🧵Serious Red Flags for the #CISCO21#LongCovid Study
Researchers please listen to patients concerns & expand your knowledge to the history of #MECFS
You have a chance to stop patient harm
1. No mention of #PEM#PESE in the literature
After repeatedly asking if they screen for #PEM or take this into account - they have not responded in the affirmative.
This is the nub of the issue
75% of #Longhaulers have #PEM
46% are eligible for an #MECFS diagnosis
This means that our bodies cannot process exercise - think sugar diabetes
There is no magic where by giving us exercise because we can't do it means we will magically be able too
They are taking those who are not just Deconditioned through a hospital stay & you need to be exercise impaired to be eligible for the study. This means you will highly likely have PEM & be at risk
The basis of the study is on muscle weakness and wasting - a Deconditioning model. This is out of date and can't be treated with exercise - please look at #MECFS research
The rationale for the study is there is a gap in therapy. There is a gap in therapy because there had been no decent research - you fill the gap by doing this research in pathophysiology & treatment.
We are losing count of the number of rehab exercise studies
Look at #MECFS
The Shuttle Walk test is genuinely dangerous as its aim is to push someone to their limits.
Serious danger to relapse, worsening of symptoms and #PEM
The study visits are exercise based and the treatment is exercise based. This is seriously risky and giving people the false hope they will get better and be tempted to push through to get better.
Potential Risks - this is not true, please do your research. You are not only likely to feel as bit tired for a short time. You can be pushed permanently to a more severe state of illness. This has happened time and again in #MECFS
2033 Completion date?
Here are the details to make a complaint
This is essentially researchers meaning well but not having done their homework It works from a Deconditioning model that there is muscle wastage and if you fix that then you fix the problem.This doesn't work as our anaerobic metabolism doesn't work. That is what you need to fix
There is a chance that if someone has been in hospital and it's Deconditioned but recovered and doesn't have PEM then this may be of benefit. But you are not only doing this and expanding it to all with #LongCovid without a safety net or way to report harm.
This is the very real danger we are facing in the 🇬🇧 with clinical care.
#LC is being seen as persistent & is going to be integrated with chronic pain & other unexplainable 'persistent symptoms'. 🧵/1
The problem is there's real issues in chronic pain clinical practice. It follows a problematic biopsychosocial approach of 'central sensitisation'. Which essentially means there's no 'real' physical cause. /2
It's a dubious theory & often comes with significant patient trauma. With little actual investigation. It's likely alot of pain comes from mechanisms we don't yet understand that aren't on a visible level. /3
🌟Major Step Forward 🌟
Long Covid DEFINITION 🧵
5️⃣ Main Points
👉ATTRIBUTION TO INFECTION
-yet no labs needed
👉ONSET & DURATION
-3 months yet can be cont. or delayed
👉 SYMPTOMS
-1 or more organ system but no limits
👉EQUITY
-anyone!
👉FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT
-can be profound.
🌟Key Takeaways🌟
👉Legitimate Disease State
-that's in black and white folks)
👉#POTS #MECFS #MCAS are pathophysiologic mechanisms of #LC
👉#LC is an IACC - Infection Associated Chronic Condition
👉 Designed for max. impact & distribution /2
This is an interesting phenomena. It can affect attitude, advocacy priorities and nomenclature.
It's especially present in the area of illnesses that carry taboo or disbelief in the medical world.
There are different advocacy styles - which is great /1 🧵
Yet if an org can't
🛸 clearly define, say, interact or state issues that affects patients
-that are part of the discrimination against them
-that affects their quality of life and illness
-that are unjust
Then Houston, we have a problem - we have advocacy alienation /2
This can take many forms:
🛸Some won't say or have much to do with ME
🛸Some won't speak out about injustice
🛸Some avoid the severe or contentious, difficult issues
Why is this? It's curious. There might be a number of reasons: /3
Those who have Long Covid, ME or chronic illness often experience a "double obscurity" (a quote from Margaret Atwood).
There is the obscurity of the illness and then the obscurity of societies inability to understand the illness. /1
Susan Sontag in her famous quote from 'Illness as Metaphor' captures this experience.
It's as if we enter into a different Kingdom, even if people can see us in plain view. We are other, it, a reminder that life can be unfair, painful and cruel. /2
It is as if we hold a social contagion, a bad luck that needs to be avoided. No wonder history has its sin eaters and scapegoats.
🧵After the NHS #LongCvd conference we can see a peculiar split in view:
1️⃣ NHS clinicians & researchers - think they are empathetic, giving a good service, dealing with psychological needs. Researchers still invested in psychosocial & activity intervention.
more... 👇 /1
2️⃣ #LongCvd patients often feel neglected, have a poor experience of clinics, emphasis on the psychological is leading to an increase in social services referrals, poor knowledge & gaslighting in primary care. At risk through lack of masking. /2
3️⃣ How do we bridge this gap? There still seems a lack of engagement with the severe, very severe & ME from the NHS. This is crucial. What is from good intentions is leading to a difficult patient experience. /3
📝This is the agenda from the NHS #LongCvd conference
It was filmed and will be online (H/T @JCeoltaSmith)
🙄Concern: why on earth is each hub allowed to wing it in woo wonderland?
🕵️♀️Where is the standardised investigations & treatment for POTS/ME/Microclots - that incl severe?
🤔The majority of the conference seems to be on therapies 4 rehab. But how do people access rehab if the underlying pathology isn't treated?
🤔Kind of freaking out the CYP section was led by lead from SW Hub Bath lead fatigue service - Crawley territory
🤔'Post Covid' Society - nomenclature concern - it was called Long Covid to avoid implying Cvd was over in LC
It's why post-acute is used
🤔What's the future system to treat LC and post viral illness. Are we all going to fatigue clinics?!