There's a strong presence of Bad Science that needs to be corrected, because unknown to many people including patients many years ago CFS/ME was accepted by the UK as a neurological illness. Thus there is no 'debate' if CFS ME is psychological or not. It cannot be so, or the classification wouldn't exist.
On that basis, then perpetuating the myth of CFS ME, as a psychological impairment must cease. Psychiatrists should certainly apologize unreservedly for the denial of neurological ME and CFS, that Dr Gerada appears to engage in. No wonder Dr Montoya thinks so too and made a point of saying the medical profession needs to apologise. It does.
Any attending Psychiatrists to the IVIME 2013 conference should listen carefully to Professor Mella's presentation where he can demonstrate a novel ability to offer significant improvement in people with CFS by administering B Cell depletion therapy, with results that far outweighs the success of the wasteful 'PACE' trial.
The NHS has been superseded by what the NHS encouraged, ''expert patients''. Expert ME patients have flourished, people who now know far more than their GP's about the biomedical nature of their disease ME and CFS, by following CFS research outside of the UK where oligarchic control of state (NHS) medical care provision doesn't exist, as there is no state medicine to control everyone.
Expert ME CFS patients outside of America know that America and (if funded) Norway leads the way in CFS research, whilst the British chaotically flounder with Dickensian rhyme that is used extensively for 'CFS' for cost benefit reasons, rather than scientific. Remember that bizarre talk on 'Mind - Body Dualism' to explain away the potentially fatal CFS/ME? That really is a demonstration of functional somatic syndrome in action!
A very low NK function (researched by Dr Nancy Klimas) in people labelled with CFS/ME worse than people who are HIV+, is proof of an underlying immune suppression. This defect causes ME CFS patients to be frequently infected with viruses, which in turn causes disabling organic fatigue. ME CFS is thus not a 'post viral' syndrome, it is a persistent viral fatigue syndrome, in patients with this defect. No one know who has this defect, as patients are not tested and instead, neglected and ignored ushered into the arms of 'I believe you' liason psychiatry.
In addition to NK phenomena, reduced immunity in ME CFS is also evidenced by measuring IgG subclasses. (An immunological fault than can also occur in CFS/ME). IgG subclasses were told not to be tested for by Wessely.
What a strange coincidence. A coincidence, of course.
Away from depressed, chronically fatigued cohorts of oxford cfs criteria studied at Kings College, CFS/ME is a form of acquired immuno deficiency syndrome, a non HIV-AIDS. To ignore this science fact, would be against the very ethos of what it means to be a doctor and practice medicine. Yet this is the situation, and inept psychiatrists rule the roost.
Whatever Dr Gerada's reasons are for attending it would be refreshing to see an opportunity for her to engage with science and thus saving ME CFS patients lives with biomedical treatments rather than playing a victim or one on others behalves.
The real victims of the ME global tragedy are individuals too physically weak to stand up and leave their bedrooms, women unable to conceive and start a family (a fundamental human right), people bed ridden and housebound living in unbearable pain and distress, and the deceased. Yes I had to mention them, because deceased ME CFS patients with those acronyms written on their death certificates are real thorn in the sides of people who want to pretend this whole 'thing' never happened.
The deceased are the most ignored, because by a strange set of coincidences (through the use of the SMC) the UK press never seem to be able to report in national newspapers about ME patients actually dying of what they are told is imagined. The same goes goes for GWS and chronic lyme disease.
The ME global tragedy encompasses a suffering foolishly caused by state denial of new onset chronic neuroinflammatory disease that was first recognized by the W.H.O in 1969, and rubber stamped by the CDC in 1989 after multiple outbreaks of intractable severely fatiguing new onset neurological illness in children, professionals (nurses and doctors) and others. Some of these outbreaks were associated to the administration of vaccines. Vaccines to this day are known to trigger CFS ME.
Maybe Dr Gerada can tell us that she will personally lobby for the psychiatric molestation of science to end and UK ME patients to be allowed default access to:
1)
Brain scans to detect hypoperfusion in people with CFS. Thus enabling evidence of brain vascular impairment.
NOT PSYCHOLOGICAL.
2)
A TILT Test (As Dr Julia Newton wants in the updated NICE guidelines) to diagnose POTS, thus detecting neurological dysfunction in people with CFS.
NOT PSYCHOLOGICAL.
3)
Anti viral drugs through monitoring of secondary infections in the community with a community nurse.
NOT PSYCHOLOGICAL, Immunological.
If this is not possible because science is to be continued to be ignored, then perhaps Dr Gerada can personally lobby
the Royal Colleges for a removal of the UK's:
Blood ban for pregnant women who develop CFS whilst they are pregnant.
Blood ban for CFS and ME and PVFS.
Tissue ban for CFS and ME and PVFS.
Deceased tissue ban for PVFS.
The above bans would be unecessary if CFS ME is a mental and behavioral illness and not one that potentially harbors infectious pathogens such as prions, viruses and retroviruses.
Be removing the bans, this would finally confirm to the public and the medical profession that CFS is indeed a psychological impairment safely treated with CBT and exercise therapy, and a dose of pacing.As is the claim in all Department of Health literature distributed to medical professionals and the public alike. This is something the Royal Colleges should be discussing and debating actively. Why aren't they?
To not do that would be a travesty for the patients and would raise ETHICAL questions on how someone can be told they have a neurological illness by the UK Department of Health, but be simultaneously treated as having a psychological illness by the NHS, who are part of the Department of Health.
I have no idea who has been sitting on the ETHICS committee for so long, and I am sure there is
no conflict of interest at all.
The Royal Colleges shouldn't ignore such a dreadful state of affairs where ME CFS patients are being systematically been lied to (by concealment of the truth on infectious risk to others) and worse still, being advised to undertake non evidence based (science based) treatments that neurological ME and CFS patients themselves have reported makes them WORSE, or PERMANENTLY WORSE!
Lets hope something good comes of this all, however past history tell us it will not.