• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Caroline Wyatt: I hid the effects of MS from BBC for 15 years

Are they necessarily exclusive though? And keep in mind this is the UK health system we are talking about, almost anybody potentially could get a diagnosis of ME - after all, we are only a bit more tired than normal. ;)

She switched to become religious affairs correspondent, in 2014, after being treated for ME, the chronic fatigue illness, and will now switch to a presenting role.
Is becoming a religious affairs correspondent a rare effect of CBT perhaps??
 

Hutan

Senior Member
Messages
1,099
Location
New Zealand
She switched to become religious affairs correspondent, in 2014, after being treated for ME, the chronic fatigue illness, and will now switch to a presenting role.

Yes, given she now has MS, it seems likely the ME was a mis-diagnosis. Or perhaps her MS is now a mis-diagnosis of the ME?

But what I found interesting was that ME was actually called 'ME', with a simple clarification that it is 'the chronic fatigue illness' and no hint of psychobabble. Yes, I know it was only mentioned in passing. But this is surely an improvement on the usual 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the collection of symptoms reported by people who are (pick one or more) lazy/malingering/frightened of exercise and the world in general/hypochondriacal/psychosomatic.'
 

ScottTriGuy

Stop the harm. Start the research and treatment.
Messages
1,402
Location
Toronto, Canada
"She switched to become religious affairs correspondent, in 2014, after being treated for ME, the chronic fatigue illness, and will now switch to a presenting role."

I interpreted this statement as referring to her mental health status: She became religious after ME treatment.

Further strengthening the psychological link between ME and 'belief' (as in 'false illness belief').
 
Hmm, in this article, http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016...speaks-out-after-multiple-sclerosis-diagnosis, there is this quote
Wyatt, who was the BBC’s defence correspondent for seven years before the condition persuaded her to switch to religious affairs in 2014, believes she may have had it for 25 years.
where the condition being talked about is MS.

Also from our 'friends' at the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...veals-personal-battle-multiple-sclerosis.html

..I went to see my GP again. She thought the symptoms could be related to the unpredictable hours of my job and suggested I take a position that didn’t involve covering war or constant travel.

So I took on a new role as the BBC religious affairs correspondent...
ME is mentioned a couple of times in this one but only as part of the narrative of getting her diagnosis.

So I personally think that, this time, the Telegraph article is just written in an unclear way, rather than specifically trying to get anti-ME messages in. And I also agree that simply referring to it as the "chronic fatigue illness" is a lot better than we've seen before.