A disease with two faces? Re-naming ME/CFS

Persuasion Smith covers the bases on the misleading and disreputable name for our disease we’ve all been saddled with … If there is one thing that is sure to get ME/CFS sufferers riled up, it is the name of our disease. The very fact that two names are attached to each other, janus-like, almost as if mocking one another seems emblematic

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Dr. Kerr, I presume?

Clark Ellis brings us a rare interview with British researcher Dr. Jonathan Kerr who is now living in Colombia. Dr. Jonathan Kerr is regarded as one of Britain’s foremost myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) researchers, and an expert in microbiology, inflammation and genetics.Formerly of St. George’s University of London, he is now working at the Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud,

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ME/CFS: A disease at war with itself

Persuasion Smith shares some thoughts on the stigma that comes with ME/CFS … We can all agree that ME/CFS is a nasty disease, particularly in its severe form, but there are abundant nasty diseases in the world. What is unique and particularly confounding about our disease is that so much controversy surrounds it, and not only surrounds it, but invades it too.  It

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ME/CFS and the Magic of the Canine Factor

Jody Smith has been taken by surprise by the value of having a dog when dealing with ME/CFS … There’s been plenty of research indicating that having pets is good for your health. I never really noticed any particular benefits to having cats, though that may have had more to do with my cats. They’ve been fairly indifferent to my presence and

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ME/CFS and Beating the Clock

For Jody Smith, the ticking of a clock was enough at one time to chase her back to her bed. But with the passage of time, she has been able to reclaim her living room …  I have two clocks in my living room. One clock is on the wall across from where I usually sit at my computer. The

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ME/CFS: In Free Fall Through the Looking Glass

Jody Smith continues to try to put into words the horror of the altered state that hobbles the brains of those with ME/CFS …  If you’re not a fan of hallucinatory drugs you’re gonna hate ME/CFS. When I first became ill in March of 1992, the feeling of altered reality inside my head, the shaking which could not be seen

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No Longer Naive in the Ways of The Beast

After having lived for years with ME/CFS, Jody Smith learned there’s more to this beast of an illness than she realized, and that what might help one person may not help others … When I first got back online five years ago, I was naive in the ways of this beast we call ME/CFS. I guess I thought that whatever it

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