{"id":10935,"date":"2016-11-28T09:12:33","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T09:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=10935"},"modified":"2016-11-28T09:13:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T09:13:37","slug":"dr-phil-hammond-writes-about-the-me-cluster-bomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/dr-phil-hammond-writes-about-the-me-cluster-bomb\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Phil Hammond writes about the ‘ME cluster bomb’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Private eye<\/strong> Medicine Balls column, 25 November 2016: \u2018ME cluster bomb’\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0[Written by \u2018M.D.\u2019, the nom de\u00a0plume of Dr Phil Hammond and reproduced by the ME Association]:<\/h3>\n

MD\u2019s greatest regret as a junior doctor was not to take the time to understand ME (myalgic encephalopathy). As a result, MD was infected with the same prejudices as many of his peers, namely that ME was largely psychological, and an illness of the middle classes (\u201cyuppie flu\u201d).<\/p>\n

Both Beliefs are entirely wrong and have caused huge distress and damage to those with ME. Medicine has particularly failed those with severe ME, many of whom have lived for decades with a very disabling disease and the enduring sleight that it\u2019s \u201call in the mind\u201d or due to \u201cfaulty beliefs\u201d. Although ample evidence exists of biological abnormalities in patients with ME, we are still some way from definitive pathological tests and effective drug treatments.<\/p>\n

ME is often used synonymously with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) but the illness is far more than fatigue. MD\u2019s view \u2013\u00a0working in an NHS clinic for young people with chronic fatigue \u2013 is that \u201cCFS\/ME\u201d is a cluster of disorders which centre not just on severe, disabling fatigue but on post-exertional malaise (PEM), This means that previously very active patients can suddenly crash after physical or cognitive activity, which completely wipes them out for at least 24 hours and often much longer, with multiple unpleasant symptoms. Anyone who has lived through or observed such crashes is left in no doubt that the disease isn\u2019t psychological.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Private eye Medicine Balls column, 25 November 2016: \u2018ME cluster bomb’\u00a0\u00a0[Written by \u2018M.D.\u2019, the nom de\u00a0plume of Dr Phil Hammond and reproduced by the ME Association]: MD\u2019s greatest regret as a junior doctor was not to take the time to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[3321,367,3320],"class_list":["post-10935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-dr-phil-hammond","tag-me-association","tag-private-eye"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5qkYK-2Qn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10935"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10946,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10935\/revisions\/10946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}