by Jody Smith
I’ll always remember my 25th wedding anniversary as being something special. I wish I could say that this was because my husband and I celebrated in some marvelous fashion, but that wasn’t it. At the age of 49, I thought I was having a stroke.
I got up that morning feeling fine — or no worse than usual at any rate — but when I went to my bedroom to get dressed all that changed. Waves of sensory chaos began to crash over me, and I sat on the bed waiting for it to pass. It didn’t. I’d had a wide variety of sensory chaos and problems with my brain for many years by that time, but this was different.… Read More
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On May 12 – International Awareness Day for ME/CFS/FM/MCS/etc – Phoenix Rising joined with 8 other US ME/CFS patient organizations and 26 independent patient advocates to call on the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to finally fix the problem of the many and diverse case definitions associated with our disease. In a letter to Secretary Sebelius, Dr Howard Koh, Dr Thomas Frieden and Dr Francis Collins, we explained our concerns about the current definition activities of the DHHS in relation to “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”, and listed the steps we believe must be taken to rectify the situation.
The FDA Drug Development Workshop for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) took place on the 25th and 26th of April 2013. It was well attended by patients, advocates, doctors, representatives of the CDC and even a few pharmaceutical reps.
May 12th is International Awareness Day for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). Awareness Day events also recognize Fibromyalgia (FM), Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), Gulf War Syndrome (GWS), Lyme Disease, and other chronic neuro-endocrine-immune diseases (NEIDs). Awareness Week runs from May 12th-18th, and the whole of May is Awareness Month. As with many awareness campaigns, ribbons are worn to show support for the campaign – blue for ME/CFS, purple for FM, and green for MCS.
The FDA Drug Development Workshop for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) took place last week on the 25th and 26th of April. It was well attended by patients, advocates, doctors, representatives of the CDC and even a few pharmaceutical reps.
Brain fog is a major issue for ME/CFS patients, with 80-95% reporting memory or concentration problems. And while researchers have often found evidence of ‘cognitive deficits’ in laboratory testing, a surprising number of studies have failed to find deficits, leaving some to even speculate that patients’ cognitive problems are more perceived than real.
