Tuesday 30 April 2019

Spurrite Meaning & Use: Good Humor, Optimism & Spiritual Connections

Spurrite

Spurrite aka Strombolite aids good humor, creates connections to mystical and angelic realms, helps emotions of grief, helps you to know that this too shall pass and that life is in Divine order.



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Stanford: Biomarker for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Identified? | 30 April 2019

 

Stanford Medicine, News Centre, 29 April 2019.

Stanford scientists devised a blood-based test that accurately identified people with chronic fatigue syndrome, a new study reports.

People suffering from a debilitating and often discounted disease known as chronic fatigue syndrome may soon have something they’ve been seeking for decades: scientific proof of their ailment.

“Excitingly, they appear to have discovered a distinguishing feature of ME/CFS, and one that can be measured simply and cheaply.” Professor Chris Ponting

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have created a blood test that can flag the disease, which currently lacks a standard, reliable diagnostic test.

Ron Davis is the senior author of a paper that describes a blood test that may be able to identify chronic fatigue syndrome. Steve Fisch.

“Too often, this disease is categorized as imaginary,” said Ron Davis, PhD, professor of biochemistry and of genetics. When individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome seek help from a doctor, they may undergo a series of tests that check liver, kidney and heart function, as well as blood and immune cell counts, Davis said.

“All these different tests would normally guide the doctor toward one illness or another, but for chronic fatigue syndrome patients, the results all come back normal,” he said.

The problem, he said, is that they’re not looking deep enough. Now, Davis; Rahim Esfandyarpour, PhD, a former Stanford research associate; and their colleagues have devised a blood-based test that successfully identified participants in a study with chronic fatigue syndrome.

“We clearly see a difference in the way healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress.” Dr Ron Davis

The test, which is still in a pilot phase, is based on how a person’s immune cells respond to stress. With blood samples from 40 people — 20 with chronic fatigue syndrome and 20 without — the test yielded precise results, accurately flagging all chronic fatigue syndrome patients and none of the healthy individuals.

The diagnostic platform could even help identify possible drugs to treat chronic fatigue syndrome. By exposing the participants’ blood samples to drug candidates and rerunning the diagnostic test, the scientists could potentially see whether the drug improved the immune cells’ response. Already, the team is using the platform to screen for potential drugs they hope can help people with chronic fatigue syndrome down the line.

A paper describing the research findings was published online April 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Davis is the senior author. Esfandyarpour, who is now on the faculty of the University of California-Irvine, is the lead author.


“We chose to make sure that all the patients met all the criteria for all the different diagnostic tests for ME/CFS. We also required them to be seen by a specialist in ME/CFS and then to validate that they were convinced this person did have the disease.”

“It’s a very simple procedure. We simply take a blood sample. We remove the red cells and then put a drop of blood on the detector.”

“What was really surprising to us was that every patient shows this signal – which is a change of impedance – but none of the healthy controls showed the same signal.” Dr Ron Davis.

“That’s what you really like to have in a diagnostic test. It’s not uncommon in approved diagnostic tests to have as much as a 10 per cent false positive and a 10 per cent false negative. In our case we found no false positives and no false negatives.”

“We will continue this work. What we were trying to do at the very beginning was distinguish ME/CFS patients from health controls. And the reason for that is to say, if you get a signal – you are not healthy – and we thought that was probably the most important thing we could do first.”

“The second phase is to try and figure out how to diagnose it is ME/CFS and not some other related disease. That’s going to take some time as we have to look through a large number of other diseases, but that is proceeding at the moment.”

“In the future we will use this device for a number of things. We are already using it for doing other types of diagnostics that don’t involve cells but in fact involve molecules.”

“The other thing that we can use this device for is to see if we can block the effects that we see in the nanoneedle assay with a drug. This then could be a drug that might have some benefit to the patients.”

“In the future we would like to set this assay to be much higher throughput. The device that you see behind me can do two samples at a time. We really need to increase that throughput.”

“We would also like to explore, why are we seeing this signal? We have a lot of ideas, but we haven’t really validated any of them to get to the real cause of this signal.” Dr Ron Davis.

Providing the proof

The diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, when it actually is diagnosed, is based on symptoms — exhaustion, sensitivity to light and unexplained pain, among other things — and it comes only after other disease possibilities have been eliminated.

It is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis and designated by the acronym ME/CFS. It’s estimated that 2 million people in the United States have chronic fatigue syndrome, but that’s a rough guess, Davis said, and it’s likely much higher.

For Davis, the quest to find scientific evidence of the malady is personal. It comes from a desire to help his son, who has suffered from ME/CFS for about a decade. In fact, it was a biological clue that Davis first spotted in his son that led him and Esfandyarpour to develop the new diagnostic tool.

“The device that you see behind me can do two samples at a time. We really need to increase that throughput.” Dr Ron Davis. Open Medicine Foundation Video.

The approach, of which Esfandyarpour led the development, employs a “nanoelectronic assay,” which is a test that measures changes in miniscule amounts of energy as a proxy for the health of immune cells and blood plasma.

The diagnostic technology contains thousands of electrodes that create an electrical current, as well as chambers to hold simplified blood samples composed of immune cells and plasma. Inside the chambers, the immune cells and plasma interfere with the current, changing its flow from one end to another.

“The change in electrical activity is directly correlated with the health of the sample.” Stanford News

UK Science Media Centre Expert Reaction

“Esfandyarpour and colleagues show that people with ME/CFS are different from healthy controls with regards to their blood samples’ electrical properties.

Excitingly, they appear to have discovered a distinguishing feature of ME/CFS, and one that can be measured simply and cheaply. Before this approach is tested clinically, however, three things will be needed.

First, results should be replicated in a second cohort of individuals. Second, the device should be tested whether it sets apart ME/CFS not just from general health but also from other disorders.

Finally, early indications that the device can distinguish severely- from moderately-affected people with ME/CFS need to be tested thoroughly.

These results also now narrow down the possible molecular and cellular causes of this devastating set of conditions.”

Prof Chris Ponting, Chair of Medical Bioinformatics and Principal Investigator at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh, Vice-Chair CFS/ME Research Collaborative.

Read more expert reactions


The idea is to stress the samples from both healthy and ill patients using salt, and then compare how each sample affects the flow of the electrical current. Changes in the current indicate changes in the cell: the bigger the change in current, the bigger the change on a cellular level.

A big change is not a good thing; it’s a sign that the cells and plasma are flailing under stress and incapable of processing it properly. All of the blood samples from ME/CFS patients created a clear spike in the test, whereas those from healthy controls returned data that was on a relatively even keel.

“We don’t know exactly why the cells and plasma are acting this way, or even what they’re doing,” Davis said. “But there is scientific evidence that this disease is not a fabrication of a patient’s mind. We clearly see a difference in the way healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress.”

Now, Esfandyarpour and Davis are expanding their work to confirm the findings in a larger cohort of participants. Recruitment for the larger project, which aims to further confirm the success of the diagnostic test, is being done on a rolling basis. Those who are interested in participating should contact clinical research coordinator Anna Okumu.

Doubling up

“The team has already found a candidate drug that seems to restore healthy function to immune cells and plasma when tested in the assay.” Stanford News

In addition to diagnosing ME/CFS, the researchers are also harnessing the platform to screen for drug-based treatments, since currently the options are slim. “Using the nanoelectronics assay, we can add controlled doses of many different potentially therapeutic drugs to the patient’s blood samples and run the diagnostic test again,” Esfandyarpour said.

If the blood samples taken from those with ME/CFS still respond poorly to stress and generate a spike in electrical current, then the drug likely didn’t work. If, however, a drug seems to mitigate the jump in electrical activity, that could mean it is helping the immune cells and plasma better process stress.

So far, the team has already found a candidate drug that seems to restore healthy function to immune cells and plasma when tested in the assay. The drug, while successful in the assay, is not currently being used in people with ME/CFS, but Davis and Esfandyarpour are hopeful that they can test their finding in a clinical trial in the future.

All of the drugs being tested are either already approved by the Food and Drug Administration or will soon be broadly accessible to the public, which is key to fast access and dissemination should any of these compounds pan out.


Davis is a member of Stanford Bio-X, the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Stanford Maternal & Child Health Research Institute. Other Stanford authors of the study are research scientists Neda Nemat-Gorgani and Julie Wilhelmy and research assistant, Alex Kashi. The study was funded by the Open Medicine Foundation. Davis is the director of the foundation’s scientific advisory board. Stanford’s departments of Genetics and of Biochemistry also supported the work.


 



from ME Association
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/2019/04/stanford-biomarker-for-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-identified-30-april-2019/

from https://www.meassociation.org.uk

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Monday 29 April 2019

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Three Tips for Successful Tapping Using The Tapping Solution App

I’m always so grateful when someone downloads The Tapping Solution App on their phone.

But in the back of my mind, I always remember one very important thing when they do…

If they don’t use it, it won’t help them.

It’s sad, but true. That applies to you too. And that’s the absolute last thing I want for you because I know how incredibly powerful the results are with this app!

So here are the 3 basic steps to take to start getting results in the app…

Step #1 – Open the App

Just look for the icon on your phone that looks like the one shown below. Or if you’re on your phone now, just go here to open it now.

Step #2 – Connect With What You’re Feeling or What You’re Biggest Challenge is Right Now and Pick a Topic That Fits That Challenge

A lot of times, people don’t know what to pick because they don’t know where to start. First off, there is no wrong or right answer for where to start. Just trust your gut.

But to get you going, here are a few questions that can help:

What is the biggest issue that you’re dealing with right now? 

What is the strongest emotion you’re feeling right now that you’d like to release?

What area of your life is causing you the most stress right now? 

Use the answers to those questions to help you pick a topic. Here’s a gif that will give you a visual on what it looks like when you pick a topic in the app…

Step #3 – Follow Along and Tap

If you’re new to Tapping, you might be thinking, “But how do I tap?!”

If you want a visual you can watch this super simple 5-minute video to see how to do it.

Or you can jump right into the app and just tap with two fingers on each point of your body that lights up with a star during the tapping meditation. Simple as that. 🙂

If the app shows a star on the side of your the eye, just tap on the side of your eye. Here’s a gif to show you what it looks like in the app when you’re listening to a tapping meditation.

So… super simple right? You just open the app, connect with what whatever challenge your dealing with, and then tap along!

OK, now go try it for yourself. Go here to open the app!

Download The Tapping Solution App today!

.

Until next time…

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner


What was your favorite part of first using the app? Comment Below!

The post Three Tips for Successful Tapping Using The Tapping Solution App appeared first on The Tapping Solution.



from The Tapping Solution
https://www.thetappingsolution.com/blog/three-tips-for-successful-tapping-using-the-tapping-solution-app/

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Sphene aka Titanite Meaning & Use: Boosts Mental Ability & Intuition

Sphene

Sphene accelerates learning, helps you to think clearly and be more organized. It will help to manifest money and can strengthen will-power. Aka Titanite, it aids you to develop psychic visions and intuition.



from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/sphene.html

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My Quartz Buddies

I started using crystals to promote better dreaming because Edgar Cayce had said that a quartz crystal placed under your pillow will absorb negative energy

from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/my-quartz-buddies.html

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Sunday 28 April 2019

Discover Ways To Relieve Stress, Depression and Anxiety

Amazonite

Learn ways to relieve stress and lift your feelings when you're anxious or depressed. See list of stress relief crystals, and read about meditation, affirmations and learn other methods to lift you out of stress.



from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/ways-to-relieve-stress.html

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Petrified Wood Meaning & Use: Enhances Patience & Ancestral Healing

Petrified Wood

Petrified Wood aka Fossilized Wood are strong grounding stones that enhance patience and help you to create change in your life. They specifically help age related health issues, such as rheumatism and arthritis and aid past life healing.



from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/petrified-wood.html

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Know How To Use RSS? How Do You Get RSS On Your Device?

Need to know how to use RSS? Discover how to get the RSS onto your device if you don't already have it, so you can stay up-to-date with the lastest pages appearing on the blog.

from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/how-to-use-rss.html

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Saturday 27 April 2019

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Arfvedsonite Meaning & Use: Creates Amazing Manifestations

Arfvedsonite

Arfvedsonite helps you re-organize and restructure your life. Used in meditation it opens your crown chakra and you may see psychic visions that help you predict the future. Helps create amazing manifestations.



from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/arfvedsonite.html

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Ocean Jasper Meaning & Use: Relieves Stress Aids Good Feelings

Ocean Jasper

Ocean Jasper brings joy and elevated spirits, relieves stress, worry and other negative feelings. Aids self confidence and self worth via the solar plexus as you enhance your personal power.



from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/ocean-jasper.html

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spiritualseeker77: Sure is! | Spiritual



spiritualseeker77:

Sure is!



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ME Research Summary: Something In The Blood by Simon McGrath | 27 April 2019

 

Simon McGrath, ME/CFS Research Review, 25 April 2019.

Extracts taken from Simon’s review with his kind permission.

It is remarkable that four independent groups have now found that a factor in the blood can affect cell metabolism/mitochondria in ME/CFS and transfer the effect to healthy cells. Here is a summary of the provisional findings.

Fluge & Mella

The first to find the effect were Dr Oystein Fluge and Professor Olav Mella in 2016. They were studying energy production in the cell, a logical thing to do when trying to understand an illness where energy is in such short supply.

Mitochondria are the powerplants of the cell, using a process called oxidative phosphorylation to convert food molecules and oxygen into energy, water and carbon dioxide.

Fluge and Mella used an expensive bit of kit called the Seahorse analyser, which measures glycolysis through the lactic acid production and mitochondrial activity through changes in oxygen levels.

They tested normal healthy muscle cells that had been grown in the lab. But they added to those cells serum taken from either ME/CFS patients or healthy controls. Serum is the fluid left over after blood has clotted and it contains small molecules and other soluble substances.

What they found was, surprisingly, that the muscle cells produced more lactic acid and burned more oxygen when they were incubated with ME/CFS serum than when incubated in serum from healthy controls. And the effect was particularly strong when the cells were made to work hard.

They have data for 12 people with ME/CFS and 12 healthy controls, a relatively small sample.

So something in the serum (which comes from blood) of ME/CFS patients is affecting healthy cells, and somehow making them work harder.

This is the only published study to date, but three other groups have revealed related findings at conferences.

Ron Davis

Dr Ron Davis provided the most dramatic demonstration of the effect in a plasma swap experiment using his nanoneedle test. Plasma is the liquid left over when solid matter has been removed from blood: the the red and white blood cells, and platelets.

The nanoneedle chip measures electrical impedance of cells. In the presence of salt (which stresses the cells because they have to use energy to pump the salt out) the impedance of cells in ME/CFS blood increases much more than cells in blood taken from healthy controls.

Davis’s group then ran an elegant experiment using this set up. They put blood cells from healthy donors in plasma from ME/CFS patients and found that the healthy cells behaved like ME/CFS ones did, with a big increase in electrical impedance. And when they put ME/CFS cells in plasma from healthy controls, they found that these ME/CFS cells behave like healthy cells.

So plasma from ME/CFS patients makes healthy cells behave like ME/CFS ones. And plasma from healthy controls makes ME/CFS cells behave like healthy ones. These are stunning findings.

We don’t know the sample size for this study but hopefully more details will be available soon as a paper has been accepted for publication in the Journal PNAS.

Karl Morten, Oxford university

Like Fluge and Mella, Dr Karl Morten looked at mitochondria/energy metabolism in lab grown muscle cells and also saw an effect.

His group used a molecular probe to measure oxygen concentration within cells to track the activity of mitochondria.

They found that adding plasma from healthy controls made no difference to oxygen levels of the muscle cells. But adding plasma from ME/CFS patients caused oxygen levels to fall, indicating that the mitochondria were working harder (a similar result to Fluge and Mella).

Plasma from ME/CFS patients leads to lower oxygen levels in cells.

Morton said he didn’t know why the mitochondria were working harder: he said it might be that they were working less efficiently, but the goal was to find out.

The study used over 30 patients and Morton noted that on average the levels were lower for patients than for controls. He suggested this might be due to a subgroup effect, where only some patients had the effect, with around a third of patients scoring below the lowest oxygen level for healthy controls.

Bhupesh Prusty, Wuerzburg university

Dr Bhupesh Prusty has also looked at the effect of a blood factor on mitochondria, but his work focuses on a less well-known role of mitochondria, in immunity against viruses.

Serum from ME/CFS patients causes mitochondria that were fused together to fragment, whereas plasma from healthy controls does not.

So far, the group have only looked at five patients and three controls, so these are very provisional results.

In a separate experiment, his group showed that the effect was reversible (they washed away patient serum after three days and mitochondria gradually resumed normal fusing behaviour).

So…

Fluge’s and Morten’s studies are directly linked to energy metabolism. Davis’s is indirectly: the salt added to the nanoneedle test forces the cell to use energy pumping sodium out of the cell. The Prusty research looks at mitochondria, but the changes in morphology are apparently linked to cell defence rather than to energy production.

At the recent NIH conference, Ron Davis said that their work indicates that the factor in the blood responsible for all this are exosomes, tiny membrane-bound packets of biomolecules released by cells.

Exosomes are a type of extracellular vesicle, and these are taken up by cells and are believed to be involved in cell to cell communication, though their role is as yet unclear. Extracellular vesicles are being studied by Dr Maureen Hanson as part of her collaborative’s work.

So we have four groups finding that a factor in ME/CFS blood that has an effect on cells. These are still early days: only one study has been published so far, the sample sizes are relatively small and the findings need to be confirmed.

But if things pan out, this development could prove to be an important step in understanding the biology of at least some types of ME/CFS.

The ME Association Ramsay Research Fund provides funding for Dr Karl Morten’s research at Oxford University. Image credits: Blood Drop 123RF; Mitochondria NIH Glossary; Dr Karl Morten presentation.

The ME Association

Please support our vital work

We are a national charity working hard to make the UK a better place for people whose lives have been devastated by an often-misunderstood neurological disease. We are also the only charity supporting the ME Biobank.

If you would like to support our efforts and ensure we are able to inform, support, advocate and invest in biomedical research, then please donate today.

Just click the image opposite to visit our JustGiving page for one-off donations or to establish a regular payment.

Or why not join the ME Association as a member and be part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) subscription you will also receive our exclusive ME Essential magazine.


ME Association Registered Charity Number 801279


 

 



from ME Association
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/2019/04/me-research-summary-something-in-the-blood-by-simon-mcgrath-27-april-2019/

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MEA Summary Review: A Critique of the CBT Model in ME/CFS by Dr Keith Geraghty | 27 April 2019

 

Dr Geraghty at the University of Manchester Centre for Primary Care lead a team of international experts – from Harvard, Berkeley and DePaul Universities in America – and set about reviewing the cognitive behavioural model of ME/CFS; both the theory attached to it and all the evidence said to validate it.

The ‘cognitive behavioural model’ of chronic fatigue syndrome: Critique of a flawed model
Health Psychology Open 23rd April 2019

Keith Geraghty1, Leonard Jason2, Madison Sunnquist2, David Tuller3, Charlotte Blease4 and Charles Adeniji1

1University of Manchester, UK 2DePaul University, USA 3University of California – Berkeley, USA 4Harvard University, USA

Abstract
Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis is a debilitating illness that greatly impacts the lives of sufferers. A cognitive behavioural model attempts to explain illness onset and continuance with a hypothesis that the illness is perpetuated by patients’ irrational beliefs and avoidance behaviours. This theory underpins the promotion of cognitive behavioural therapy, a treatment that aims to change beliefs and behaviours. This article reports on a detailed review of the cognitive behavioural model. Our review finds that the model lacks high-quality evidential support, conflicts with accounts given by most patients and fails to account for accumulating biological evidence of pathological and physiological abnormalities found in patients. There is little scientific credibility in the claim that psycho-behavioural therapies are a primary treatment for this illness.

Funding for this research was provided by the ME Association Ramsay Research Fund.

Review by Dr Keith Geraghty, University of Manchester.

In the early 1990s, UK psychiatrists proposed a model to explain how ME/CFS might begin and be perpetuated. This model is known as the Cognitive Behavioural Model (CBM).

It forwards a hypothesis that the illness may begin after an infection or stressful life event; that certain individuals are more susceptible, those with a previous history of trauma, abuse or depression/anxiety; and that the illness is perpetuated by sufferers’ holding on to beliefs that they have a physical illness or that they ‘irrationally’ avoid exercise.

“The key themes in Keith’s work are improving patient care, promotion of physician well-being, reducing harms, assessment of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, and improving doctor-patient relations.”

The University of Manchester.

Dr Keith Geraghty, University of Manchester.

The theory underpins the promotion of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) as potential treatments for ME/CFS.

A number of clinical trials of CBT and GET have been conducted that reported positive results, that CBT/GET improved patients’ symptoms, fatigue, pain, depression, anxiety and quality of life. Other trials reported no benefits.

The largest clinical trial, the PACE Trial, reported a 22% recovery rate and over a 60% improvement rate using CBT/GET.

This trial attracted criticism after key measures were changed mid-trial. Reanalysis of recovery data puts recovery closer to 10% using CBT/GET, little above the natural rate of recovery seen using standard medical care.

“Most people are not cured by CBT/GET and few find benefit while some find these interventions worsen symptoms and lead to deterioration.”

Most people are not cured by CBT/GET and few find benefit while some find these interventions worsen symptoms and lead to deterioration. This will not come as news to ME/CFS patient charities, who’ve long argued that psychotherapy is not an appropriate primary treatment for an illness that is not psychological in origin and for which undue exertion can result in increased symptoms and harm.

“An Idealised Narrative Model”

As scientists, however, we were rather astonished to find that there is very little evidence to support the idea that ME/CFS is indeed perpetuated by patients’ beliefs and behaviours. In fact, we found more evidence exists to disprove this theory than validate it.

“This story is fatally flawed in places. Yet proponents of CBT/GET ignore this and continue to promote psychotherapy no matter what the evidence tells them. This is bad science.”

Even where we did find some evidence that ME/CFS may be linked to things like personality factors or behavioural changes, the evidence was weak and many of the studies had serious methodological flaws and biases.

And we found that the CBM of ME/CFS is promoted despite contradictory evidence. We termed the model, “an idealised narrative model”. This theory of ME/CFS is promoted without much evidential support or proof.

This story is fatally flawed in places. Yet proponents of CBT/GET ignore this and continue to promote psychotherapy no matter what the evidence tells them. This is bad science.

Contradictory Evidence

There is considerable contradictory evidence that refutes core aspects of the CBM. For example, the idea that patients irrationally believe they are physically sick is refuted by considerable and growing evidence of biological abnormalities found in ME/CFS; immunological, neurological and biochemical.

“The model fails to even consider that post-infectious changes might perpetuate the illness, and instead favours the notion that ME/CFS is sustained by patients being afraid of exercise or activity – a claim that is not evidence-based.”

The notion that patients are wrong to believe that their symptoms of pain or fatigue are not related to such biological changes is illogical and invalidates the CBM. The model fails to even consider that post-infectious changes might perpetuate the illness, and instead favours the notion that ME/CFS is sustained by patients being afraid of exercise or activity – a claim that is not evidence-based.

To the contrary, most ME/CFS sufferers are keen to return to normal activities, a trait that, for example, differentiates ME/CFS from depression: most sufferers rest or pace themselves to avoid symptom flares or post-exertional malaise. Patients’ actions are in keeping with expected responses to a chronic debilitating illness.

“There is little scientific credibility in the claim that the psycho-behavioural therapies should be primary treatments for this illness.”

Evidence from clinical trials, NHS clinics and patient surveys, reveal a consistent pattern, that few patients recover using CBT or GET. Indeed, many patients report deterioration after trying graded exercise therapy.

There is little scientific credibility in the claim that the psycho-behavioural therapies should be primary treatments for this illness. However, the NHS and NICE continue to recommend CBT and GET for people with ME/CFS.

There are few other areas of medicine where the model of an illness is promoted by health professionals and yet is rejected by most patients who have tried the treatments meant to help them. We think it is time health authorities took a closer look at the promotion of CBT and GET and involved patients in decision-making.

Many patients do not want CBT or GET, they want better and more appropriate medical care and more biomedical research to finally discover what is causing their symptoms and thus lead to effective treatments.


The ME Association

Please support our vital work

We are a national charity working hard to make the UK a better place for people whose lives have been devastated by an often-misunderstood neurological disease. We are also the only charity supporting the ME Biobank.

If you would like to support our efforts and ensure we are able to inform, support, advocate and invest in biomedical research, then please donate today.

Just click the image opposite to visit our JustGiving page for one-off donations or to establish a regular payment.

Or why not join the ME Association as a member and be part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) subscription you will also receive our exclusive ME Essential magazine.


ME Association Registered Charity Number 801279


 



from ME Association
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/2019/04/mea-summary-review-a-critique-of-the-cbt-model-in-me-cfs-by-dr-keith-geraghty-27-april-2019/

from https://www.meassociation.org.uk

#cfsme

Photo | Spiritual





from Spiritual Seeker 77
https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/post/184475608161

from https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/

#spiritual

Friday 26 April 2019

Jeremejevite Meaning: Aids Grief, Boosts Clairvoyance & Precognition

Jeremejevite

Jeremejevite are tiny rare crystals that assist you to deal with change & aid grief after death of a loved one. Good healing crystals that resonate strongly at the higher chakras to boost psychic visions and precognition.



from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/jeremejevite.html

from https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/healing-crystals-blog.html

#crystals #crystal #healing

Shamanite Black Calcite Meaning & Uses: Powerful Protection Stone

Shamanite Black Calcite

Shamanite Black Calcite aids shamanic journeying, and is a wonderful stone to aid peaceful harmonious meditation. It opens the higher chakras for spiritual contact and personal healing.



from Healing Crystals For You Blog
https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/shamanite-black-calcite.html

from https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/healing-crystals-blog.html

#crystals #crystal #healing

Photo | Spiritual





from Spiritual Seeker 77
https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/post/184460303561

from https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/

#spiritual

Photo | Spiritual





from Spiritual Seeker 77
https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/post/184460287861

from https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/

#spiritual

Photo | Spiritual





from Spiritual Seeker 77
https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/post/184460279146

from https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/

#spiritual

spiritualseeker77: So me! | Spiritual



spiritualseeker77:

So me!



from Spiritual Seeker 77
https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/post/184460268746

from https://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/

#spiritual

Why ME Awareness Week Is An Ideal Time To Fundraise | 26 April 2019

 

Pippa Stacey, Social Media Manager, ME Association.

Living with a mostly-invisible condition comes with many challenges. With M.E., people can’t often see your pain, nor the way you carefully manage your condition, and because of that, they might find it hard seeing a clear way to help or to understand.

“Fundraising is a beneficial pursuit and appreciated year-round, but in the run up to M.E. Awareness Week and during the month of May, it’s the perfect time to harness the buzz from the increase in media activity.”

May is fast approaching, and as it features M.E. Awareness Week, there’s no better time to share your experiences and help more people become aware of the issues this community faces. We need to ensure that not only are we rallying all those affected by this devastating condition, but that we’re reaching outside our community as well.

Spoonie Survival Kits: Little Bags of Happiness for Chronically Ill People!

Fundraising is a beneficial pursuit and appreciated year-round, but in the run up to M.E. Awareness Week and during the month of May, it’s the perfect time to harness the buzz from the increase in media activity.

It was with this in mind that I chose to support the ME Association through my social enterprise, Spoonie Survival Kits, back in 2015.

Spoonie Survival Kits officially began as a teeny tiny fundraising project I experimented with during my university holidays. I made twenty random ‘happiness bags’, sold them online, and donated the sales money to charity.

I was genuinely shocked by the support and backing my idea received from the chronic illness community, and within months found myself running a full-blown fundraising project, mostly from my bed.

We were making hundreds of individual Kits whenever my health allowed it, however the demand for orders and my own chronic ill health meant that approaching the project in this way was definitely not sustainable, especially with me being too unwell to fundraise as frequently as I would like to.

“Fundraising can seem overwhelming at the beginning, especially when you’re managing a long-term condition, but it’s all about finding what works for you and accessing the support you need to make it happen.”

“Kits tailored to specific conditions and symptoms, and 50% of all sales money is donated to charity.”

Fast forward a few years, and we’re now a fundraising social enterprise, run more similarly to a small business, but still with advocacy and acts of kindness at our heart.

We now create Kits tailored to specific conditions and symptoms, and 50% of all sales money is donated to charity.

The remaining 50% is used to cover the costs of running the project, and the hope is to one day create more structured volunteering and paid employment opportunities for other chronically ill people.

It was my own experiences of M.E. that led to me founding Spoonie Survival Kits.

I wanted to let others with the condition know that they hadn’t been forgotten, and I wanted to do so in a way that raised vital money and awareness for the incredible charities that support them.

“It’s such a blessing to be able to do something you enjoy, whilst managing your health, and knowing that you’re supporting a deserving cause at the same time.”

That’s why I was keen to support M.E. charities first and foremost. As an enterprise we fundraise for one chosen cause at a time before moving to another, and the ME Association was one of our earliest chosen charities.

I was so impressed by the support I received from the charity right from the beginning: fundraising supplies sent out in the post, a friendly point of contact, and regular web and social media promotion that drove supporters to purchase our Kits and ultimately, raise as much money as possible.

Fundraising can seem overwhelming at the beginning, especially when you’re managing a long-term condition, but it’s all about finding what works for you and accessing the support you need to make it happen.

“If fundraising has been sitting in the back of your mind lately, now’s the time to give it a go.”

ME Awareness Week – 6th-12th May 2019!

It’s such a blessing to be able to do something you enjoy, whilst managing your health, and knowing that you’re supporting a deserving cause at the same time.

Every single penny brings us closer to the support and answers we’re yearning for!

If you would like to discuss fundraising, be sure to get in touch with our Fundraising Manager Helen Hyland, via email, or phone (01280 838964).

The ME Association

Real People. Real Disease. Real M.E.

We are a national charity working hard to make the UK a better place for people whose lives have been devastated by an often-misunderstood neurological disease.

If you would like to support our efforts – particularly during ME Awareness Week – and help ensure we can continue to inform, support, advocate and invest in biomedical research, then please donate today.

Just click the image opposite and visit our JustGiving page for one-off donations, to establish a regular payment or to create your own fundraising event.

Or why not join the ME Association as a member and be part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) subscription you will also receive our exclusive ME Essential magazine.


ME Association Registered Charity Number 801279


 



from ME Association
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/2019/04/why-me-awareness-week-is-an-ideal-time-to-fundraise-26-april-2019/

from https://www.meassociation.org.uk

#cfsme

Teen housebound by ME fined by school for being ‘truant’ – now benefits assessor says she’s not in enough pain | 26 April 2019

 

i News, Real Life, by Claudia Tanner.

Georgia Whyard claims teachers said she had ‘school phobia’ despite having an official diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis

  • The once A* pupil suffers pain, extreme exhaustion, and migraines
  • Mother says she was branded ‘school phobic’ due to poor attendance
  • Department for Work and Pensions ruled she is not in pain

Georgia Whyard was struck down with ME when she was 12 years old after a viral infection (Photo: Rachel Surita)

Georgia Whyard was an active child who loved dancing. An incredibly bright pupil, she was being fast-tracked to take 15 GCSEs.

That was until she was struck down with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, at just 12 years old.

She became house-bound, crippled by widespread pain and suffering extreme exhaustion, migraines and brain fog.

Yet the teen’s mother, Rachel Surita, says her teachers branded her ‘school phobic’ due to her poor attendance, even sending out a truancy officer to drive her into lessons.

She claims she was repeatedly issued with fines and threats of jail for failing to send Georgia to school.

Now 18, Georgia has been denied disability benefit after the Department for Work and Pensions said it believed she was not in pain.

“Having to battle all the time to be believed takes its toll”

Georgia’s mother Rachel 

Georgia is one of 250,000 Britons suffering with the illness also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

For decades, this mysterious condition – for which there has been no definitive cause and no formal diagnosis established not cure – was dismissed as ‘yuppie flu’ and even ‘shirker syndrome’. Now most experts in the medical community agree it is a biological illness.

However, despite these advancements, many patients like Georgia feel they still face a battle not just with the symptoms, but in being believed that their illness is real.

“Having to battle all the time to be believed takes its toll,” said Rachel.

‘School phobia’ claims

Georgia, from Essex, first became ill after suffering a sore throat. It’s suspected ME can be triggered by a viral infection.

“Within days of getting a sore throat she was sleeping 17 hours a day and I knew something just wasn’t right,” said Rachel.

“They [the school] said she had ‘school phobia’ and anxiety and suggested she see a psychologist, despite the official CFS diagnosis”

Rachel Surita

Her GP referred her to a hospital specialist and a few months later Georgia was told she had CFS, most likely as a result of glandular fever.

“The school was sympathetic while she had glandular fever but then they started putting pressure on her to come back to school,” said Rachel.

“They said she had ‘school phobia’ and anxiety and suggested she see a psychologist, despite the official CFS diagnosis. It’s a battle we had for two years and it was very frustrating.”

Georgia said: “My school’s knowledge of ME was very limited and because it is an invisible illness they just didn’t take the time to understand. I wasn’t given any support.”

At 14, Georgia was told she had to leave Gable Hall in Corringham and was sent to a pupil referral unit, local-authority run facilities for students who are excluded or too sick to attend mainstream schools.

She managed to pass four GCSEs and enrolled in USP College in Grays but Rachel says due to her poor attendance her daughter was told she wouldn’t be allowed to continue her media course, dashing her hopes of getting an education.

Scored zero in benefits assessment

Rachel, 49, who is a full-time carer for Georgia, says both of them have struggled to get benefits.

She says she was denied Disability Living Allowance for daughter when she was under 16, then later Georgia was refused Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Georgia began sleeping for 17 hours a day after getting a sore throat (Photo: Rachel Surita)

Georgia took her case to tribunal and was awarded PIP, which is a benefit for people who may need help with daily activities or getting around because of a long-term illness or disability.

However, in January she had to undertake a medical assessment and was then told it was being taken off her.

“My daughter’s illness has never got better,” said Rachel. “The doctors just told us to get on with it, Georgia’s had no treatment.

“She can only move from her bed to the sofa downstairs. She often sleeps on the sofa because she hasn’t got the energy to go up the stairs.

“I make her her food and also bathe her because she would struggle on her own.

“Yet she was scored zero points for both the daily living component and mobility component.”

Rachel claims Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and says in the past she has been told by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that she must find work.

ME not taken seriously

She also claims Thurrock Council have refused to rehouse the pair from their first floor maisonette.

“Georgia has become more exhausted since we moved here because of the stairs in the flat and outside, and an occupational therapist has written a report to say she is living in unsuitable accommodation.

“But the council say she will get better in time.”

“I don’t think ME is taken seriously at all in the UK, some still believe it doesn’t exist”

Georgia Whyard

George told i she wishes her illness was taken more seriously. “My life with ME isn’t really a life, it’s a never ending battle. I’m always fighting for something, fighting to be heard, fighting for medical input.

“I’m now fighting for benefits, as I’m unable to work. I’m not able to be the person I planned to be and this condition keeps me a prisoner.

“I don’t think ME is taken seriously at all in the UK, some still believe it doesn’t exist.

“I believe once diagnosed, the person should be classed as having a long term disabling condition, which will make it easier to get the help they may need.”

Response by the authorities

The DWP told i that Georgia failed to provide medical evidence of her illness –which she denies – and says an assessor found she didn’t show any signs of being in pain or suffering musculoskeletal restriction.

A spokesperson said: “We’re committed to ensuring that disabled people get the support they’re entitled to.

“Decisions for PIP are made following careful consideration of the evidence provided by the individual and their GP or medical specialist, and anyone who is unhappy with their decision can appeal.”

USP College said it could not comment on individual cases and said “we do take the health, safety and wellbeing of our students seriously”. A spokesperson said it had a policy to place to provide individual special arrangements for students who are physically or mentally unwell.

Gable Hall and Thurrock Council have been approached for comment.

ME ‘not a mental health condition’

Frustration, anxiety, low mood and depression are sometimes experienced by people with ME because of the impact of symptoms on their lives.

A parliamentary debate last year was told how sufferers are more than six times likely to commit suicide.

But as NHS Inform points out: “This does not mean that ME-CFS is a mental health condition.”

Indeed, in 2017 US researchers from discovered molecular changes in the brain of people with CFS. Another study found sufferers showed a higher levels of a protein linked to inflammation in their blood, suggesting the condition is triggered by overactive immune system.

“ME is the most common medical reason for children being off school yet it is massively misunderstood,” said John Siddle, from the ME Association.

“It is an invisible illness. When you see people with ME, they might not always look ill – and yet it can lead to greater functional impairment than multiple sclerosis or cancer.

“There is no known cure and no effective treatment. We desperately need more funding towards research and give people a fighting chance of reclaiming their health.”

For more information on ME, or to support research through donating, visit here.

The ME Association

Real People. Real Disease. Real M.E.

We are a national charity working hard to make the UK a better place for people whose lives have been devastated by an often-misunderstood neurological disease.

If you would like to support our efforts – particularly during ME Awareness Week – and help ensure we can continue to inform, support, advocate and invest in biomedical research, then please donate today.

Just click the image opposite and visit our JustGiving page for one-off donations, to establish a regular payment or to create your own fundraising event.

Or why not join the ME Association as a member and be part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) subscription you will also receive our exclusive ME Essential magazine.


ME Association Registered Charity Number 801279


 



from ME Association
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/2019/04/teen-housebound-by-me-fined-by-school-for-being-truant-now-benefits-assessor-says-shes-not-in-enough-pain-26-april-2019/

from https://www.meassociation.org.uk

#cfsme