Science Illustrated: People with chronic fatigue have been misunderstood for decades: reputable researcher offers surprising advice

[ahimsa]

"People with chronic fatigue have been misunderstood for decades: reputable researcher offers surprising advice to those struggling with the illness"

Sadly, the headline uses "chronic fatigue" but at least the subheading uses "chronic fatigue syndrome."

"Chronic fatigue syndrome has often been overlooked by doctors and researchers. Geneticist Chris Ponting has revolutionised our understanding of the disease – and he has a remarkable message for those suffering from it. "

People with chronic fatigue have been misunderstood for decades: reputable researcher offers surprising advice to those struggling with the illness | scienceillustrated.com

Geneticist Chris Ponting shares his best advice for managing chronic fatigue syndrome, aka ME/CFS. Get it here.

scienceillustrated.com

Short article, easy to read. Not able to cut/paste any quotes now, need to go rest!

 

[ScoutB]

Ah well it’s a pop sci article I guess so it has to say something rather bold at the top, in this case that they’ve found the cause. Moving past that though..

This was an interesting point:

"Having heard from thousands of people what they have been through, it is appalling that the only thing that consistently seems to help is giving up work. There are even studies that show this."

Anyone know what studies he could be thinking of?

 

[Hoopoe]

the only thing that consistently seems to help is giving up work

He had the courage to say it.

I can't recall any such studies though! I too would like to know which ones he is referring to.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

A nice little article but Chris seems to have been seduced into a bit of loose talk here and there!

"Exercise is good for most illnesses, but for ME – particularly early on – research shows that it can be harmful. If a family member developed ME, I would say: ‘Now you need to rest.’"

No, Chris, exercise is not good for any illness much. It is useful for keeping yourself free of illness by helping to keep your weight down but while you are ill it is almost universally unhelpful. Even after a stroke, what helps is getting back to doing normal things, not exercise. And even for preventing osteoporosis I doubt there is any good evidence since keeping thin tends to aggravate osteoporosis.