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYFefppqEtE

 

Damn! I was looking for a good pun on Liddle and couldn't come up with one.

 

You mean Rod Little?

 

It is surprising that Hertfordshire's clinical lead for CFS/ME does not list it as one of his clinical interests.
www.spirehealthcare.com/consultant-profiles/dr-colin-johnston-c2383859/