On responding to anti-vaxxers
Today I saw two new articles on the issue of the measles epidemic in the USA which has been caused by the failure of parents, under the influence of anti-vaccine pseudo-science and ideology which...
Category: M.E.
Review: Unrest
Unrest is a film about ME, made by Jennifer Brea (right) and which tells the story of her life with the condition since it forced her to cut short her degree. It also tells...
Charlie Gard and NHS versus private care
So, the tragic story of Charlie Gard, the terminally-ill baby boy whose parents have fought a legal battle to stop doctors at Great Ormond Street in London from turning off his life support, has...
Anti-vaxers, ME and desperate people
Recently there has been a major outbreak of measles in South Wales, thought to be largely the result of large numbers of parents not getting their children vaccinated during the MMR scare of 1998....
Ed Balls
Now that I’ve got your attention … There’s currently a measles outbreak in South Wales, the reason for which is that a lot of parents didn’t vaccinate their children with the MMR vaccine during...
Seven Years in the Making
Jessica Taylor has severe ME, and has been bedridden for seven years. She has previously made another video, “The World of One Room”, in which she describes how the disease has affected her life:...
Simon Wessely: more sinning than sinned against
In the current New Year honours, Professor Simon Wessely has received a knighthood and will henceforth be known as Professor Sir Simon Wessely. In this he joins the company of Roy Meadow, the doctor...
Punish bad nurses, but don’t let the bosses off the hook
Last Wednesday the secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, made a speech at the King’s Fund on “the quality of care”, in which he alleged, among other things, that there had been a...
The reach of Wessely’s theories
Last Friday I wrote here about Simon Wessely, the psychiatric professor at King’s College Hospital in London who is notorious for promoting psychological theories about certain chronic illnesses, won an award for “courage” presented...
Simon Wessely gets courage award (from a bunch of his mates)
On Wednesday, Simon Wessely, notorious for promoting psychological theories about ME, was jointly awarded a new prize for courage in “standing up for science” by Sense About Science. Nature published the statement by the...
My letter on ME in today’s Telegraph
Means-testing pensioner benefits is a political rather than practical policy - Telegraph I wrote the Telegraph a letter on Monday in response to Max Pemberton’s article on the issue of mental health stigma in...
Max Pemberton: the red herring of ‘mental health stigma’ in ME
Why few dare tackle the psychology of ME at the Telegraph website This article is by Max Pemberton, who has earlier written in the same paper about why ME sufferers are wrong to object...
XMRV is not the only virus
ME is probably a mental illness after all - but that does not mean that it is not real - Mail Online - Michael Hanlon’s Science blog: From The Cutting Edge This is one...
Further PACE findings and a biased Australian interview
Yesterday the medical journal PlosOne published findings from the PACE trial, a trial of various treatment options for “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” which was published to great derision from the patient community last year. The...
ME suicide “triggered by benefits form”
Why I let my husband die | Life and style | The Guardian This article is an interview with Jill Anderson, whose husband Paul killed himself in 2005 (on his fourth attempt). He had...
ME Awareness Day 2012: some links
Because of the pressure of work, I’ve been unable to write anything for ME Awareness Day (or even week) this year. I’ve written a few articles over the past year, the two most important...
Fear-free healthcare
Recently the ME community online had to deal with the sad news of three deaths, including one of its best-known and most loved activists, Emily Collingridge (right). There were also two inquests which reported...
Emily Rose Collingridge, 1981-2012
Please note: Emily’s mother has requested that her appeal from 2011 be reposted. I posted it here at the time and readers are invited to read the appeal. Today I heard the very sad...
Educating social workers about ME
The other night, I was at a screening of the film Voices from the Shadows at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which had been convened by the school’s film club as...
ME sufferer died because she couldn’t eat
University graduate Lois Owen, 34, died after her weight plummeted to just 3st 2lbs | This is Derbyshire (also reproduced on the ME Association site) Lois Owen achieved a first-class honours degree from the...