2/ “A study involving over 3,000 participants – both patients & clinicians – found that these misdiagnoses (sometimes termed “in your head” by patients) were often associated with long term impacts on patients’ physical health & wellbeing and damaged trust in healthcare services”
3/
“Patients who reported that their autoimmune disease was misdiagnosed as psychosomatic or a mental health condition were more likely to experience higher levels of depression and anxiety, and lower mental wellbeing. (contd)”
“Worse, when we don’t ignore them, we blame them, telling them they are all free to rise from their beds & wheelchairs, to walk away from the city. Doctors tell them they can free themselves of the disease by changing their belief systems. (contd)”
#MyalgicEncephalomyelitis
3/
“(Contd) Make the effort, they say, and you will regain your health and previous lives.”
“What makes PEM [post-exertional malaise] particularly insidious is that symptoms often do not worsen until 24 to 72 hours after exercise. As a result, patients who feel fine immediately after exercise can unknowingly push themselves beyond their limits”
#MEcfs #PwME #CFS
3/ “The well-meaning advice to 'move a bit more', which patients regularly receive, can be counterproductive in their case. Of course, this does not mean people with ME/CFS should remain completely still. Movement remains important, but within the limits indicated by their body”
On Edina: “It left her bedbound, unable to even shower or use the bathroom, and so sensitive to any kind of sensory stimulation that reading a book or watching the television would be harmful.”
#SevereME #MEcfs #PwME
3/
“Speaking to the BBC prior to her death [from Euthanasia], Ms Slayter-Engelsman compared the experience of ME to being trapped in a spider's web, saying: "Every time you try to get out, the web just gets tighter and tighter around you".