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Simon Wessely and letters condemning ME / CFS patients to continued illness and stigma

Wesselys' little boys and girls have published a letter in the Independent newspaper in Britain defending Wessely and psychiatric control of ME / CFS diagnosis and treatment. Such a collection of utter f**ls blinded by their own ignorance and arrogance.

"Chronic fatigue syndrome/ME is a debilitating condition affecting some 1 per cent of the UK population ("ME: bitterest row yet in a long saga", 25 November). This serious illness needs improved treatments and care, and research is central to making this happen. So it is with sadness that we read in The Independent on Sundayreports of allegations made against Simon Wessely, one of the few UK clinicians with a specialist interest in treating CFS/ME and someone who has done pioneering research in the field. Such harassment risks undermining research, preventing the development of new treatments and discouraging specialist clinicians from entering the field. We fear that this may have resulted in patients not receiving the best treatments or care – staying ill for longer and not being able to live life to the full.
Dr Esther Crawley
University of Bristol
Professor Michael Sharpe, University of Oxford
Professor Peter White, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Esther Crawley, Reader in Child Health, University of Bristol
Professor Stephen Holgate CBE, MRC Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology, University of Southampton
Professor Rona Moss-Morris, Head of Health Psychology, King's College London
Dr Charlotte Feinmann, Reader, UCL
Professor Hugo Critchley, Chair in Psychiatry, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Dr Brian Angus, Reader in Infectious Diseases, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford
Dr Steven Reid, Clinical Director for Psychological Medicine, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Patrick Doherty, Professor of Rehabilitation, York St John University
Professor Paul Little, Professor of Primary Care Research, University of Southampton
Dr Maurice Murphy, HIV Consultant, Barts Health NHS Trust
Professor Tim Peto, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and General Medicine, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford
Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, Chair, Public Health Wales, Cardiff University
Dr Alastair Miller, Consultant Physician, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
Professor Diane Cox, Professor of Occupational Therapy, University of Cumbria
Professor Jonathan Sterne, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Bristol
Dr Margaret May, Reader in Medical Statistics, University of Bristol
Professor George Davey-Smith, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Bristol
Dr Jade Thai, Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol
Dr Gabrielle Murphy, Clinical Lead Physician, Fatigue Service, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Hazel O'Dowd, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and CFS/ME Team Leader, Frenchay Hospital Bristol
Dr Brian Marien, Director, Positive Health
Professor Willie Hamilton, Professor of Primary Care Diagnostics, University of Exeter
Dr Selwyn Richards, Consultant Rheumatologist, Poole Hospital NHS Trust
Professor Alison Wearden, Professor of Health Psychology, University of Manchester
Professor Trudie Chalder, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London."

Would anybody on this forum and in the many ME / CFS organisations be interested in contacting contact Hooper and ask him to hold his fire and get him to collaborate with the following people
- Professor Anthony Komaroff of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University
- Dr. Luc Montagnier (won the Nobel prize for discovering the AIDS virus). He is sympathetic to ME / CFS patients
- Dr. Harvey Alter (who discovered the hepatitis C virus). He is sympathetic to ME / CFS patients.
- Dr. Ian Lipkin (one of the top virologists in the world). He is sympathetic to ME / CFS patients.
- Dr. Paul Cheney, one of the best known ME / CFS doctors and researchers in the world
- Dr. Daniel Peterson, one of the best known ME / CFS doctors and researchers in the world
- Dr. Enlander in New York
- Dr. Nancy Klimas
- Dr. Weir
- Dr. Jose Montoya, Stanford University

on a letter and signed by all these individuals. And sent to the Independent, The Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail. This would bring closure to this saga in the British Press. And end it once and for all. Anybody on this forum / this web site interested in making relevant contacts and bringing this together ? It would make a big difference.
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Comments

The Big Bad Authority Figures are telling us we are naughty children and should be ashamed. We should trust them, even as we continue to be mistreated, abused and neglected. Oh my, what naughty children we are. We shouldn't throw tantrums. We should accept what our betters consider. Its for our own good.

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”
http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/Ralph+Waldo+Emerson/1/index.html
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
This will not be a popular response, but what I'm hearing in general is "only my side of the story can be told." Oh wait, that's both sides.

What it comes down to is if you want to have freedom of speech you will probably have to grant others the same right whether you agree with them or not. And they you.

As for the biomedical researchers mentioned, many of them have a track record of pouring their energies into research rather than the give and take of comments and letters to the editor. There are only so many hours in a day.
 
Poor Dr Wessely. He's so picked on and misunderstood (blows nose).

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I prefer *no* treatment over *mis* treatment. Medicaid has spent *thousands* on my medical 'care' as I continued to get worse. I've been improving recently, and it appears (I know, correlation doesn't equal causation) to be from self-care and supplements that I learned about right here.

Meanwhile the doctors keep telling me, "We can't help you and we don't know who can". They deserve every BTU of heat applied to their butts.

Printing opinions in the newspaper is one thing. But fraudulent research will never be acceptable and needs to be challenged until it slinks away in shame.
 

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David Egan
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