“The Wesselyian school of thought, for all they have said and written over the last two decades, have never really explained in reasonable terms why they deny the existence of ME. No apology from them would ever be adequate. Someday they will be seen for what they are – dishonourable charlatans.
Deepest sympathy to Nicola’s family and friends.”

Just a `pyramid-selling scam’

IF THE Lightning Process worked for Ms Gibson, she never had ME in the first place. Her understanding isn’t congruent with 60 years of biomedical research into what the World Health Organisation defines as a neurological disease.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is the unscientific moniker ascribed to a heterogeneous group of illnesses and excludes the crucial aspects of the infectiousness of ME, as well as the brain injury from which symptoms find their origins. There is no correlation between psychiatric disease and ME, unlike the bogus category of chronic fatigue syndrome — so much for the yuppie flu vs couch potato theory.
Adrenaline metabolism is involved, but is only one, relatively minor, aspect.

How could a three-day ‘process’ cure anyone of the catastrophic effects of ME on the immune system, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, brain injury, mitochondria) dysfunction and multiple co-infections? The Lightning Process is little more than a pyramid-selling style money scam with many of the hallmarks of a cult.

It was not always so unnecessarily complicated!”

Dr. E. G. Dowsett-

(Dr. E.G. Dowsett, UK microbiologist, immunologist and virologist, had an interest in hospital infections and epidemiology when she began collaborating with Dr. Melvin Ramsay on the study of ME. in 1976. Since then she has been an outspoken advocate for patients and researchers on properly distinguishing the well-defined historic disease ME from CFS.)

“It comes just days after the inquest into the death of Bromsgrove ME sufferer Nicola McNougher who travelled to Switzerland to take her own life, using the country’s legal ‘assisted suicide’ system, after the condition got too much for her.

She has now left her body tissue to the ME Association so research can be carried out into the illness, what causes it and, maybe, find a cure.”

ME Research UK Christmas cards for 2008 are now available. This year’s collection consists of ten attractive designs, all at very reasonable prices, and all profits will go towards vital ME research.

Have a look at the collection …..

By: YVONNE BETOWT, Times Staff Writer, The Huntsville Times,
yvonne.betowt@htimes.com  

“Before suffering illness Bryan Evans wasn’t sure CFS was real.
Dr. Bryan Evans used to enjoy playing volleyball at the gym with friends a couple times a week. The Huntsville family practice physician often felt sluggish after seeing between 30 to 40 patients a day at his southeast Huntsville office. But when he stepped onto the volleyball court, the adrenaline rush restored his energy.

Gradually, Evans was so tired and weak he could hardly get out of bed each morning. After a shower, he had to return to bed for about 30 minutes to muster enough energy to get dressed. He began cutting back his office hours, thus reducing his workload – and his income.

He and his wife had divorced, leaving him in a state of turmoil, emotionally and physically. Despite his vast knowledge of medicine, he was perplexed at what seemed to be a phantom illness.

Finally, Dr. Dan Prince, a rheumatologist in Gadsden whose wife has fibromyalgia, confirmed his suspicion…………

By: JoNel Aleccia, Health writer, MSNBC.COM

Spurred by government and industry actions, hospitals in more states are vowing not to charge patients for so-called “never events,” such as operating on the wrong body part….

Is CBT for neurological illnesses a never event ????

Source:The Alison Hunter Memorial Foundation

By: Professor K. De Meirleir, P. De Becker, I. Campine; Human Physiology and Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

The findings point towards a transmittable cause in this subset of CFS patients in which acute onset was temporally linked to blood transfusion.

As viruses and possibly other micro-organisms seem to be able to trigger an acute onset of CFS and the fact that RNaseL dysfunction seems to be preferentially related to CFS, it comes as no real surprise that receivers of a blood transfusion, often being in a weakened health status, can develop CFS.

We therefore would advise CFS patients not to be blood donors and secondly that the administration of blood transfusions has to be very carefully considered and only be given when strictly necessary and not as a standard procedure after e.g. the delivery of a baby.

Source: ME Association News:
Wednesday, 30 July 2008

The latest issue of the ME Association’s quarterly magazine, ME Essential, is landing on members’ doormats this week with an extra heavy thump.

This is because it contains a 24-page printed version of the MEA’s online questionnaire – which is rapidly turning into the biggest-ever survey into what illness management measures work best for people with ME/CFS, those that don’t and the ones that are less successful.

“Online, the survey has been started by 2,400 people so far and it’s got another month to run”, said the ME Association.

“It’s already yielding some fascinating information – including the most up-to-date picture anywhere of what sufferers really think about officially-approved but controversial approaches like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Graded Exercise.”

The ME Association said: “Our aim is to produce a fully-informed report on illness management measures which work in the best interests of people with ME/CFS and their carers, and get these views across to the medical establishment, with recommendations for action.”

The main magazine opens with a look at a stunning advertising campaign which blazed a trail for the first-ever ME Awareness Week in Malta – a simple approach, carried out with style and panache, which got islanders and the rest of the ME world looking.