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ME/CFS AUSTRALIA (SA) INC
Registered Charity 698
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Adelaide,
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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.
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Dr Sarah Myhill writes to the media about the NICE Guidelines
Tuesday 27 November 2007
Dr Sarah Myhill, an ME/CFS specialist due to speak to the Society in South Australia next year, has written an open letter in support of this article published in The Daily Telegraph.
The article was written by Dr James Le Fanu in his regular column, Doctor’s Diary.
Dr Le Fanu’s article supported The One Click Group Judicial Review of the CFS/ME NICE Guidelines, and this prompted Dr Myhill’s letter:
Dr Sarah Myhill MB BS
Upper Weston
Llangunllo
Knighton
Powys
Wales
UK LD7 1SL
E-mail: office@doctormyhill.co.uk
Website: www.drmyhill.co.uk
20th November 2007
James le Fanu
Daily Telegraph
Re: NICE Guidelines and CFS
I have to say sometimes I am ashamed to call myself a doctor! NICE have done the politically correct thing by inviting the politically correct players to say the politically correct things about CFS. However they have completely missed the greatest issue, which is tearing the CFS world in half, sidelining patients and obstructing the progress of decent doctors. Chronic fatigue syndrome is not a syndrome, it is just a symptom. The job of doctors is to work out the cause of that symptom and this is what is getting in the way of healing patients.
Thanks to some brilliant and innovative laboratory work there are a small group of doctors, including myself, who know exactly the causes of chronic fatigue syndrome and how to get patients well. We have an excellent track record. The problem is that our approach is politically incorrect. As a result we are harried and pilloried by the Establishment, our views ignored and many of us have become subjects of GMC inquiries in order to silence us. I think I hold the record for the most number of cancelled or postponed Hearings (6) and although no allegations have been upheld, my professional reputation is in tatters and I have no professional soapbox from which to speak. I can give you a list of colleagues who have been similarly pilloried.
The reason that the Establishment ignores us and indeed suppresses us is because we know that a great many cases of chronic fatigue syndrome, indeed arguably the overwhelming majority, arise directly as a result of Government policies. People with fatigue syndromes have their problems either because they have been poisoned by toxic chemicals, or their nutritional status is so poor that they are unable to withstand stresses of modern life. Whilst viruses may be a powerful trigger for fatigues, they are not the underlying cause.
As a result of innovative laboratory work outside the NHS, using appropriate investigations it is possible to work out exactly why a patient suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. To use an analogy, if one thinks of oneself as a car, the mitochondria represent the engine of that car, the adrenal glands the gearbox, the thyroid gland the accelerator pedal and the fuel tank our diet. One thing humans need that cars do not is good quality sleep. We now have tests which can explore many of the faults in most of these areas and it is thereby easy to identify the biochemical problems that are resulting in fatigue. That is to say chronic fatigue has a clear physical basis and not a psychological basis. Government have invested millions of pounds in making chronic fatigue syndrome a psychological syndrome and training therapists in psychological therapies. This suits Government policy since it means that a patient is to blame and the treatment is cheap. A few sessions of cognitive behaviour therapy and antidepressants and if the patient is not recovered then they must be hypochondriacs or malingerers.
Most importantly for the Government, they are not to blame. The problem for them with the physical model is that it has physical causes.
The poisoning cases are obvious - Gulf War syndrome, the aerotoxic pilots, the sheep dip flu farmers, sick building syndrome, women with silicone breast implants, mercury poisoning from dental fillings and vaccinations, people from the carpet, paint and photographic industry, people living around toxic waste sites, people living near polluting industry have all been poisoned as a result of Government policy and failure to properly regulate industry. A more subtle failure of Government policy is to ensure a healthy food supply for the people of this country. Again as a direct result of the food industry and Government food policy, we have poor quality junk food with a high content of food additives (which largely speaking are anti-nutrient), chemical load from pesticide residues with over-emphasis on cheap carbohydrates which are addictive and do not nourish.
Clearly these issues require major overhauls of Government policy, which will upset industry. The cheapest and quickest policy for Government is to shoot the messenger, such as myself who try to flag up these issues.
I have given lectures and presentations on these issues, together with the correct treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome to Government bodies and Government Inquiries. Not once has my evidence been cited. Do not think that I am a one off maverick. I am the Secretary to the British Society for Ecological Medicine, an organisation of doctors (and we number roughly 150) who are dedicated to finding out the root causes of illness rather than symptom suppression with drugs. We run bi-annual scientific meetings and training courses for other similarly minded doctors. Our techniques for treating patients and our results have been systematically ignored by Government during the 25 years that we have been in existence and this is symptomatic of all the above issues.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Sarah Myhill
24 November 2007
The letter originally appeared here:
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Dr Myhill Writes To The Media - One Click Judicial Review (external link) |
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