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Almost all my meals are one-pot dishes that I make in enormous batches and then freeze. Some of my strategies: I've never peeled things like carrots, parsnips, or potatoes, even before I got ill—I just top and tail them, and scrub the muck off with a veg brush. I do my chopping sitting on the...

I'd leave the lighting decision till last if you can. Modern LED lighting is extremely flexible, and if you choose your fittings carefully, you can get a whole range of lamps with different colour temperatures and brightnesses. You can't predict exactly how the tiling will look until it's done...

I chose bumpy white tiles, the cheapest versions available, in the large wetroom at the last house. The Disabled Facilities Grant paid for two of the walls to be tiles because they'd get wet from the shower, but I had to pay for the other two—hence the price decision! The room was originally...

I think the UK's the same—there are tests for a few important viruses, and people who're ill or at risk might sometimes be tested for more routine bugs, but testing for common viruses in healthy (or relatively healthy) people is almost unheard-of. Probably for good reason, to be honest. If...

Very much this for me too, though I'm not sure whether it's definitely—or solely—down to ME. (For background: as some of my symptoms don't match ME, I've been behaving as if I have hypokalaemic periodic paralysis for a few weeks to see what happens. I've had a lot more function since then, and...

I know someone working in healthcare, whose institution received a large consignment of masks that had to be returned as unsuitable for use. It was because they were attached by ear loops, and FFP3 masks used in their setting needed to have straps that go around the back of the head. Since...

Possibly? I find this a really odd idea. It seems to suggest that all you need to do in order to get answers to intractable biomedical problems is shout loud enough. I'm not sure I accept that ME patients have significant problems in engaging in patient activism. Even severely ill people have...

I've used fitted cotton sheets for decades, bought everywhere from John Lewis to Dunelm to eBay, and I can't honestly say I've had a major problem with any of them. The only slightly annoying one I've had was too deep and so had a rather looser fit on top, but I still used it for ages. I find...

I agree. You don't need to do any activity at all to know that you have PEM, because you feel ill. I'd also replace 'unrefreshing sleep' with 'much more difficulty than usual initiating and maintaining sleep'. There's no mention of the wired feeling, the extreme clumsiness, the inability to...

Crip was reclaimed by disabled people years and years ago, though—some of my friends often use it in that way.

I think @Jonathan Edwards might still be writing it... :whistle:

I don't know about the facial palsy, but it's worth saying that SIBO can eventually cause vitamin deficiencies, including B12 and folate. Healthy people have bodily stores of B12 that can last several years before deficiency sets in, but if the levels were low to begin with, SIBO could...

If researchers and academics post their opinions on social media, they're looking for a response. The option of not posting their opinions is available to them every second of every day. All users have a responsibility to report and call out hate speech and threats of harm, but other than...

PS: If you're able to do some work, @Shadrach Loom, make sure you stress the impact of having to do unnecessary walking on your capacity to work. Ditto if you have caring responsibilities.

It's usually questions about what your mobility is like: whether or not you can stand, how far you can walk, etc. The thing with ME is to stress the consequences of standing and walking, as well as the distance you can actually cover. For instance, some patients might be able to walk half a...

Indeed, but it doesn't even need to involve addressing the symptoms. Modify the self-report, full stop. The BPS method involves persuading patients to change their attitude to—in other words, lie about—their symptoms. There is no actual treatment.

I had it for about eight months once. It was on-and-off, starting with six weeks of having to stay in bed and needing a commode next to the bed because I couldn't get to the toilet, then calming down a bit, then fluctuating between mild and hideous. Then I got it again less than a year later...

That's a really interesting read—hope he's able to follow it up.

If your balance is completely off too, it could be labyrinthitis. It's often caused by a virus, and it can hang around for an absurdly long time. It's different to positional vertigo, as it involves more falling over, can be triggered by any movement (or none at all), and often worsens with air...

I refer m'lud to Brian Hughes's excellent exposition of eminence-based medicine: https://thesciencebit.net/2018/11/03/the-triumph-of-eminence-based-medicine/ :grumpy: