From: Dr Speedy niceguidelines@googlemail.com
as a GP with ME I can't say I am very impressed
with the RSM so i have send the Dean of the RSM
the following email:
Dear Dr Stradding,
On your site it says you are organising a conference
about CFS at the end of April.
"The aim of this meeting is to take a broad look at
chronic fatigue syndrome, examining its nature
and definition, pathophysiology".
1. If I look at the list of speakers, I am
delighted to see that you have banned everybody
who knows that ME is a neurological illness as
defined by the WHO since 1969.
Now which CBT psychiatrist will mention this? NICE
didn't in their ME guideline….
So would it not have been a good idea to have a
neurologist like Dr Chaudhuri at your conference??
2. Who will mention that in 1988 the
psychiatrists changed the name from ME to CFS, then
in 1991 they changed the criteria to tiredness only,
and they created a completely new disease, or I
should say a wastebasket. They introduced names
like Yuppie Flu and Chronic Fatigue, and now many
doctors believe ME is about tiredness and they think
ME, or CFS as they want to call it, equals TATT. And
as you know, we as doctors hate TATT (Tired All The
Time).
3. That ME is something completely different
was demonstrated for example by Dr Ramsay, the
infectious disease specialist, in 1979 when he
published a paper that demonstrated muscle
abnormalities. Now which psychiatrist will mention
this and the fact that we can now demonstrate
mitochondrial dysfunction in ME patients very easily
with a blood test?? And the worse the test results
the worse the ME. And I realise that CBT is so good
that we can actually talk the mitochondria back to
normal…
4. Who will mention that ME patients are not
allowed to be blood donors???
5. Who will mention that you can DIE from
ME??? And no, I am not talking about suicide, I am
talking about dying from ME like for example Sophia
Mirza a few years ago. Did she die from false illness
beliefs, malingering, suggestibility or was it just
plain laziness??
6. Who will mention all the genetic
abnormalities in ME patients as found by Dr Kerr???
And yes I know, a few sessions of CBT and the
genes are back to normal.
7. Who will mention the fact that the MRC has
turned down all research into the cause of ME and
finding a cure and only sponsors CBT psychiatrists???
8. Who will mention that in children ME is now
the main reason to be off school long term??? Would
it not have been a good idea to have a paediatrician
like Dr Speight at your conference who is the most
experienced ME paediatrician in the UK???
9. Who will mention the fact that at least 25%
of ME patients are bedridden and many are tube
fed???
10. And even more important, who will mention
Dr Stein's excellent psychiatric ME guidelines that
demonstrate that CBT is useless, or the Canadian ME
guidelines that do the same???
11. And who will mention the recent article by
two Dutch psychiatrists in The World Journal of
Biological Psychiatry, April 2007, who stated that:
"The psychiatric and psychosocial hypothesis DENIES
the existence of CFS as a disease entity." And that
"In CFS cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is most
commonly used. This therapy, however, appears to
be INEFFECTIVE in most patients."
Which is not surprising as CBT is just as effective for
a neurological illness as watching grass grow….
which is a lot cheaper actually…
So why has the RSM, a Society of Medicine as I
always thought, not lived up to its own conclusion of
1978: "it is hoped that as a result of the meeting,
sufferers from this miserable illness will, in future,
be more sympathetically managed."
The only thing that the CBT psychiatrists have done
is made the suffering of ME patients worse and now
you at the RSM are kindly hosting their yearly
psychiatric conference.
But please remember that you or your loved ones can
get ME as well and then you will realise, just as I
have learned the hard way, that CBT is all about
denying ME as a severe and debilitating physical
illness, and that you are now supporting them, and
denying ME just like they have done with MS, TBC
and many other physical illnesses in the past.
But let me add that I hope that you or your loved
once will not get ME as I now know what a delightful
business this is.
Kind regards,
Dr Speedy, a GP bedridden with ME.
ADDENDUM:
PERMISSION TO FORWARD, REPOST & USE IN
NEWSLETTERS FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT
One of the best letters EVER from Dr Speedy, not
just in response to this CFS conference on 28 April
2008 but such a brilliant, succinct overview of all the
problems that ME sufferers face. Such a shame that
he has to be one of them to know it from the
receiving end. We are delighted to put it on our
website here
http://www.mefreeforall.org/Campaigning-Letters.324.0.html#c2198
with the others, 10 so far. His is #8 I think.
Well done Dr Speedy
Best wishes
John
* * *
I agree with Dr. John -- it's when the MDs among us speak out that other doctors are more inclined to listen.
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