Miranda Hart - British comedian

This adds to the confusion as she has in interviews said she has had Lyme’s but not clarified how this relates to her reported ME/CFS. (NB Though I have listened to several interviews I have not read the book.)

Does she see Lyme’s Disease and ME/CFS as the same thing, or does she see them as unrelated but co-occurring conditions or does she see her ME/CFS having being triggered by the bacteria that caused her Lyme’s or some other relationship? Also I have not seen anywhere her referring to PEM rather than fatigue, even though it is now regarded as the key symptom of ME/CFS.

Obviously her book and her various interviews are not medical texts, however a central theme is her sharing how she has learned to self manage her condition, so one might have hoped for more clarity about what she understands that condition to be.

 

Martine McCutcheon story very similar.

 

It's annoying how those claims are never subject to any scrutiny. Such poor journalism.

If that's all she needed to do and she was ill for more than a decade, why didn't she do this from the start then? This is a textbook post-hoc fallacy, but of course journalism is just as dead as institutional accountability.

And anyway, those personalities gullibly taking this story as valid aren't any worse than 90% of physicians, who also nod and accept such anecdotes. A good example of slippery slopes, when an expert profession simply abandons having standards, the rest of society follows down the same path, never challenged, about things that should be subject to ridicule.

 

Miranda keeps stating that she had Lyme which "turned into" ME. I think Miranda has said she was given an ME diagnosis before she was tested for Lyme. She uses the phrase "These fatiguing illnesses" in a cavalier way, not giving any objective validated details about Lyme or ME.

I slightly wondered if she was encouraged to phrase her illness as 'Lyme turned into ME' by Alex Howard at the Optimum Health Clinic (who she is so keen on). The OHC doesn't advertise treating Lyme (to my knowledge) but has exploited ME from the beginning. This is pure speculation on my part, though it sounds plausible.



Article, The Independent 14/10/2024

'Miranda Hart has revealed that she was “bedbound for years” after undiagnosed Lyme disease developed into chronic fatigue syndrome.'

'Lyme disease can result in several complications, including myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), but those who are promptly diagnosed have the best outcomes.'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-disease-chronic-fatigue-health-b2628927.html

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Like Miranda a lot less, but LOVE her publicist! Miranda is everywhere in the media.

Maybe the charities can spare some of their stash for this publicist to promote the new NICE guidelines.

 

I do wonder if UK people with ME could Crowdfund to hire Miranda Hart's Publicist!!


We don't want to be in the papers and on the radio/TV Quite as much as Miranda is (people would get sick of us, whereas the general public tolerate celebrities, especially when the celebrities come with lovely tales of inspiration about scary disabling diseases).

BUT we DO want to ensure that what is written, stated, is accurate, relevant.

But seriously, we could do with a canny, clever publicist. We do not want 'Any' publicity for it's own sake - But we DO Need accurate, pertinent, well referenced articles etc.

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It is for Miranda!

 

I believe that this is the route @Valerie Eliot Smith proposed some years ago?

I am in agreement that we need professional help.

Though since this current pandemic has swelled and continues to add to our numbers we’d expect to face even greater frontlash than before since more of us now desperately require resources we’re currently effectively barred access to.

Also it’s about every six months since forever ago that we all ask ourselves why don’t the two largest ME charities pay for professional media messaging?

Charities don’t think it’s important enough to spend money on apparently. But I’ve never found a person with ME outside the charities who doesn’t disagree with them on this. To some degree.

I’m sure some PR professionals would do a bad job or send the wrong message (see MM) and or be too expensive to afford. But I am equally sure that there are plenty of people who would do a great job, and we have a not insignificant reputation problem to handle thanks to certain famous names.

 

We need a celeb (non-bps) champion who then wants to go out and bat for us.