A Manx Radio reporter has produced an excellent 25-minute podcast on the campaign for a specialist service for people with ME/CFS on the Isle on Man.
Ewan Gawne, the radio station's deputy news editor, featured relaxed chat with three guests on the podcast – broadcast on his ‘Agenda' politics show this evening.
His two main guests were surfing coach Dave Wilson (who went down with covid in March) and Craig Morris, from Isle of Man ME Support. Both praised the support they had received from the ME Association.
The podcast can be listened to at any time HERE.
It focused on the long campaign for a specialist ME/CFS service on the island. A budget had been agreed by the Manx government for implementation this year but nothing had yet happened.
Former teacher Craig Morris said that if any of the 350 islanders diagnosed with ME/CFS needed specialist attention they had to travel to the nearest service in Liverpool. He hoped that one day soon a specialist GP and an occupational therapist would be appointed to form a local referral service.
Craig is resources manager for Isle of Man ME Support. He said a local GP had given him the wrong advice years ago to walk more to improve his health. It just made him feel worse.
“The service at Liverpool were horrified by the advice I had been given and immediately said ‘Don't do that! Do the opposite!' That was transformational for me.”
He recalled a recent visit to the Island by MEA medical adviser Dr Charles Shepherd, who had given lectures to medical professionals and patients.
“If we can just listen to his advice about convalescence and not return to work too soon, to rest, relax and cautiously do what you can do, that would be brilliant advice for people with Long Covid and people with ME.”
Dave Wilson said he had been impressed two weeks ago by an ME Association research paper on the links between covid and post-viral fatigue. It helped him develop ideas about strategies he could develop for himself to monitor his progress back toward normal health.
A third guest was Alice Quayle, from the Covid Recovery Isle of Man Facebook group. She said the group were hoping for great things from the NICE emergency draft guideline on Long Covid, published last week.
Shorter versions of the interviews with Dave Wilson and Craig Morris were first broadcast by Manx Radio on November 26.
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.
If you would like to support our efforts and ensure we are able to inform, support, campaign, and invest in biomedical research, then please donate today.
Just click the image to the left or click here for one-off donations or to establish a regular payment.
You can even set up your own fundraising event on JustGiving.
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 ME Essential – quite simply the best M.E. magazine!
ME Association Registered Charity Number 801279