USA: Mount Sinai PACS clinic and Dr Putrino

On a bit of a Twitter rant today —

(I've redacted the last line which is just a wee bit OTT - perhaps he just rewatched Gladiator !)

 

Am I alone in finding Putrino’s Twitter threads a bit hollow and performative feeling? They contain little insight beyond “Them Bad. You Good.”, and given his professional incentive to win the support of our community, which his threads are clearly effective at, I feel a little skeptical.

 

That makes sense. And I can relate—I found Putrino’s thread about visiting a very severe pwME in their home very affirming and moving.

My wariness is informed by how potent validation from medical professionals seems in our community. I feel like it leads many to assume the person giving it shares our beliefs and will act only ever in our best interests. We’ve already seen some friction in that regard with Putrino and some of his views on long covid and ME. Dr. Montoya is another example to me of someone who, by frequently validating his patients and pwME generally, gained a reputation among many as a saint and brilliant researcher, and he doesn’t seem to be either.

 

I love David Putrino. Am so pleased that he is not afraid to tell it like it is, forcefully, with no holds barred. We need more like him! Especially in the UK, where there's an unfortunate shortage of folks willing to put their heads above the parapet.

 

Not alone—agree mostly. I do like it when he does these types of threads.

What I don’t like is that it sort of gets conflated with his research efforts, which I don’t think are (or will be) particularly impactful. He seems to buy into a lot of the “latest thing” stuff. His background is in rehabilitative medicine which may not be the best background for a field maybe better suited for a person with a background in immunology or metabolomics, etc.

 

Article from German Puls24
Link to original article

Auto translated:
Expert: Dealing with ME/CFS among "biggest medical scandals"

Quotes:
Long Covid specialist and neuroscientist David Putrino is calling for more awareness of post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS) such as ME/CFS. These illnesses, which have increased sharply due to Corona, should under no circumstances be misinterpreted as “mental,” said the professor of rehabilitation at the Icahn School of Medicine (Mount Sinai/New York) in an APA interview. He sees the treatment of ME/CFS sufferers as one of the “biggest scandals of the last century in medicine”.

...

"Everyone wants to get back to normal. The problem is we don't have the magic wands to make that happen." It is politically easy to simply act as if prevention does not work. But one must understand - "and we have this understanding from research" - that this approach "will lead to catastrophic consequences in ten or 15 years," warned Putrino, with a view to the long-term damage of repeated infections. "Or we could actually roll up our sleeves and try to tackle the problems head on. And that's what we need from politicians now."

Summary

• Neuroscientist David Putrino warns of the 'biggest medical scandal' caused by misinterpreting ME/CFS and Long-Covid as mental disorders.
• No study proves the effectiveness of psychological management and exercise therapy for ME/CFS and Long-Covid, says Putrino.
• Measurable physical changes in those affected refute the theory of psychosomatic causes, explains the neuroscientist.
• Putrino calls for greater patient participation in research to avoid misunderstandings such as the stress-recovery disorder PEM.
• According to Putrino, preventive measures and education are crucial to combat the 'epidemic' of long-Covid.

ETA: Added an extra quote

 

Not only. He's also a neuroscientist.

 

I think he's been on a learnng curve since the start of the pandemic. He knew nothing or very little about these conditions at the start. It's true he can be a bit over-the-top sometimes in his self-expression and threads, but he's the same when I've met him in person. He is passionate in his belief that the BPS type research in this field is garbage and needs to be called out--by him and by others in a position to do so. That's why he's been willing to sign the letters I've sent him. I can't judge whether everything he says medically is on target--but I really don't doubt his sincerity in his disgust at much of what he's seen about how patients have been mistreated and maligned.

 

One thing I'll say about this disaster: if you're not outraged, you're not getting it. Although people have different of expressing outrage, this is one instance where expressing it is definitely warranted. If anything it should be screamed louder, but in our situation it only makes things worse if it goes above some threshold, so everything in moderation, especially moderation.

 

Another long (and in my opinion unfortunate) thread about houses on fire and viral persistence.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1780558495512662167