SITES AND USE IN NEWSLETTERS
Driffield Times& Post Letters.
To have been ill for a year may seem like a lifetime, especially to a
younger lad like 13-year-old Charles Taylor (Rugby player=92s ME battle,
Driffield Times& Post, 29 September 2011 +
http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/sport/rugby_player_s_me_battle_1_3822786)=
but
it is still not too long a time to have elapsed to be sure whether he
does have M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) rather than some other
illness, for which he is just taking longer than normally expected to
recover.
If Charles's illness started with a viral infection, such as Glandular
Fever, Chicken Pox or 'flu; or if he had a bad reaction to a
vaccination; or if he had been affected by something toxic, such as
chemicals, or crop spraying, he may indeed eventually come to have a
diagnosis of M.E. - when we discover a test that is universally agreed,
probably by having a blood test or scan - but some people do recover
from the initial cause. Actress Barbara Windsor was so severely ill with
Epstein Barr virus that she had to come out of EastEnders for 2 years
but she returned and still works today. Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette
Cooper also had a very bad bout of Glandular Fever, at one time thought
to be M.E. and look her successful career now. Some athletes and busy
celebrities overdo things and can burn out for a while but if they do
rest it can be enough to come back and compete or perform again, Thus is
was for Olympic canoeist, Anna Hemmings; MotoGP rider, Casey Stoner,
singer& actress, Cher and West End Star, Michael Crawford, amongst many
others. These people were chronically ill, with what may have been
diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) but they almost certainly
did not have M.E., or would not be as able as they are today.
This is why M.E. should not be considered, "also known as Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome", or as one of a bundle of illnesses with a variety of
causes, symptoms and prognoses. You cannot just sleep M.E. better.
Fortunately, some International Consensus Criteria (ICC) have been
published by 26 specialists from around the world (Carruthers et al.,
August 2011 +
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02428.x/full
), which may help to separate this serious neurological illness from a
pack with which it should never have been associated. Doctors trying to
offer the best treatment to Charles and fellow sufferers may like to
compare the new ICC with the NICE guidelines, 2007 and earlier criteria
to see how they more effectively discriminate amongst patients who may
have CFS and those who have had M.E., such as "Seabiscuit" author Laura
Hillenbrand - and me - for more than 20 years.
I do hope Charles's own defences are strong enough and we see him on the
International field one day.
Yours sincerely
drjohngreensmith@mecommunitytrust.org
Dr John H Greensmith
ME Community Trust.org
---------------------------------------------
Send posts to CO-CURE@listserv.nodak.edu
Unsubscribe at http://www.co-cure.org/unsub.htm
Select list topic options at http://www.co-cure.org/topics.htm
---------------------------------------------
Co-Cure's purpose is to provide information from across the spectrum of
opinion concerning medical, research and political aspects of ME/CFS and/or
FMS. We take no position on the validity of any specific scientific or
political opinion expressed in Co-Cure posts, and we urge readers to
research the various opinions available before assuming any one
interpretation is definitive. The Co-Cure website <www.co-cure.org> has a
link to our complete archive of posts as well as articles of central
importance to the issues of our community.
---------------------------------------------
