By Jeffrey Lubell in Health Rising. Longtime readers of the Health Rising blog may remember an article that Cort wrote in 2013 about the promising results of a small study that found marked reductions in fatigue among three individuals with Fibromyalgia who took high doses of thiamine (Vitamin B-1). In the intervening years, several important studies on high-dose thiamine have been published, […]
Fibromyalgia
How To Hide Your Disabled People: A Lesson From City Of York Council
By Elki in York Disability Rights Forum. Elki lives in York and relies on using her Blue Badge to be able to park near enough to the places she needs and wants to go. In this Member’s Voice post, Elki writes about what she sees as the dangers of reducing disability visibility in York. Disability […]
Are Stiffened Arteries Increasing Cardiovascular Risk In ME/CFS And Fibromyalgia ?
By Cort Johnson in Health Rising. Systrom, Scheibenbogen and others have has found evidence of microcirculatory problems in chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia, but what about the big blood vessels – the arteries? These muscular, but flexible, tubes transport oxygenated blood under high pressure from the heart to the organs and muscles. They […]
Muscle Study Finds Key Differences In Fibromyalgia And Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
By Cort Johnson in Health Rising. The Netherlands and the U.K. have been the epicenter of biopsychosocial research (CBT/GET) into chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) for the past 20 years or so, but that is changing. In 2018, the Dutch Health Council asserted that “Scientific research on ME/CFS is needed to serve patients better”, and that […]
Dissecting The Nature Of Post-Exertional Malaise
By Megan Hartle, Lucinda Bateman and Suzanne D. Vernon in Taylor & Francis Online. ABSTRACT Background Post-exertional malaise (PEM) is a defining characteristic of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) but there is insufficient research dissecting the nature of PEM from the patients’ perspective. Methods A PEM questionnaire administered to 150 ME/CFS patients. It included open-ended questions about triggers, experiences, […]
The Never-Ending Challenge Of Dealing With Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM)
Why Terms Like ‘Fully Accessible’ Don’t Help Disabled People
By Carrie-Ann Lightly. Visiting a new place can be anxiety-inducing for even the most confident disabled person. A holiday, a weekend trip, a day out – even popping to the local shops. Why would you be worried about nipping out for a loaf of bread, I hear you ask? Because, dear reader, the language […]
Scotland Could Be Set For ‘Ground-Breaking’ Move On UN Convention
By John Pring in Disability News Service. Disabled people in Scotland could be set for “ground-breaking” improvements to the “protection, progression, and promotion” of their human rights, after their government pledged to incorporate the UN disability convention into Scottish law. The promise came as the Scottish government accepted the 30 recommendations made in a […]
Disabled People And Carer’s Experiences Of Accessing The Coronavirus Vaccine
From Disability Horizons. The coronavirus vaccine programme has been in action across the UK since December 2020 and more than 10 million people have received their first dose so far. With the first four priority groups being given the vaccine, we ask disabled people, those with health conditions and carer’s thoughts and experiences of accessing […]
Vulnerable Say They’ve Been ‘Forgotten’ As Covid Vaccine Goes To Young And Healthy
By John Siddle in The Mirror. Serious health condition sufferers say they have been overlooked in the jab rollout after the Government chooses to vaccinate people by age once priority groups are done. Vulnerable Brits say they have been ‘forgotten’ in the vaccines rollout as young and healthy people get jabs. Those with serious health […]
All In Your Head
Audio Recording Option Set To Be Introduced For All PIP Assessments, Says DWP
By John Pring in Disability News Service. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has finally agreed that all disabled people being assessed for personal independence payment (PIP) will be able to have their face-to-face assessments recorded. The promise has come in a letter to the Right to Record action group, a disabled-led […]
Low Dose Hydrocortisone: Flare Buster For Fibromyalgia And Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ?
By Cort Johnson in Health Rising. Cortisol, our body’s main stress hormone, has an amazing reach. Given the effects it has on our metabolism, inflammation, blood pressure, blood sugar, energy production and even the sleep-wake cycle, it’s no surprise that researchers early on latched onto signs of cortisol problems in chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and […]
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Recognizing PTSD, Treatments And Therapies
By Rachel Green and Wendy Rhodes in Weighted Blanket Guides. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that affects 7.7 million Americans every year. PTSD can occur in individuals who have witnessed or experienced a traumatic event, causing them debilitating stress. Some of the common causes of PTSD include war/combat, natural disaster, violence against […]
Say What ? Attention Deficits Highlight Why Fibromyalgia (And ME/CFS) Are Such Different Diseases
By Cort Johnson in Health Rising. How fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and allied diseases are so different from diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Fibro-fog, brain-fog, chemo-fog… It can get pretty dim out there if you have fibromyalgia (FM), chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and environmental illness (EI). If you have these conditions and feel like you’re […]
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Health Politics In Action ? Professor Garner’s Change Of Heart On Long Covid (And ME/CFS)
By Nemesis in Healthcare Hubris. Trigger warning: gaslighting, ableism, death, coercive control, cult psychology Politics pervades everything, and healthcare is no exception. This can arguably be exemplified through tracking the twists and turns of dominant thinking around Long Covid management, and how this is positioned vis-à-vis other chronic illnesses, notably myalgic encephalomyelitis / […]
Report Calls For ‘Radical And Ambitious’ Disability Strategy
By John Pring in Disability News Service. A new report, based on the views of hundreds of disabled people and organisations, has called on the government to produce a national disability strategy that is “radical and ambitious”. The report by Disability Rights UK (PDF) follows a three-month engagement campaign aimed at discovering how disabled […]
Disabled People Highlight Scores Of Lockdown Concerns
By John Pring in Disability News Service. Disabled people have highlighted gaps in social security support, flaws in the shielding system and worries about access to vaccines, after they were asked to describe their concerns as England entered its third national coronavirus lockdown*. They raised scores of different issues, ranging from worries about the accessibility […]
Why We Need To Get Creative When It Comes To Talking About Pain
The Guardian View On Disability Rights: A Deficit Of Attention
From The Guardian. Twenty-five years after discrimination was outlawed, progress towards inclusion and equality has gone into reverse. There should have been a feature film, or a primetime TV series. Maybe one day there will be. But this year, the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act – a landmark piece of legislation […]
Expert Reaction To The BMJ Editorial Calling For The Abandonment Of Standards
By Brian Hughes in The Science Bit. An invited, non-peer-reviewed guest editorial in the BMJ has claimed that behavioural interventions for “complex conditions” (such as ME or CFS) should not be judged using the customary criteria — and that the relevant studies should not be evaluated as though they were proper randomised controlled trials — […]
Today’s Best Practice Will Be Rubbished Tomorrow
Posted by BJGP Life. Charles Todd qualified as a GP in 1981 and then spent twenty years working in Zimbabwe. He recently retired as a GP partner in Buckinghamshire. IN MY FIRST JOB AFTER QUALIFYING in 1977 as a house physician in cardiology, on call frequently involved “clerking” mostly middle-aged men having heart attacks and admitting them […]