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Really interesting and important questions. I haven't seen any analysis, but it might still be too soon to address your second one.

That must be really tough. Yet another disease that's been massively under-researched – probably because it only usually affects women, and there are widespread incorrect assumptions that it's somehow connected to obesity.

About to say the same! :laugh: We need to include the possibility that post-Covid patients are left with two or more distinct conditions, such as the post-viral cascade of events that leads to ME plus lung scarring, neurological damage, etc. It wouldn't be easy to separate the symptoms without...

Sorry! As it's a MS Word doc, I assumed you'd either be reading it with Word or a WP app on a tablet. By saying one control, I just meant that you can double-space the entire text by just pressing Ctrl+A for 'select all' and then choosing double spacing in the Format/Paragraph menu in Word –...

I have one of these fat disorders, but I've never got around to raising it with a doctor. I know that isn't very helpful in research terms, as it means it goes unrecorded, but knowing there's nothing much that could be done about it means it's hard to find the energy! It's hereditary, whatever...

Agree, but I think it's because they're a hybrid between minutes (where only questions and decisions are noted, usually with one paragraph for each point/contribution – which they've done) and an article, where there'd traditionally be a lot more para breaks. If it helps, you can double space...

It's not impossible to find it. It's more difficult in some cases than others, but the main problem seems to be that too many doctors and researchers actively avoid looking for it in the first place, due to sexism, politics, and financial conflicts of interest.

Just to play devil's advocate for a minute – I can see a theoretical benefit, if the two did turn out to be the same. New researchers and new funding might be brought in to post-Covid research, without some of the baggage that's been loaded onto to ME (which isn't our fault, or that of good...

Me too – and actually, I think the statement about fatigue not being the cardinal symptom per se comes from ME patients. I've heard numerous people either describe it as a lack of power, or say that it arises from previous activity (and is therefore part of PEM). I find it impossible to separate...

It is deeply chilling to look back on the calculated cruelty inflicted on WWI soldiers when society decided it couldn't afford for so many to be ill or disabled – so it gaslighted them, as well as physically torturing them with 'therapies' – and what happened when society decided it couldn't...

'Not Yet Diagnosed, Nervous'. Originally used as a code by doctors to describe symptoms of shellshock. Edit: in a pejorative way. If there were no physical wounds, it was often dismissed and veterans were not entitled to the recognition and pensions they'd have got if they'd been injured by a...

Thank you – it reads well (as did the first version, to my eyes anyway). Haven't the brain function to go into any depth at the moment, but I'd prefer you kept the 'as yet' qualifier on 'medically unexplained symptoms'. It makes it clearer that you're not accepting the term as some kind of...

Our council's rents do vary a bit, but it hasn't gone down the fixed-term tenancies route at all. They're either introductory (first 12 months) or secure. The only variant is where a secure tenancy is demoted due to serious breaches of the tenancy agreement, but they're pretty good at supporting...

How interesting – I guess it depends where you live to some extent? I was a new tenant when I first moved in, but everyone is automatically offered secure tenancies after 12 months unless they've failed to pay rent or caused problems. When I was considering renting privately, I found the...

Hear, bloody hear! I only got my social home because I'm disabled and over 55; had I not been, I'd have had to wait up to 10 years instead of 15 months. Everyone in my family lived in council housing, in an era where there were few obstacles to a family getting a tenancy, and where a young...

If HB were always paid promptly and direct to landlords, there'd be far fewer problems with arrears. As for trashing the place: this will always be a risk, but asking for references and following them up removes a lot of it. That still leaves a problem for young tenants with no history, but...

Thank you – as he's a fairly recent appointment and probably still getting to grips with the brief, it might be best to keep our powder dry. Provided he stays in post, I could contact him in early February and give him the heads-up so he can be ready to say something about it. It's possible...

It's about bloody time – although I'm not convinced it will make much difference, as it'd be easy for landlords and lettings agents to ensure quietly that claimants entitled to housing benefit failed affordability tests. It would help if more councils processed applications promptly, as one of...

Have just remembered – :banghead:! – that my local MP has been appointed the shadow minister for health and social care. He has a good record for engaging with constituents, so I could email him with information about the study in the hope that he can help with publicising it via (for instance)...

I don't recall seeing anything like this, but it hasn't really been my experience. After minor surgeries, I always have to insist I came back for stitches removal two days earlier than recommenced, otherwise they grow into the new skin and I need further surgery to remove them. (I've never had a...