In a previous life, before heading out on Halloween dressed as Doctor WHO I attempted to give M.E patients what I see as the key to recovery: the idea that both activity and inactivity can lead to malaise.
This is an incredibly important point because much of the wild abuse directed towards physicians is incorrectly justified by M.E patient activists as a response to illegitimate, harmful, and fraudulent treatment.
In fact this treatment, Graded Exercise, (or Graded Activity), is a moderate therapy and is likely to be no more damaging than pacing and its common extreme variant: long-term rest.
This idea is hard for patients to accept because the damage done through over-exercise is so obvious, so disabling and so painful whereas the damage done to fitness and mental and physical health by inactivity goes almost unnoticed.
It turns out that both rest and exercise can harm an M.E patient and both rest and exercise can help them. Have a look at "Lions and Tigers" for an introduction to this idea. The video I made around about that Halloween time is below. Imagine you've been cornered at a party by the most boring b-stard alive. You'll survive I'm sure.
One of the things I am most happy with over my time advocating for M.E patients is helping an author of the "Pace Trial" to accept the value of the classic patient response to M.E, "pacing" while simultaneously helping one of the architects of the dramatic patient challenge to the very same "Pace Trial" accept the need for gradual increases in exercise within M.E.
Now, that; That was good work.
The success however was unfortunately drowned out by a tidal wave of hatred and ignorance whipped up by a group of M.E community leaders, researchers and journalists who generate chaos and warfare and division where there should only be medicine.
Anyway, do take a look at the video. In fact, always watch any videos where I put on a bow tie.
They're the coolest.
