News

This is an anonymised version of an inquiry we have just received at The ME Association. if anybody can help by pointing us towards the right organisation, please email us.

The Medical Research Council has announced that Sir Leszec Borysiewicz will be replacing Professor Colin Blakemore as Chief Executive.

The UK media are today reporting that eating dark chocolate, which has a high cocoa content, may be an effective treatment for ME/CFS.

BBC Online A daily dose of dark chocolate may help reduce the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, say UK researchers.

From Third Sector magazine Disability Now, the magazine published by Scope, has appointed its first disabled editor. Ian Macrae has been recruited from the BBC, where he was executive producer and editor of the Disability Programmes Unit.

We are looking for new trustees to join the board of The ME Association – in preparation for our AGM and trustee elections which will be held next year .

From the Reading Chronicle, September 13 A singer-songwriter whose music has helped her cope with ME is celebrating success in a national competition. Sam Shearsmith, of west Reading, finished in the top 20 of The UK Songwriting Contest with "Life’s Like This".

From Third Sector magazine, September 20  The Office of the Third Sector is urging voluntary groups to send nominations for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2008.

From ‘The Weekly News’, September 22 by Bill Gibb, Health Reporter  Vikki George tells how a battle against ME left her bedbound in a darkened room and only able to eat baby food.

I’m 24 and have had severe ME, which has put my life on hold for the past six years. I am better now, and able to study and work part-time, but I can’t seem to shake off the sense of bitterness that the chance to enjoy life was stolen from me at such a young […]

From the ‘Daily Telegraph’, 17 September 2007 by Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent  The Government is being urged to launch a fresh crackdown on "sick-note Britain’ by ordering extra checks before doctors sign patients off work. 

The ME Association response to the NICE guideline was published in the paper edition of the BMJ on Saturday 15 September.

The ME Association’s online response in the British Medical Journal to the publication of the NICE guidance on the diagnosis and management of ME/CFS was the only letter selected for publication on the subject in this week’s print edition of the journal. The text appears below: 

A child health expert at Great Ormond Street Hospital talk about chronic fatigue syndrome, probably the most common medical reason for absence from school.

BBC Online today US researchers have produced compelling evidence linking chronic fatigue syndrome to a stomach virus. The researchers examined 165 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome – also known as M.E. (myalgic encephalitis) – and long-standing gut complaints.

The ME Community is not the only group having major problems with NICE guidance at the moment.   Excellent letter in the current issue of British Medical Journal: Read the letter here. Dr Charles Shepherd The ME Association

NICE GUIDELINE ON ME/CFS – STATEMENT BY THE ME ASSOCIATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES

This is a brief summary of key issues that were discussed at The ME Association Board of Trustees meeting held in Buckingham on Thursday 30 August 2007 and at an informal meeting of trustees the night before.  

If your teen won’t get out of bed, it could be more than growing pains by Barbara Rowlands 

If you have an old mobile phone you no longer use, help The ME Association by placing it in a pre-paid envelope, fill in your details and pop it in the post.