U.S. House and Senate members are home in their districts for the month of February. Many will be holding public town hall meetings, tele-town meetings (via phone) or events this month. It’s a great opportunity to speak directly to your congressperson at a public gathering about the urgent need of congressional support for people with ME
An American with ME had strong words for the National Institute of Health (NIH): You have stolen 40 years of my life. Johanna Kaiser gave a brave testimony about the neglect of people with ME during the February 1, 2017 phone meeting with the NIH in which institute leaders answered questions about the planned ME research
Want to know more about the research centers and data center being planned for ME/CFS by the National Institute of Health (NIH)? Directors at the NIH discussed the research centers and answered questions from people with ME along with researchers in a phone call on Feb. 2. The NIH will provide $30 million over the
Bird-dog: (verb) search out or pursue with dogged determination. Contact with elected officials at town hall meetings cannot be overvalued. Handfuls of bird-doggers attend meetings around the country and change the course of history everyday. Never heard of bird-dogging? Bird-dogging is a strategy used by activists who seek out elected officials, pin them down with
Patients in the Ampligen clinical trial are asking for community help to protest changes that will force many to stop getting this medicine. Please sign our petition urging Hemispherx to put ME patients first, always.
A member of the Shaw family reads their testimony during the comment period at the January CFSAC meeting: Good afternoon. I have had untreated ME/CFS for 38 years. Our testimony today is on the topic of the Center for Diseases Control’s (CDC) CFS group. The 2015 National Academy of Medicine report characterizes post-exertional malaise, or
The CFS Advisory Committee (CFSAC) provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Assistant Secretary for Health on issues related to myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The committee meets twice-yearly, and recently met Jan. 12-13, 2017. #MEAction activist, Terri Wilder, spoke during the comment period at
Government funding for research centers and a data management center for ME/CFS has been made public, and the amount of funding allocated is infuriatingly small. The National Institute of Health (NIH) plans to issue two Requests for Application (RFAs) in January to fund 2-3 collaborative research centers and a data management center for ME/CFS. The
Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) have a long, long way to go before they get the attention and resources they deserve. It would take a heroic leap to quickly achieve what people with these diseases deserve and what the diseases themselves – given their economic costs / burdens they impose – should receive. So much needs to be done (funding, doctor education, drugs, other treatments) – and we’re coming from such a low place – that it seems almost impossible that it can be done in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, people do the impossible – make what seems at first to be inconceivable differences in one area or another – all the time. This blog is about a man who did that, and did so in a way that may directly help those with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia.
Thank you for this opportunity to address the CFS Advisory Committee. I am writing to in response to the call for comments regarding how the US government might engage members of the ME/CFS community, especially patients and their lay supporters, in addressing and solving the clinical, research, educational, and public health challenges of this condition.
