Facing Life's Traumas to Help Others

Reply to an article about Lynne Garnham, who has written a book after being
diagnosed with M.E. as well as long-standing stress-related illnesses (link
below my signature).

I am concerned that, the way this is written, it will be assumed that M.E.
ALWAYS a stress-related, or psychiatric, illness.

If anyone has the energy to reply, you should go to the online form here
http://www.peterleemail.co.uk/contactus.aspx
tick the box for Editor and make sure you say it is a letter intended for
publication.

Cheers
John
drjohngreensmith@mefreeforall.org

*Peterlee Mail Letters*.

Lynne Garnham is a very exceptional example of a person who has been
diagnosed with M.E. (*Myalgic Encephalomyelitis*) on top of her
long-standing stress related illnesses of anxiety and agoraphobia (*Facing
life's traumas to help others, Peterlee Mail, 17 June 2008*).

The vast majority of people with M.E. started with a viral infection, like
glandular fever, chicken pox or pneumonia; or had a vaccination such as TB,
hepatitis, or polio; or were poisoned by some chemicals, perhaps in the
environment, or due to crop spraying but they did not have a history of
psychiatric illness.

It must not be assumed, therefore, either: that M.E. has a psychiatric
cause, or that M.E. causes symptoms of any psychiatric illness, for example,
clinical depression.

So, while a process of deconditioning, in which Lynne faced her fears, may have helped her (though it doesn't work for everyone), it would not be suitable for M.E. sufferers - what fear have they to face? - and it is illogical to hope that Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), developed for treating people with psychiatric illnesses, such as anxiety and depression,
will be of any value to them.

There is no evidence that CBT has any lasting benefit, without relapse, for people with M.E. Contrary to the conventions of research, trials are still
going on while CBT is already recommended, a practice that would be quite
unacceptable, for example, in drugs testing.

The more intelligent, scientific, approach would be to properly publicly fund biomedical research, to better understand the cause of M.E. in the hope of suggesting an appropriate treatment, instead of adopting CBT as a panacea, as this government has done because it is fashionable and cheap, albeit unproven and generally ineffective.

Yours sincerely
drjohngreensmith@mefreeforall.org
Dr John H Greensmith
ME Free For All. org

Facing life's traumas to help others (Peterlee Mail, 17 June 2008)

http://tinyurl.com/4nv2yf

 * * *

Too often, erroneous psychiatric explanations are given for the symptoms of CFS.  I started my first business at 14, have always worked, yet was written off by one doctor as "you resent your husband making you work".  His solution was that I stand up to my husband and tell him that I wanted to quit.  No amount of telling the doctor that I had no intention of quitting and wanted him to make me well so I could continue to work had any effect.  As far as he was concerned, I was mistaken if I thought that the "flu" I had in February was responsible for the symptoms I was having in November -- he knew that my symptoms were entirely caused by an argument with my husband. 

A dozen years later, the same symptoms that were supposedly caused by being married were now related to being divorced and would go away if I could just find someone to marry me.  Again, the statement that I had a flu-like illness, and was diagnosed by a virologist, was discounted because it was easier to diagnose a psychiatric problem and hand out anti-depressants than to search out the evidence of a post-viral neurologic condition.

If anti-depressants and psychotherapy are enough to get you back to work, you don't have CFS.  It's that simple.

CFS is not caused by disliking your job or fear of exercise.  It is demonstrably caused by a virus (see prior post on the Viruses Conference), and the only two drugs that have shown any promise in treating it are both anti-virals.

However, there are plenty of doctors who will erroneously diagnose any case of chronic fatigue as CFS, unaware that there are specific diagnostic criteria ... it's more than just feeling tired.  And therein lies the problem -- they issue a misdiagnosis, treat the patient for whatever is actually wrong (depression, blood pressure, thyroid, etc.), and then tout that they have cured CFS when their treatment is successful.  But then the CFS experts who know that their patients have True CFS try the same treatment and it doesn't help, because it's not the right treatment for what their patients have -- it's the right treatment for thyroid or depression or celiac disease.

In the early days of CFS, there was a doctor who got nationwide media exposure for his innovative method of treating CFS patients with medication for low blood pressure, and the suggestion was made that we could do the same at home by increasing our consumption of salt.  Well, even swallowing salt by the spoonful did not cure my problems, and when the CFS experts went to try it on their patients, they found that some of the certified post-viral CFS patients already had high blood pressure and did not need drugs to raise their blood pressure to normal levels. 

Conclusion: this doctor misdiagnosed his patients, mistakenly calling LBP "CFS" so that he could cure them and get his 15 minutes of fame.