'All these years on, I still have a relapse if I do too much. I can’t go on a treadmill or go for a jog' https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...t-go-on-a-treadmill-or-go-for-a-jog-5gjb2h39n Don't have access to full article, but title looks okay. Any thoughts from those who do subscribe?
There's a lot about football, which doesn't interest me, but he got ME in 1985. The article describes ME as "the disease that attacks the body’s immune and energy systems and leaves the patient drained." He kept pushing himself, as most of us do, before finally getting diagnosed. Says he's a lot worse in winter.
The fact of Davie Provan's illness was a big deal to those of us who had ME in the 1980s. He was a reference point. 'I've got ME.' 'What's that?' 'Have you heard of Davie Provan...' I wondered what had happened to him. From the article: It's mainly about football.
Good. A lot of people will read it then. Mostly men probably, but it all helps ME to become part of everyday discussions, with a more balanced perspective.
[ETA Thanks for the longer quote.] He says these days there are blood tests? [ETA: This keeps coming up and, as someone who gets good patches and therefore a crushing amount of doubt (usually on my way into a crash), I would like to know where this is a real thing and where it’s just incidental, to eliminate diff diagnoses.]
You're welcome. Yes, but he's not saying there are blood tests for ME. If a football player at a top club complains of feeling unwell, then there would be a battery of tests done to pick up any signs of problems. No one would be expected simply to train through something or run it off. If for example his illness started with a virus (as would seem likely and happened for many of us) then it would probably have been picked up and he would have been told to rest until the all signs of it had passed.
I wonder where we would have been today if people had gone along with Holmes et al's original description of a "chronic mononucleosis like syndrome", rather than choosing "chronic fatigue syndrome".
He won a holiday for Man of the Match in that cup final. I believe on the holiday he felt that he wasn't firing on all cylinders. A wee while before November. Davie Provan is an example why the 'all in the head' theorists are so wrong. Strip it all back. They should be compelled to address why a person like him would pack it all in. At that time he was flying. A top player in a top team in 1985. One of the best wingers in Britain. Football is a different world in 2019, skill levels, hype. To put it in perspective, in the context of football today it would be like Raheem Stirling packing up overnight.
