Paul Garner on Long Covid and ME/CFS - BMJ articles and other media.

Can anyone remember whether Paul Garner reported improving as a result of any specific formal treatment?

My impression was that he did not and that all he needed to get better was to realise he could get better. So presumably things like the Lightning Process are not necessary for getting better like him. So why is he recommending these quack programmes?
Indeed even he doesn’t seem to have wanted to put himself through the actual mind manipulation programme he is suggesting. And I doubt it’s either an access or affordability thing for him as he is probably on the get it free list, so he chose not to

Despite him claiming it’s ok recommending to those around other sick people in order to cause coercion through misinformation insinuating they are ill due to not trying hard enough when they do end up still ill even after/due to doing it etc.


The only thing that we really now for sure about Garner is that he decided to take up Twitter around the time the pandemic hit? - we don’t even fully know why etc on that.

and I guess as someone’s age doesn’t change unpredictably, so that just happened to coincide with a time when he was thinking about retirement options becoming open to him etc
 
Can anyone remember whether Paul Garner reported improving as a result of any specific formal treatment?

My impression was that he did not and that all he needed to get better was to realise he could get better. So presumably things like the Lightning Process are not necessary for getting better like him. So why is he recommending these quack programmes?
Most long haulers who recover do nothing and don't attribute it to anything. Some do. Some later recant because relapses. It's very obvious that no such thing is needed, but the narrative for decades has been that, yes, sure, recovery is rare, but that's because those people aren't using the magical ingredient.

The fact that this is common and yet we still have fairytale narratives like this, especially when even the best case scenario out of pragmatic trials is lower than the natural rates we observe, is about as solid evidence as it gets that we live in the bad place.
 
I know a lot of people who know him and witnessed him exercising (in public) regularly during the Summer and prior to “recovery” if Monbiot wants me to hook him up for an expose. It caused consternation.
My guess is that in a recent whine he mentioned how people went poring through his past postings that this is what he meant. How he was obviously fine enough to jog, scuba dive and vacation and all that.

So clearly exposing this bothers him, as it destroys his narrative.
 
My guess is that in a recent whine he mentioned how people went poring through his past postings that this is what he meant. How he was obviously fine enough to jog, scuba dive and vacation and all that.

So clearly exposing this bothers him, as it destroys his narrative.
Shouldn’t have done it in full view of people with eyes, in public places then. Whilst being on national telly complaining about being so unwell.
 
Can anyone remember whether Paul Garner reported improving as a result of any specific formal treatment?

My impression was that he did not and that all he needed to get better was to realise he could get better. So presumably things like the Lightning Process are not necessary for getting better like him. So why is he recommending these quack programmes?
Ah, because great men are able to impose mind over matter quite easily. Especially when they are not being misled and misadvised by feeble-minded and neurotic somatising patients. It’s the rest of us who require some kind of intensive course to retrain our inferior brains.

Hence the answer to that question also explains his remarkable hostility toward patients who are less persuaded of the efficacy of this approach. We are not only thickos who need remedial brainwashing but also the reason why this genius was unable to heal himself until he escaped our malign influence.
 
Ah, because great men are able to impose mind over matter quite easily. Especially when they are not being misled and misadvised by feeble-minded and neurotic somatising patients. It’s the rest of us who require some kind of intensive course to retrain our inferior brains.

Hence the answer to that question also explains his remarkable hostility toward patients who are less persuaded of the efficacy of this approach. We are not only thickos who need remedial brainwashing but also the reason why this genius was unable to heal himself until he escaped our malign influence.
Obviously we made him ill; when he got rid of all the ME people he got better!
 
It's not as if this level of extremism is anything new, Wessely achieved getting us compared to terrorists in the public eye, and he wasn't alone in that either.
This is the most important point about the political angle in ME/CFS: the BPS club could not have got away with it, for so long, and continue to do so, without the sustained support and protection from the rest of the power and governance structure.

Which is a huge chunk of the reason those people and institutions are so reluctant to fix the problem, because it means they have to own up to their complicity in causing and perpetuating it all, to this day.
Can anyone remember whether Paul Garner reported improving as a result of any specific formal treatment?

My impression was that he did not and that all he needed to get better was to realise he could get better. So presumably things like the Lightning Process are not necessary for getting better like him. So why is he recommending these quack programmes?
Not only did he not do any formal treatment program, IIRC he did not even get a formal diagnosis.
 
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If the establishment was a bit more even handed I think there would be a fair chance of getting Garner formally reprimanded by the GMC if not struck off. This is Andrew Wakefield type stuff.

I've just noticed that his wikipedia page is called Paul Garner (doctor) , and that is what appears in the title of the search listing too: Paul Garner (doctor) - Wikipedia

and the first summarising para about him is:
Paul Garner is a British epidemiologist and public health professional, known for his work in systematic reviews and evidence-informed policy. He is currently an Emeritus Professor, Evidence Synthesis in Global Health, at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.[1] Previously he was a member of the WHO malaria treatment guidelines group from 2004-18.

which isn't too different to his X/twitter summary:
Medical epidemiologist & public health professional. Professor emeritus, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Clarivate. Highly Cited Reseacher 2023 and 2024.

So given that he wouldn't be construed as necessarily therefore speaking just as Joe Blogs who had covid once and it took him a while to get over it in these and in the BMJ article - which had been clearly designed to charade it appearing as the opinion-based piece only it was - making it also seem that way then I think there is a point to be made on that.
 
I notice from going through his WIki entry something called REAd-it was listed: READ-IT | Research, Evidence and Development Initiative
which turns out to be something to do with the foreign and commonwealth office

The Research, Evidence and Development Initiative (READ-It) was an accountable grant funded by UK aid through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) (project number 300342-104) and ran from 15 May 2018 to 31 December 2024. READ-It built upon the previous work of the UK aid-funded Effective Health Care Research Consortium (EHCRC) (grant number 5242). Visit the archived EHCRC website to find out more about EHCRC’s work from 2009-2018.

and involved Cochrane somehow.

and ended Dec 2024.
 
He's clearly been editing his Wikipedia page. This should be challenged if anyone is active on Wikipedia?

View attachment 26351
yes I've just had a look at it and can see why it would be flagged as inappropriate.

All of these assertions about pwme - an illness he never had or experienced himself - justified by a reference to the Liverpool Post article, which is ... well, just pretty out of hand as far as sensibleness goes.

I can't help but think back to the Feb 2023 timing of that and what he might have wanted to distract from at that point in time


And it certainly makes for an abrupt break, despite it being glossed over using soft terms like advocate for 'the recovered', when the top half of the article paints an impression of a medical doctor.


Reading through some of the 'references' - some of which are publications most wouldn't know and/or are local vs eg the BMJ - I can't help but start to get a picture of a co-ordinated media strategy. In order to provide 'references' for things that couldn't be 'evidenced' other than by that because in essence they are just someone's story so I don't know what wiki accepts etc?

Particularly when you imagine the prep going into getting the following out of Charles Shepherd: The ME Association fervently refutes the psychosomatic model of causation applies to ME/CFS or indeed Long Covid - The ME Association it feels like it was going to be used and I don't know what provocation was involved to prompt that wording etc.
 
Which is a huge chunk of the reason those people and institutions are so reluctant to fix the problem, because it means they have to own up to their complicity in causing and perpetuating it all, to this day.

Much like the infected blood scandal, the post office scandal - which had the justice system involved as people went to prison, Hillsborough, which had the police and mainstream media complicit.

It is all based on people's need to disbelieve other people's reality and think themselves superior. Whereas we are all unique, just like everyone else.

But the above were brought to light and the truth unpicked the complicit structures, so it is not impossible...I hope....
 
I have little doubt that one day the real story will come to the fore, more or less.

But also have little doubt that for the victims, or their surviving loved ones, it will be cold comfort. Just way too little, way too late.
When we get cured, some people should do a tally of the amount of known suicides among pwME/CFS. It’s going to dwarf the post office..
 
I notice from going through his WIki entry something called REAd-it was listed: READ-IT | Research, Evidence and Development Initiative
which turns out to be something to do with the foreign and commonwealth office
and involved Cochrane somehow.
and ended Dec 2024.


Garner is a really interesting character.

As mentioned before in this thread and written down by himself in this BMJ Blog titled "Covid-19 and fatigue—a game of snakes and ladders" :

I talk to my sister. Her personal experience of ME really helps, and she coaches with practical management of chronic fatigue.

I also find it quite interesting how deliberately he seems to mix his opinions with work by READ-It by hosting a collection of interviews and writings about his Long Covid recovery there:
https://web.archive.org/web/2024052...r-discusses-his-experience-of-having-covid-19


But what irritates me by far the most: Why does his name popup on newer "studies" of the lowest possible quality?
"Interventions for the management of long covid (post-covid condition): living systematic review" https://www.bmj.com/content/387/bmj-2024-081318/rapid-responses

Here‘s an excerpt from a review:

"I would like to draw particular attention to the misleading sentence at the start of the Discussion: "Our systematic review and meta-analysis of 24 trials comprising 3695 patients with long covid identified moderate certainty evidence that an online CBT programme probably improves fatigue and concentration..."

In reality, this conclusion is based not on a meta-analysis of 3695 patients but on the results of a single small trial with a sample size of 114, [1] which the review authors themselves judged to be at high risk of bias in more than one domain, according to the information presented in the Supplementary Data file.
 
A lot of recent posts are covering things that were raised/discussed way back.

I really recommend that if people 'newish' to the forum or ME, are able to, that they have a read from the beginning as the whole thing unfolded.
It is an eye opener to see how Garner changes his tune, although @Esther12 did pick up quite early on his unease with associating whatever he was suffering from with ME.
 
A lot of recent posts are covering things that were raised/discussed way back.

I really recommend that if people 'newish' to the forum or ME, are able to, that they have a read from the beginning as the whole thing unfolded.
It is an eye opener to see how Garner changes his tune, although @Esther12 did pick up quite early on his unease with associating whatever he was suffering from with ME.
There are ~2500 posts in this thread, so reading everything might be difficult.
 
Shouldn’t have done it in full view of people with eyes, in public places then. Whilst being on national telly complaining about being so unwell.
As best as I can tell, in all of his 100+ media appearances and interviews, no one has ever asked him about any of this, so it's not as if it matters.

That's how easy it is to push an establishment narrative, no one ever asks anything awkward or looks into blatant contradictions. Meanwhile we basically have to account for every time someone threw a cup in anger at being unfairly ejected.
 
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