Blog entries by alex3619
Please sir, I want some more. Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist.
I was asked why many leads in ME research have not been followed up. This is closely tied to the dire lack of research.
I think we can sum this up in one line, but the details are so very complex. We probably know all the reasons...
" Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves."
Following from Sykes
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?entries/the-witch-the-python-the-siren-and-the-bunny.1149/
BOTH statements are fallacies. However if you believe the first its irrational and hypocritical to not believe the...
I just made this reply to the Shorter article, which now appears to be either members only or deleted:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blo...essed/201502/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-is-back
Reply To: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is Back!
Edward Shorter Ph.D. Feb 19, 2015
By Alex Young, B.Sc., B.Inf...
What do we do to change political and medical policy on ME?
The people who need to be convinced are the experts, the authorities, the policy-makers. They have prestige, power, reputations. They stuffed up, badly. Its human nature to be blind to your own failings.
We have had a test for ME, or...
The suggestive nature of the evidence is very weak, yet its played as if it were strong. It is likely that most MUS (medically unexplained symptoms/syndromes) in history have been failed diagnosis, whether through medical failure or insufficient medical research at the point in history, or...
Recovery [bluk] from chronic fatigue syndrome after treatments given in the PACE trial
P. D. White, K. Goldsmith, A. L. Johnson, T. Chalder and M. Sharpe ; PACE Trial Management
Group
Psychological Medicine, Page 1 of 9. Cambridge University Press 2013
doi:10.1017/S0033291713000020
What does...
Part B: Churnalism and Dogmatic Verificationism
Churnalism
When a study is reported the science journalists get to report on it and then fairly and accurately reflect on the paper's importance, right? Or at least thats what is supposed to happen. For a general discussion of churnalism you...
If Not Conspiracy Then What? Part Two
Part A: Zombie Science Rides Again, or Pale Riders on Pale Horses
Have you ever wondered when the Zombie Apocalypse depicted in so many horror movies would occur? Its already happened and we missed it! They walk amongst us. The zombies are the masses of...
This is not one of my planned blogs, just something I thought I should report. I have been interested in eicosanoid impact on CFS and ME since 1993, based on the work of Dr. Andriya Martinovic. Eicosanoids are generally very short acting and short range hormones. They are used by a cell to...
Go To Part Two
Commentary: What can we take from Skewed?
Skewed lists numerous failures in the scientific, medical and political processes involved in ME and CFS, particularly in the UK. While he makes a good case that something is very wrong, it is not conclusive with respect to...
Go To Part One
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Walker discusses the origins of the definitions of CFS, and briefly mentions that two ME experts refused to sign the document that led to the Holmes et. al. definition of CFS, as the history of ME was being ignored. (p. 156) He goes on to discuss the...
A Review of Skewed by Martin J Walker, 2003.
Greenwashing Part One: General Argument
A lot of people have wondered how the psychogenic explanation for CFS (and ME) has gained a wide influence. Walker addresses this issue by looking at the history of organizations that have promoted this...
There have been very few options we have had as advocates for ME and CFS that have worked. We lack numbers, and we are often too sick to be effective. This is something that occurred to me as I was trying to go to sleep - and now I am up to write about it.
This is a detour from my planned...
(An exercise in Satire - easier to read if you say it out loud.)
Cwonic fateeg patients are cwazy coz deyz don't have nuffin wrong with them, dey cannot show deyz are sick.
Dem chemikal nutters are cwazy coz deyz tink chemikals corz illness. Dey got no idea! Aint no chemikals awound most...
And the Cycle Continues
At some point in the middle to late twentieth century (possibly 1982) it was discovered that vitamin B12 injections could treat ME but it was not curative. Many doctors know that and use it clinically, but it is only recently that serious research has been conducted on...
What can we learn from the history of peptic ulcers?
"The merry-go-round goes 'round and 'round,
The children laughed and laughed and laughed,
So many were going 'round and 'round,
That the merry-go-round collapsed."
Traditional Nursery Rhyme
The cause of most peptic ulcers only became...
I am a duo of drugs with supreme potency. The two drugs are modified versions of drugs used for other disorders, but for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I get supreme results. I also think I am just dandy at treating Myalic Encephalomyelitis.
I slip past drug regulations of almost every country...
Directions for Discussion
Fighting with each other over definitions wastes our limited resources. I propose some alternative strategies, but I am open to others:
1. We debate "gold" standard ME and CFS research - what would be required to make it work? (I dislike the label "gold standard" by...
Part One
Change all the labels you want, those who want to misuse the terms will continue doing so. Those who promote the idea we have a dysfunctional belief system will say ME is just psychosomatic no matter what we call it - or what the World Health Organization calls it. They have been...
WARNING: Philosophy Alert!
The New Inquisition? Meet Monty Python.
Are you a witch? We will tie your hands and feet then throw you in the water to see if you sink! If you do you were innocent, too bad. If you don't you are a witch, and we have ways to deal with witches. This was a very...