JM: .but right now we're talking about M.E. It's a very debilitating illness, used to be known, very disrespectfully, as yuppie flu, but it can really have an effect on people's lives. We're discussing M.E. now on BBC WM.
And, I want to go straight back to Dr. Charles Shepard who's an M.E. medical expert. Just before the travel and the news there Dr. Shepard, we had Betty on, 15 years she'd had M.E., and her doctor is still trying to find her a specialist. I couldn't believe that statement.
CS: Yes.
JM: Can you believe it?
CS: Well, I can believe it, but it really is appalling. This is a lady who clearly needs some specialist input into her condition, and there are a number of specialists around the country and some, actually, specialist clinics that have been set up to deal with this illness. We on our website, which is
www.meassociation.org.uk have a full list of all the clinics, and all the doctors in the United Kingdom that see people with this illness on a specialist basis. So, I think Betty or her doctor need to pop along to our website and get some details of some local contacts, and get her referred and seen.
JM: OK, well let's bring Tony Britton in now, who's also from the ME Association. Tony, Dr. Shepard's just mentioned your website there, but what help and support is available for people who are suffering with M.E.
AB: Well, there are various ways in to finding support. A simple way is a phone number. The ME Association has a helpline, it's open for 6 hours during the day, between 10 and 12, between 2 and 4, and 7 and 9, and the phone number is 0844 576 5326
JM: 0844 576 5326. Are there local West Midlands based groups as well, that people can get involved in.
AB: There are some excellent local groups. We know of seven, and there's a good one covering Tina's area in Worcestershire. There's another one in Herefordshire, and there's a group based in the Kenilworth area, which calls itself the Mid-Warwickshire ME Group. Coming into Birmingham, there's the Solihull and South Birmingham ME Support Group, there's one in Walsall, and there's one which is possibly a bit far out of your patch, it's Coventry based, and they call themselves the Warwickshire Network for ME. They do talk to each other, and they will all offer a welcome to anybody who's feeling particularly isolated and frightened by this illness.
JM: OK, well I just want to throw that to Tina Blake who's the lady here, who suffers, she was bedridden for almost two years, and she's our guest in the studio this morning. I'm just wondering how you got the support of those groups if you couldn't get out of bed Tina?
TB: That was the problem actually, that I didn't really know that there were those sorts of groups around. And because doing anything was just, took all your energy, and your mind is full of fog, you don't get to hear about them. You don't, you feel terribly isolated.
JM: Well, hopefully we've helped a few people by bringing the subject to the fore this morning.
TB: Yes, and I think you have to rely on other people to help put you in touch with them, because certainly I think somebody who had understood what I was going through much earlier would have helped me enormously.
JM: There was one thing though, If I could come back on what the doctor talked about, there is no pill.
TB: No there is no pill, no magic cure. But something I found extremely helpful was acupuncture. I'm very lucky in that my brother Martin Blake does acupuncture and he worked out with my father, some points. They actually put a needle in my toe. And I still have very regular acupuncture, and that seemed to up my energy levels. Literally, after an acupuncture treatment, I would have a lot more energy, I might even be able to go for a small walk.
JM: Is that something that you would back Dr. Shepard? Acupuncture?
CS: Well, yes, I mean there's a whole range of alternative and complementary approaches to this illness. I think at one end of the spectrum that there are the miracle cures, and the very expensive treatments and the money down the drain end of the spectrum, but at the other end there are perfectly acceptable approaches, I think , like acupuncture, and acupuncture as we know, can certainly help with pain. So, I think if you've got faith in that sort of approach, and particularly if you've got something like pain that conventional medicine isn't helping with, it's well worth a try. But unfortunately, you're probably going to have to pay for it.
JM: The thing is, you might as well try it mightn't you. Whether it's changing of your diet, or taking the acupuncture, there is no medical, wonder drug. You've told us one in three doctors don't really accept that it's a condition, so sometimes people will have to go out there, and you said, pay for treatments, try their own thing, but if it works for them, surely it's a great thing.
CS: Er, yes, there are things that are worth trying, and sadly as we're hearing, and you're inferring I'd say, to a certain extent, this is an illness where, you know, it's a long term chronic illness where patients to a certain extent have to become experts themselves in dealing with it.
JM: OK, Dr. Shepard, lovely to speak to you this morning. We're completely out of time now....(more thanks to guests, and phone numbers, web details).
And Tina, I know you've got loads to say on the subject, we could go on for an hour, there's a lot to say. But, your book is 'Fit For Work, Fit For Life' and it's really your story isn't it and it's listing, what helped you, and it's worth others having a read through if they want to. You've got a website to give out just before we finish.
TB: Yes I have, if you contact me at
www.fit4workfit4life.com and register as a member, then I will give you any help and advice for free.
JM: And sometimes it's just worth trying what somebody else tried, and if it works for you it's great. Tina Blake thank you so much for telling us your story this morning.
