Is it worth explaining the difference between ME and CFS to the public??

The CCC is not a full description of M.E. which is why people will say it's not M.E.. You have to remember that M.E. is primarily a neurological disease, PVS is not. PVS is basically fatigue, achyness, sore glands and throat and night sweats.

The common symptoms they left out of the CCC for M.E. were:

Slurred speech
Numbness
Paralysis
Seizures
Gastroparesis
More detailed info on cardiac arrhythmias

There are others, but that is all I can think of at the moment.

Anyway, the point of this thread was for "me" to work out if I should try educate the public on the difference between M.E. and CFS, here in Australia which with the crappy definitions paints CFS as PVS. They don't know about the CCC or any of that other stuff, they just know what the media and bad research has told them. I am going to try to educate them by telling them what M.E./CFS is not and that includes all the post viral, overtraining, depression etc etc etc, things I previously mentioned. That IS what a huge number of the general public and doctors think it is. History can be altered by telling people what M.E. isn't and by dropping the term CFS and going back to calling it post viral syndrome. The CDC has totally messed all of this up and it makes me so angry, but I just can't sit by and let people keep thinking these things, laughing at us and saying "oh i'm tired too", especially when people are dieing.

post #55 was answered while you composed this... I haven't exactly read the posts in order

you may not be here to educate me, but if you wish to debate, you should support your point. I can understand lack of energy and that excuse I will accept.

Willow:

I am sorry if you thought that I was rejecting Hyde's or other experts opinions. I was not doing so. It is relevant but in the absence of the evidence I am looking for - only as an after fact and therefore - in terms of different values assigned to probative values of evidence, not the best quality.

I am looking for evidence which is contemperaneous to events at the time they unfolded. This evidence would have far more probative value than anything else.

As for what will satisfy me Willow, in order to know that - you would need to know why I am seeking this information and sadly, you have no idea.

So if I understand you, are you saying in your view - that Cheney and Peterson did not know the outbreak was ME, (didnt know what ME was or how to diagnose it etc) and wrote to the CDC asking them - what this was? And further, they remained ignorant as to the fact that the outbreak was an infectious episode of ME, up until and well after the formulation of the CFS definition? Would that be a fair summation of your view and understanding of the matter?

for those symptoms, I don't understand; are you saying paralysis is required to have ME? or those are extra optional symptoms? in what way is that list utilized, to exclude post-viral fatigue?

I'm pretty sure CCC actually does list some of those. But I'm too tired to look right now, I'm sorry.

Hyde says he and two ME experts were at the meeting that drew up the Holmes definition. The CDC was unwilling to listen to the two ME experts, so they got up and left. Hyde followed them out, which was unfortunate for the sake of the definition but nice for his own education. Sorry I don't have the link handy. But this is contemporaneous. I think that answers the important part your next as well.

except, no, Peterson and Cheney, I believe, had a good idea of the nature of what they were dealing with (infectious neuro-immune condition, but they personally did not know it was ME, as far as I know--at that time, but keep in mind Peterson is keeping up with the same cohort now) but did not know the infectious agent. they asked CDC to find the infectious agent, which CDC was unwilling and unable to do.

must go now, exhuasted, ttyl

No i'm not saying they are a requirement to have M.E., but they are common symptoms and should have been included to give diagnosing doctors a good picture of M.E.. It presents problems if those symptoms do come up later down the track and the doctor doesn't understand they are part of M.E. for quite a few people. It's happened to me, even the hospital didn't have a clue.

The general public and most doctors don't know about the CCC in AUSTRALIA!!!. Look at the Australian guidelines for diagnosing M.E./CFS, they don't rule out ANY of that stuff. You are not talking about the same thing as I am.

Oh good grief. Of course you can't put all symptoms in, but you should put common ones in such as the ones I listed, this is what the M.E. community was unhappy about. Those symptoms are classic of M.E..

I did not go to hospital with all those symptoms, only one.

Ummm, I am from Australia and the thread was talking about me writing letters to my local newspapers. It is your mistake, not mine. You have misunderstood the thread.

They are in true M.E. I have been around the disease long enough to see it myself. It just shows that as M.E. groups know, the CCC is not the holy grail.

Over and out

well, SOC and I were talking directly to someone else who was talking about the difference between "true"-ME and CCC-CFS (which was evidently a rabbit-trail from the original purpose of your thread), and you answered us... that's where the misunderstanding arose as best as I can tell... it was not SOC's mistake

TheMoonIsBlue, I know of one person diagnosed with PVFS. She probably has ME, though. However, ME has not been an option in the US because someone wrote it out of the ICD-CM codes. It's back with ICD-10-CM, but like you said, virtually no one will know how to use it.