Shock results on ME (From Andover Advertiser)

The ME community is not so terribly stunned at the results of the PACE Trial. They had been decided upon even before the trial had begun. A complaint about almost every aspect of the trial was made to the MRC by Professor Hooper and can be seen here: http://www.meactionu
k.org.uk/magical-med
icine.pdf

Since the publication of the Trial last week we have had yet another piece of biomedical research from the US to (yet again) illustrate the organic, physical nature of this illness: http://www.cfids.org
/research/proteome-a
nalysis.pdf

I wonder how many more biomedical research papers it will take to stop the UK treating this illness as a mental illness and manipulating 'research' to push it's behavioural 'therapies' on a vulnerable population?

Peter Spencer's remarks are more than disingenuous as he represents one of only two charities who did not call for the PACE Trial to be abandoned whilst it was still in the planning stage. Had AfME removed their endorsement this waste of £5 million may not have happened and we would not have to run the gauntlet of atricles which suggest that people with this disease just need a bit of exercise and mind training!

Our Government has wasted millions of taxpayers' £s on this PACE trial and others, which have yielded inconclusive results. No-one with true M.E. has ever been cured with the techniques. CBT tries to teach you that you're not really ill, it’s in your head. It seems to cure AIDS and cancer patients too, doesn't it? Increasing exercise (GET) is contra-indicated in true ME as it further damages the mitochondria, worsening the condition. These trials comprised a mixed group, using a definition that actually excluded people with neurological disease (such as ME) - it should therefore be surprising to find anyone with true ME among their patients groups. These groups contain people without ME but with various depressive disorders, so you expect to see a few improve - as was found. True ME is now thought to be caused by an infectious retrovirus similar to HIV. It's a 'brain" virus, found in around 98% of true ME patients using the latest tissue culture techniques. Recent "contamination" theories have been firmly disproven. Physically disabled people can function well in an office job - but if your BRAIN is attacked, meaning that your head is always fuzzy like you have a hangover, bad flu, jet lag and have been hit by a bus all at once - you'll be very ill. Those following the events of real ME research will know that several people have been taking anti-retroviral drugs for around a year, and mostly making steady progress. It's just a matter of time before all this psycho stuff becomes water under the bridge - just as in the case of stomach ulcers, MS, and many other diseases without obvious causes. Unfortunately for sick patients, there seem to be many reactionaries putting on the brakes. If our government really wanted to get all these disability claimants off of benefits, they could save loads of money by the correct research and correct treatment of around 250,000 ME patients in the UK alone (1 million in the USA, 20 M worldwide estimated).