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Thanks for posting your experiences with it, @strategist – it's an interesting topic. I found liquid carnitine like amphetamine or something, causing shaking, dizziness, vastly increased orthostatic intolerance, and a wired brain. I can take so little without rapid side effects that it's not...

Gosh, that's quicker than I expected! Excellent – will keep everything crossed.

Yes! I was good at languages at school, but since becoming ill I've made concerted attempts to learn two. Nothing doing – I can neither grasp the grammar nor retain the vocabulary. :rolleyes:

True – I've never earned a lot and haven't had access to a company pension scheme since about 1983, but I did persuade my employer to make me redundant instead of cutting my hours by more than half (which is what they wanted to do). I even did the budget, pointing out that they could employ...

It's always good to review paperwork in your own time, before you get to the point where your hand is forced. Coming out of work is quite an emotional process, even if you know it's probably going to be the best decision you ever made! It's a big adjustment, which takes some time. I live alone...

Not really true in my case. I've recovered better function than before a couple of times, after a relapse forced me to rest for an extended period. The gains weren't enormous – and were almost certainly due to the rest – but they weren't a worsening. My function now is somewhat lower than it...

I'm so sorry you're at this stage – I've been through it, too (only without the insurance!) I've never had access to anything like that, but sometimes in these situations they may need your employer to agree first that you're not well enough to continue. It's worth at least being mentally...

Plenty of young people who've suffered harm through social media would tell you about it if you just asked them. And about things that might have helped when they were caught up in the worst of it. The RCP aren't ever going to be the experts here.

...and that collaboration includes recording properly how disabling the symptoms are. Patients' pain and suffering is quite bad enough, without being multiplied by not having enough medical evidence to get financial support when they find themselves completely unable to work.

Dunno, but can somebody tell me how to get a few hundred grand to test whether celery sticks dipped in mayonnaise or liquorice sticks dipped in rainbow kali work best for low back pain? It affects millions of people, and we need to find some solutions.

I get auditory hallucinations too. For instance, every time I run a tap, I hear and feel the vibrations from our old dial phone that used to shake the thin panel wall it was mounted on. (I haven't had a landline for more than 10 years! :laugh:) If a noise has previously been annoying you, I...

Absolutely. People without any obvious energy deficit would never pay money to test it, so it's impossible to get an accurate picture of what the normal range might be.

The medical profession SO MUCH needs to start offering career advancement to doctors prepared to say 'I don't know', instead of those who don't know but make something up without any evidence!

When we know the final total, I was planning to post a brief message saying how wonderful it is that XXXX people have signed up in such a short time – without making any reference at all to the tiny number of complainers!

I agree – you can't win. And if the study were funded, I'd wager some of these folk wouldn't be able to resist participating in the end anyway, instead of just grumbling about the lack of research.

This is really important, but hopefully it can be got around by being clear that questions are based on levels of activity that would be considered normal. For instance, on most days of the week it's usual for healthy people to wash and dress, do some kind of work or activity, prepare or buy...

This is unlikely at present, as the genetics underlying mental illness are unclear at best. Also, illnesses such as depression are so common (at least one in four people will be affected at some point in their lives?) that it would be very hard to make a clear genetic link. We'll hopefully...

Antibiotics can make anyone feel crap, to be honest – but fortunately, you shouldn't have to put up with the symptoms for long. I've just finished a course of a macrolide, and in me they cause dizziness, a thumping heart, and fatigue. There are upsides, though – they also remove all my ME pain...

In 1976, a young doctor perched on the end of my hospital bed after a week of tests, looked me in the eye, and said, 'I can see you're really unwell, but I'm sorry, I can't work out what's causing it.' It's depressing to think that he probably got sucked into the medical machine, where...

Perhaps they could have a think about what's likely to be on offer to them, @Forestvon? I suspect the answer is going to be very little, unless the person needs additional medical evidence for a disability benefits claim and a specialist appointment could be helpful to their case. If the...