The 44 page October issue of ME Essential is now available.
Contents include:
HOUSE OF COMMONS ADJOURNMENT DEBATE ON ME
- Update on what is happening plus a two page letter insert that you can sign and send to your MP to ask him/her to take part in the ballot for a House of Commons Adjournment Debate that the MEA is helping John Bercow MP to organise. The debate will cover all the current major concerns: DWP medical guidance for DLA applications; NICE guideline; NHS Plus leaflets and lack of research into the underlying physical cause.
CAMPAIGNING
- John Bercow MP visits The MEA’s office in Buckingham to discuss the adjournment debate and the issues it will cover
- Report on the MEA annual medical meeting in Peterborough in September at which representatives from NICE presented their recommendations and answered questions from the audience.
- When NICE is not good enough – the MEA response to the final version
- MEA statement on the final version of the DWP medical guidance for DLA applications
- Joint charity response, co-ordinated by The MEA, to the three NHS Plus leaflets on employment issues
- Report on the July APPG meeting at Westminster that covered problems with NHS service provision, including the presentation from Dr Terry Mitchell on the East Anglia model
FUNDRAISING
- Update on plans for the two year Amazon Walk – to raise funds for an ME tissue bank and post mortem research unit. Watch the video as well!
- Recycle your phones to help the MEA
- MEA Christmas cards
- Swaddles Organics – advert for the commercial partnership with The MEA.
GENERAL
- Diary of forthcoming meetings and conferences in Belfast, Berkshire, Dumfries, Eastbourne, London, Lincoln, Maidenhead, Sunderland
- Legal problems facing people with ME – how to find a good solicitor if you need one.
- ME/CFS in the USA
- News from local groups
MEDICAL
- A disease of many names: ME, CFS, CFIDS, PVFS But what do they all mean?
- Alcohol intolerance and ME/CFS
- Benzodiazepine withdrawal
- Disability Living Allowance – a new MEA Management File
- DLA medicals – one person’s experience
- Genes – is ME inherited?
- Lightning Process – a range of views
- Lumbar puncture – is it relevant to the clinical assessment of ME/CFS?
- Nutrition – a three-page review from dietician Deborah Lycett
- Private laboratories – using them for ME tests
- Tonsils and recurrent tonsillitis – when should they be removed?
- Total food allergy
- Vaccines and ME
- Valganciclovir – taking part in the new clinical trial
- Weight gain – why do some people with ME put on weight? What can be done to reduce unwanted weight gain?
MEA MATTERS
- Trustee elections
- Report on the August Board of Trustees meeting
- ME Connect – more telephone volunteers wanted for our telephone information and support service
NEW LITERATURE:
Our six-page literature order form insert contains details of:
- How to obtain paper copies of the NICE guideline, plus the MEA response
- The new (July 2007) edition of ‘ME/CFS/PVFS – An Exploration of the Key Clinical Issues’ – our essential 36 page fully referenced guide to research, clinical assessment and management.
- Our new Management File on Employment – available in November
- Canadian guidelines booklet – now back in stock
- A summary of all our current information leaflets covering all aspects of management
NEWS
- President Bush and Lyme disease
- Royal Free Hospital outbreak survivor Pauline Ovendon receives an award
RESEARCH AND RAMSAY RESEARCH FUND NEWS
- Risk factors for severe ME – summary of a major MEA funded research study from Dr Derek Pheby that is now being submitted for publication
- Call for volunteers to take part in a new research study in Birmingham
- More on the link with chronic enterviral infection in the stomach and ME/CFS – as published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology
- MEA funded research into the role of diet in ME/CFS – this paper is about to be published in Human Nutrition and Dietetics
- Volunteers wanted for a new research study into the value of pet companionship in chronic illnesses
NON MEDICAL FEATURES
- A new CD from Maddy Stuckley – is she the new Katie Melua?
- Steve Craig’s online ME art gallery takes shape
MEA website: now number one on Google for M.E. The website also has a pdf literature order form.
ME Essential magazine is sent free to all MEA members. Single copies can be purchased for £5.