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He is right in that patients with invisible illnesses are treated as second or third class citizens. The irony is that he himself is such a big part of the problem: if you insist that unblinded studies are good enough evidence and switch outcomes, then you're effectively saying that ME/CFS...

It is variable. It seems to depend on exertion, temperature, hydration, salt intake. In my experience eating food I'm intolerant to also triggers increased heart rate.

If they genuinely believed that a placebo is good for patients, they should not be giving CBT and GET but some fake biomedical treatment because that will produce stronger placebo responses. As usual their position is incoherent. Their real goals are keeping CFS in the mental health domain as...

Is there any realistic chance that we get our own special report on Cochrane?

Cochrane cares about their image and brand. Showing how biased, incompetent and anti-patient welfare the reviewers and management is will hurt their image and brand.

How do you think should this be addressed? Can we make an infographic that explains how lack of blinding leads to nonsensical conclusions? We can show results from that one asthma study and the open label Rituximab study. What the Cochrane review does (as far as I remember) is that it treats...

They could save face by moving ME/CFS into some other category where the scientific standards are higher. So the elephant in the room doesn't have to be acknowledged.

I think there is a boom and bust pattern but it doesn't involve anything that could be considered a boom in activity, and may involve only occasional transitions from an above average activity level (for that patient) to below average activity levels (for that patient). So it's something that...

Re. McMegan: It's all based on PACE and other papers by the same authors who insist that their theory is supported by evidence when it is not. One could say they have a problem with fixed and false beliefs. The negative feedback by patients is presumably why they are considered especially...

Labelling patients as "dependent clinger, entitled demander, manipulative help-rejecter, self destructive denier" reveals an attitude that does not favor good patient-doctor relatonships or empathy. The psychosomatic belief system seems to perpetuate itself in part by presenting itself as the...

There are many studies showing abnormalities. Some of these abnormalities seem to be real. Are these not a hint that there is a pathology and that patients aren't imagining things? Ironically, patients are probably keen to cite these studies because they are trying to counter the idea of false...

Interesting article on glucose, insulin and energy production in ME/CFS. I see parallels to my own case. I need to eat often or I get weak, and eating something sugary can often compensate for exhaustion or weakness...

Interesting. Maybe patients have adapted to exist in a high lactate state?

Maybe the BMJ has cold feet? There were a lot of complaints about this article.

Is it a good moment to raise funds for the Morten team? We want them to keep working on ME and with more funding they could collect more data that will help with a successful application.

He will probably do the nanoneedle test before and after the surgery. There is a lack of evidence that viruses and antibodies are the cause of continued ME so that is not a good argument.

I would like to find out whether there is a connection or not.

They've carved out their niche in society and it depends on them being experts in mental disorders. That role must be separate from that of a neurologist or neurologists would replace them. Not that this necessarily bad. They're just hypocrites.

I don't understand why everybody isn't focusing 100% on finding out what's in the blood that causes problems.