Mailing address: GPO Box 383,
Adelaide,
South Australia 5001
Office: 266 Port Road,
Hindmarsh,
South Australia 5007
Ph: (08) 8346 3237
('834 MECFS')
Office Hours:
Wednesdays, 10am-3pm
Support Line: (Mondays
and
Thursdays,
10am-3pm)
Ph: (08) 8346 3237
SA country callers:
Ph: 1300 128 339
(local call)
FIBROMYALGIA HELP:
Contact Fibromyalgia SA
at the Arthritis Foundation of SA
118 Richmond Road,
Marleston 5033
Ph: (08) 8379 5711
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc supports the needs of sufferers of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and related illnesses. We do this by providing services and information to members.
Disclaimer
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc aims to keep members informed of the various research projects, diets, medications, therapies etc. All communication, both verbal and written, is merely to disseminate information and not to make recommendations or directives.
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed on this Web site are not necessarily the official views of the Society or its Committee and are not simply an endorsement of products or services.
Support
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc wishes to thank Eco Pest Control for its support of the Society.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc
Postal address: GPO Box 383, Adelaide 5001
Address: 266 Port Road, Hindmarsh, Adelaide 5007
Phone: (08) 8346 3237 ('834 MECFS')
Support line: (08) 8410 8930 or 1300 128 339 for country callers
Web: www.sacfs.asn.au
Email: sacfs@sacfs.asn.au
To further assist busy medical practitioners, Dr Bruce Carruthers, principal author of the ME/CFS Consensus Document and Co-Editor of the FMS Consensus Document, and Marjorie van de Sande, Consensus Coordinator of the Consensus Documents, have written and published Overviews of the Canadian Consensus Documents for ME/CFS and FMS independent of any organisation.
An Interview With Julia Newton, Founding Member of Newly Launched CFS/ME Research Collaborative
By Clark Ellis • ProHealth.com • May 16, 2013
Dr. Julia Newton is one of the founding members of the recently launched UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative (UK CMRC), a new initiative aimed at expanding medical studies into ME/CFS, by bringing together experts in the field and several of the ME/CFS charities in the UK.
Dr. Newton is Dean for Clinical Medicine at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. She is also Clinical Professor of Ageing and Medicine at Newcastle University and a Consultant at the Royal Victoria Infirmary within the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is highly respected in her field, possesses a wide range of skills and has won awards for her communication skills, scientific presenting, teaching and innovation.
Dr. Newton kindly took the time to answer some questions about the new collaborative and her research activities.
Physicians from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), McGill University and the University of Calgary have published a review article in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) to help family doctors diagnose and treat fibromyalgia. The article represents the first time researchers have published Canadian guidelines to help manage the condition.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that affects the central nervous system causing pain throughout the body. It is often accompanied by fatigue, depression and sleep problems. It affects mostly women and their multiple symptoms often go years without a proper diagnosis and treatment.
"One million Canadians have fibromyalgia and the time has come to take their suffering seriously. This is a real condition that greatly impacts patients and their families. Finally there are national guidelines to help diagnose and treat this syndrome," says Dr. John Pereira, a study co-author from the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine and a physician at the Calgary Chronic Pain Centre.
Research team in bid to solve chronic fatigue riddle
Published: 5:18PM Wednesday May 15, 2013
Source: AAP
A Gold Coast research team is making world-leading progress that could change the lives of people with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Chief investigator Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik believes they are on track to find scientific signals for the disease, which at present is diagnosed through a convoluted process of elimination.
"We have two objectives," she says, "to find the biological markers and identify where the condition originates."
The research has already led to several clues about how the disease develops.
The city of Portland was served with a lawsuit on Monday that accuses Bureau of Maintenance managers of failing to accommodate an employee who suffers from a condition called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
Julee Reynolds says co-workers wearing scented products such as perfume and hand lotion have triggered the disorder, causing her respiratory distress, dizziness, headaches, nausea, and anaphylaxis, a potentially deadly allergic reaction.
In a new study, scientists found evidence suggesting a strong genetic component of fibromyalgia by genotyping members of multiple families in which several members have the condition.
Researchers identified 116 such families and analyzed their genetic makeup using 341 different markers. They found that the estimated risk rate of fibromyalgia in siblings was 13.6%, compared to a 2% prevalence in the overall population.
They also identified particular genetic markers on a chromosome region labeled 17p11.2-q11.2. This is the first study to identify this particular region as involved in fibromyalgia.
Researchers concluded that these findings suggest genetics play a major role in who develops fibromyalgia. They say further studies involving these families should go forward in order to discover more about the risk and causal factors for the illness.
Image: An Australian tick,
the Ixodes Holocyclus
(Photo: Virginia Bear)
Lyme: a four letter word
Sunday 12 May 2013 8:05AM
Australian GPs reveal why they are risking their reputations by diagnosing patients with Lyme disease — from bacteria that are not even supposed to be in Australia. The treatment, high-dose antibiotics, is alarming health authorities and the nation’s chief medical officer has formed an advisory committee to look into this controversial disease. Di Martin investigates.
A growing number of Australian GPs are risking their professional reputations by diagnosing patients with Lyme disease.
Health authorities say there’s no evidence that Australian ticks carry the Lyme bacteria, and are worried that doctors are being misled by unproven claims about this controversial disease.
Yet GPs say they are seeing patients with Lyme symptoms.
Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms can get a whole lot worse after physical activity. Because of that, it's pretty natural for us to be afraid of the consequences, and therefore avoid activity.
I've seen a lot of research that mentions these tendencies, and it usually comes off sounding like this is psychologically abnormal behavior and needs to be fixed. That seriously rubs me the wrong way. Avoiding the milieu of pain, fatigue, brain fog, and other nasty symptoms that exertion can trigger seems like about the most sane thing a person can do!
That's why it was refreshing to see a new study that acknowledged, right off the bat, that it's not so strange:
"These exacerbations make it understandable for people with CFS and FM to develop fear of performing body movement or physical activity and consequently avoidance behaviour toward physical activity."
Researchers went on to say that their goals were to look at ways to measure fear of movement and avoidance behavior, how common they are, and, yes, what treatment options are available for it.
