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

On this tab it describes exercise as a 'miracle cure':

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-health-benefits/

Again, there's no warnings about exercising when suffering any chronic health condition, and no links to the evidence for the causal claims made.

 

Don't they know what happens to people who perform miracles?

 

We chat a few times a week - will flag

 

How can this be changed? It's dangerous and giving cover to anyone who wants to take advantage.

 

Has anyone written a letter to the CMOs about this?

 

Sometimes humour is the last refuge of the oppressed. These people deserve to be mocked, and they will malign and insult us anyway.

Clowns are as clowns do.

 

And he’s back in the Guardian….
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...hope-recovery-symptoms?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

Extract from Guardian

"An early attempt at an intensive online exercise class, when I felt momentarily better, sent me straight back to bed for a week. Several months of malaise, exhaustion and brain fog followed."

Well as one of your new pals would say: "Well that's an extreme behavioral response, Paul"

 

" I obsessed about my symptoms. I ruminated about the causes. I began to wonder if I would ever recover."

"Serendipity ultimately led to a path of recovery ..... An academic colleague connected me to someone who had recovered from chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, and who supported me as my “recovery mentor”. Their compelling explanation of what was happening in relation to the brain and body changed my understanding of the symptoms I was experiencing. I found other personal stories on Recovery Norway, a website set up by people who have recovered from ME/CFS. The narratives the group has compiled gave me hope."

"I learned that my Covid-19 infection had probably induced a physiological stress response that put my brain in a state of high activation and had an immediate effect on my hormone, heart, gastrointestinal and immune systems. When I got sick, the brain shut me down with fatigue, as it should do, until I recovered. My nervous system scanned for alarm signals, described by the Oslo-based physician Vegard Wyller as “false fatigue alarms”, and after a time, classical conditioning (learned by association) caused the “kickback” symptoms in response to these signals."

OMG. Does this "medical scientist" have any understanding of physiology or biochemistry?

(Rhetorical question)

 

Did he supply the title? Probably not. It was probably the sub-editor's task. But what does "recovery is possible" mean.? It could seem to mean anyone can recover if they act correctly. If they fail to recover it will be their fault. Perhaps he needs to have words with the Grauniad.

 

He'd probably agree with them now.

 

"I learned that my Covid-19 infection had probably induced a physiological stress response that put my brain in a state of high activation and had an immediate effect on my hormone, heart, gastrointestinal and immune systems."

Paul discovers the concept of being ill.

 

Paul's made a little film:

 

It's an article of faith in BPS circles that we are absolutely convinced recovery is impossible. It's a necessary assumption, they don't care how easy it is to contradict.

 

I haven't been able to watch. Is that globe for demonstration purposes? Does he use it to explain his scuba diving trip to Grenada last year? Timeline could certainly use clearing up.

 

I can think of a whole new thread dedicated to naming his new cameo.

 

If he used a juice fast or homeopathy during his spontaneous recovery, would people be taking him so seriously?

 

Has he ever indicated at what point in his recovery he was fit to return to work? That must be a key point in recovery. One would imagine it must have been before he went on holiday.