Snowdrop
Rebel without a biscuit
- Messages
- 2,933
@A.B. As far as I'm concerned---thanks for speaking up. Reading some of the other stuff made me see red (although Carolyne Wiltshire had a very excellent post.)
There are two things that bother me when this sort of article comes out and the comments flow in.
First, immediately people opine how it really works--and they think they are refuting a post made by someone with ME but in their own post it is clear that they are healthy but had an injury that caused them pain that did not heal immediately. As they wanted to keep active (one might imagine) when a week of pain meds don't suffice they look elsewhere--inevitably in present culture meditation or some related somatic fix is readily available/highly hyped.
What they fail to grasp is that if they did nothing at all it's just as possible that the pain would have resolved over time--but the therapy gets the credit.
The fatigued and pained are not the disease process that is ME yet that's how the thinking goes. I expect it likely that ME has more in common with the common cold than it does with pain that doesn't immediately resolve or fatigue of unknown origin. This inevitably leads me to a peeve of mine. Use of the 'F' word.
Personally, I'd call what I have Ramsey's Disease in a heartbeat if I thought it would gain traction--I won't spend precious energy lobbying for that though. But I will lobby to stop the use of CF/CFS. I know that this is what other people know. But the term has been used together with ME as in ME/cfs for a while now. And we are gaining recognition. I think personally it's time to leave the "F' word behind. It's insulting and patronising which is what it was meant to be.
ME may or may not be accurate but I can live with it while waiting (rather impatiently) for knowledge of something more specific.
Back to the comments--inevitably even when we write very good comments using cfs gets people thinking we mean fatigue and/or pain. With ME we might hope to interrupt that.
Second, <big sigh> is this new age notion of the brain directing our every process and getting the brain conflated with mind so that 'the brain' (used to be the mind) consciously directs bodily processes--our will has been set free to do pretty much anything except maybe toast our morning bread with laser thoughts.
I lack specific science knowledge with which best to argue against this trend (and it is a fashion). There is yet lots we don't know actually. For example how does the weak electrical field around us affect the chemical processes that take place? I wish I could find some well written argument for why this brain stuff is bumph. I know it sounds compelling. It has the advantage of closing off any further inquiry--no need to know more--easily consumed by those of us with no science training while sharing a coffee with friends. This using your brain to affect healing to me is no different from using your mind to attract money to you which you can learn about at ever so many seminars for a not inconsiderable fee.
This is science shooting itself in the foot when these comments are made. Too many crappy theories shared with way too much hype and dumbed down for the simplest consumption.
OK so I've been wanting to get this off my mind for a while.
There are two things that bother me when this sort of article comes out and the comments flow in.
First, immediately people opine how it really works--and they think they are refuting a post made by someone with ME but in their own post it is clear that they are healthy but had an injury that caused them pain that did not heal immediately. As they wanted to keep active (one might imagine) when a week of pain meds don't suffice they look elsewhere--inevitably in present culture meditation or some related somatic fix is readily available/highly hyped.
What they fail to grasp is that if they did nothing at all it's just as possible that the pain would have resolved over time--but the therapy gets the credit.
The fatigued and pained are not the disease process that is ME yet that's how the thinking goes. I expect it likely that ME has more in common with the common cold than it does with pain that doesn't immediately resolve or fatigue of unknown origin. This inevitably leads me to a peeve of mine. Use of the 'F' word.
Personally, I'd call what I have Ramsey's Disease in a heartbeat if I thought it would gain traction--I won't spend precious energy lobbying for that though. But I will lobby to stop the use of CF/CFS. I know that this is what other people know. But the term has been used together with ME as in ME/cfs for a while now. And we are gaining recognition. I think personally it's time to leave the "F' word behind. It's insulting and patronising which is what it was meant to be.
ME may or may not be accurate but I can live with it while waiting (rather impatiently) for knowledge of something more specific.
Back to the comments--inevitably even when we write very good comments using cfs gets people thinking we mean fatigue and/or pain. With ME we might hope to interrupt that.
Second, <big sigh> is this new age notion of the brain directing our every process and getting the brain conflated with mind so that 'the brain' (used to be the mind) consciously directs bodily processes--our will has been set free to do pretty much anything except maybe toast our morning bread with laser thoughts.
I lack specific science knowledge with which best to argue against this trend (and it is a fashion). There is yet lots we don't know actually. For example how does the weak electrical field around us affect the chemical processes that take place? I wish I could find some well written argument for why this brain stuff is bumph. I know it sounds compelling. It has the advantage of closing off any further inquiry--no need to know more--easily consumed by those of us with no science training while sharing a coffee with friends. This using your brain to affect healing to me is no different from using your mind to attract money to you which you can learn about at ever so many seminars for a not inconsiderable fee.
This is science shooting itself in the foot when these comments are made. Too many crappy theories shared with way too much hype and dumbed down for the simplest consumption.
OK so I've been wanting to get this off my mind for a while.
