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Wisdom 4 ME |
ME/CFS News & Advocacy |
Living with all the pain, the exhaustion and over 200 miserable symptoms 24/7 — 365 days a year, many times we only see our weaknesses. We see what we can’t do and what we’re missing out on. Living with these numerous symptoms could certainly be considered to require superhuman powers.
Source: A Message for Chronic Illness Superheroes – Prohealth
Christina Baltais created some artistic collages for May 12th ME/CFS awareness day. Lives Capsized – “ME/CFS can strike any age, gender (most commonly affects women), and ethnicity (people of colour more likely to be affected). It can take down even the strongest and most robust in our communities. It’s a disease that does not discriminate; overturning the lives of millions and their families worldwide.”
Source: Using Art to Bring Visibility to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis | The Mighty
“These findings are important because they show for the first time that there is an antiviral activity in the serum of patients with ME/CFS that is tightly associated with an activity that fragments the mitochondrial network and decreases cellular energy (ATP) production,” said Robert Naviaux, MD, PhD
“This paper will be a paradigm shift in our understanding of potential infectious causes behind ME/CFS. Human herpesvirus 6 and HHV-7 have long been thought to play a role in this disease, but there was hardly any causative mechanism known before,” said senior co-author Bhupesh K. Prusty, PhD.
Source: For ME/CFS Patients, Viral Immunities Come at a Devastating, Lifelong Cost
May is ME/CFS awareness month, be sure to check out the #MillionsMissing hashtag to learn about virtual events in the coming weeks.
Source: #MillionsMissing – Twitter
Belle and Sebastian artfully layers music with lyrics from fans on their thoughts and feelings about being quarantined at home alone to create an inspired song they call Protecting the Hive. The first release from this series is narrated by bandleader and OMF Ambassador Stuart Murdoch and friend Alessandra Lupo, set to an aerial view of Glasgow in its current lockdown state, shot by Kenny MacLeod.
Presented by Solve ME on April 20, 2020, this online education workshop includes a conversation between legal and medical experts in the field as they share their advice on applying, appealing, and documenting your case for disability insurance with ME/CFS. Board Certified Patient Advocate, Sharon Stevenson, DVM, PhD, moderates with roundtable speakers: Lucinda Bateman, MD (Bateman Horne Center), Christopher Snell, PhD (Workwell Foundation) and Moselle C. Leland (Law Offices of Judith S. Leland).
Solve ME announced: “In our new digital format, we’ve created a video to replace our printed congressional educational materials. Share this video with your Representatives to inform them of important ME/CFS needs.”
Share this video with your local state representatives this week and help make a difference!
The ME/CFS support group currently meets virtually every third Sunday of the month at 1PM.
This month’s topic: “Having ME/CFS can be an alienating and isolating experience even under the best conditions, and during these times of social distancing perhaps some of you may find value in checking out the Zoom meeting on Sunday.”
Those interested in attending can email: Monica Z cfsbayarea@gmail.com
Hillenbrand, who lives in Oregon, discussed her ongoing experience with coronavirus. “Your airways are so dramatically inflamed that your lungs get stiff and they can’t accept much oxygen. And they start basically closing themselves off.” She described it as, “like I was breathing through gauze”
Noting that studies indicated the virus is able to spread throughout the brain including the hypothalamus, Moldofsky proposed the virus had produced a chronic neuroinflammatory state affecting sleep, pain sensitivity and energy levels. That hypothesis, of course, is identical to similar ones proposed for ME/CFS and fibromyalgia.
Source: Will COVID-19 Leave An Explosion of ME/CFS Cases in its Wake? | simmaronresearch.com