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  1. Kitty

    A new consensus? - ME/CFS skeptic blog

    PS: To contradict to my own earlier post slightly, longer follow-up times might be less reliable in recently diagnosed people because of adaptation. Two or three years after diagnosis with erosive arthritis my function had improved even though my impairment was worse, because I'd re-learned how...
  2. Kitty

    A new consensus? - ME/CFS skeptic blog

    I agree about not using these measures on their own, but the reliability of subjective outcomes could be improved by, as @Hutan says, following triallists for long enough. Outcomes at 18 to 24 months ought to be much reliable than at two or three; if a treatment has improved symptoms, patients...
  3. Kitty

    Basic questions on terms and methodology used in clinical trials

    From @MSEsperanza: Further to the question about the term "outcome assessor" discussed above (starting here: https://www.s4me.info/threads/basic-questions-on-terms-and-methodology-used-in-clinical-trials.30316/#post-445244 ) Quote from the Cochrane Handbook: 3. Who is the outcome assessor...
  4. Kitty

    Preprint Comparison of T-cell Receptor Diversity of people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis versus controls, 2023, Dibble, Ponting et al

    There's only one difference between the pain I get from eating sugary food* and the pain I get from PEM. The former doesn't require overexertion, starts shortly after eating, and tails off after three hours. The latter does require overexertion, is delayed, and lasts days. The same burning...
  5. Kitty

    Whitney Dafoe Updates

    Oh, that's horrible news. It's about time we had this sorted, no one should have to live like that. :(
  6. Kitty

    UK: Invest in ME Conference 2023

    There also has to be a discipline in online sessions (only one person speaking) that's completely different to what happens in conference breaks. People coalesce into small conversation groups, and they also overhear snippets of the other conversations going on around them. It's not unusual for...
  7. Kitty

    Rates of Prolonged Grief Disorder: Considering relationship to the person who died and cause of death, 2023, Thieleman et al

    I wonder if it ever occurs to these researchers that they'd be a lot more use to society if they went to the pub instead?
  8. Kitty

    David Systrom, researcher, Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA

    That's the interesting one, isn't it. Utility and reliability of a test, and wider acceptance of it, are different things. It's notable how often clinicians working with contested diagnoses are accused of dubious inventions that in another context would be called scientific advances.
  9. Kitty

    Clinical support and encouragement versus manipulation (includes motivational interviewing)

    No, it can never be that. It's reasonable to explore whether there might be explanations for the behaviour, it's reasonable to offer advice, information, and encouragement, it's reasonable to ask whether the patient would like support or would prefer to revisit it at a different time. But if...
  10. Kitty

    Clinical support and encouragement versus manipulation (includes motivational interviewing)

    So in the motivational interview, the patient compassionately and empathetically helps the professional to explore, understand, and accept the problems that are holding them back from doing their job. Do they say what the pay rate is?
  11. Kitty

    Myopathy as a cause of Long COVID fatigue: Evidence from quantitative and single fiber EMG and muscle histopathology, April 2023, Hejbøl et al

    I guess it'd be a lot clearer if they weren't present in samples from a control group processed at the same time. Haven't the energy to read the article properly, so I'm not sure whether they did this.
  12. Kitty

    Questionnaires that can differentiate depression from chronic symptoms

    I've been asked to do the HADS numerous times, and it's only just struck me that I've always based my responses on the assumption I had the energy to enjoy things (which I do for some of the time). But that might be because I recognised it as a depression scale, and I know depression's not...
  13. Kitty

    Let's talk wheelchairs and mobility scooters

    I'm glad you got to try it, @Shadrach Loom, and I hope it hasn't floored you for too long. Scooters aren't great for pwME, are they. There's nothing to support your arms and you torso, or stop your legs from flopping about, so you burn through a lot of energy really quickly. I've used Trampers...
  14. Kitty

    Professor Gerd Kvale on Long Covid

    It'll be drive-thru CBT next.
  15. Kitty

    Poll - Have You Ever Believed In Psychosomatic Illness?

    I think the nearest I can get is believing that the experience of some symptoms might be influenced by psychological factors, but that's a very long way from a whole condition being psychosomatic in origin. Anyway, in a world where we know that parasites can chemically influence their host's...
  16. Kitty

    Anomalies in the review process and interpretation of the evidence in the NICE guideline for (CFS & ME), 2023, White et al

    Yep. And continued care (for everything, not just ME/CFS) being contingent on the patient's co-operation with said coercive approach.
  17. Kitty

    Let's talk wheelchairs and mobility scooters

    The Peak District National Park also has Trampers at some of its cycle hire centres.
  18. Kitty

    Anomalies in the review process and interpretation of the evidence in the NICE guideline for (CFS & ME), 2023, White et al

    I don't think that's a safe assumption, and it's probably best avoided in debates. Until someone has studied it, we don't really know.
  19. Kitty

    Reduced basal macrovascular and microvascular cerebral blood flow in young adults with metabolic syndrome: potential mechanisms,2023,Katrina J Carter

    90 million people? That's a staggering number. Reduced cerebral blood flow doesn't sound like great news, either.
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