The treatment for my M.E has been an absolute farce.

In my teens, doctors decided the best treatment for the illness that was to destroy much of my life was to call me a liar.

 

 

After M.E consumed my career in medicine, physicians decided that the best treatment for my illness was exercise and the best way to enforce this was to remove my access to welfare and food.

 

For 25 years, close family told me how sorry they were to see me so ill but then, in a deadly volte-face, they revealed they'd never believed I was ill at all.

 

 

 

 

 M.E patients, activists, charities and their allies in academia thought that the best treatment for my M.E would be to send me sustained personal abuse over years, refuse to listen to reports of harm, and to cap it all off with threats.

 

 

 

The treatment I received for M.E was a farce. In the end, it was quicker for me to sit down and try to cure my own disease.

 

 

In the last 12 months I have walked 2,600 miles, with no PEM. I have shared my recovery. I've stood up to doctors, family & activists. As the saying goes...

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭.

 

Post Script.

The story had a happy ending, but the process required dedication, willpower and the ability to address my personal bias and to fundamentally change both my behaviour and my environment.

Reader, I told my doctors I wasn't lying. I chose no food rather than bad treatment. I chose no family over abusive relationships. I deleted my public work to permanently sever my association with patient advocacy. And while I stood up to five years of community-wide DARVO assault, I redefined my M.E and I got well.

More information on my recovery from M.E here in "Complete breakdown". Short film in the pipeline.

Post, Post Script.

I didn't achieve this feat alone. I didn't recover on my own. I received help, support and care from a handful of physicians, close family and M.E patients who'd become my friends.

As The Doctor says, "If it's time to go, remember what you're leaving. Remember the best. My friends have always been the best of me."