I'd like to alert you to something serious:

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) is being revised by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is known as DSM-5. The creation of a new category called “Complex Somatic Symptom Disorder” could impact ME/CFS/FM significantly. Here's link to Mary Schweitzer's response (reposted on ME agenda). The APA will accept public comments until 20 April 2010.

http://dsm5watch.wordpress.com/dsm-5-proposals/dsm-5-proposals-sub-page-3/

Here's the main page to register with DSM-5.

http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx

And here's the page specifically for CSSM. There's a 'Register Now' link (for comments, etc.) at the bottom.

http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=368

The majority of people diagnosed with ME/CFS are women. Children are also frequently diagnosed. Mary Schweitzer's response (see above) explains it all. This will severely impact women in many different ways - women with other serious illnesses (i.e. cancer, MS, lupus, etc) are often mistakenly diagnosed with ME/CFS, and if they are then diagnosed with "CSSD" then they will never receive the medical treatment they need. This is one more way in which women are denied rights to health care and social security. It will impact women and men in many different countries, not only in the US.

People with ME/CFS are frequently too unwell to fight their case - many have already given up, many are simply too unwell to use a computer. We need help from those who are well to join the fight to get this illness fully recognized - this is an infectious, communicable disease: never assume that you won't get it! (I was a fit, active, healthy professional in my early 50's when I suddenly became ill).

Thank you!

Swine Flu - the Flu Pandemic

Let's get some numbers into perspective. Number of deaths from swine flu to date: 101 (one hundred and one). Number of deaths from road accidents annually in the USA: 50,000 (fifty thousand). Number of people diagnosed with swine flu in the UK at present: 2 (two). Number of people with MS in the UK: 85,000 (eighty-five thousand). Amount of money spent on biomedical research for MS in the UK: a lot, because they seem to keep coming up with more information and potential treatments quite often. Number of people estimated to suffer from ME in the UK: 250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand) - conservative estimate, 25% of whom are severely affected, i.e. totally bed-bound. Approximate cost to the UK economy of people ill with ME: £3,500,000,000 (3.5 billion pounds, parliamentary data). Amount spent on biomedical research for ME in the UK: £0 (zero). Number of doctors in the UK who know the difference between ME and CFS: 2 (two) - well, that's the impression I get, but I may be exaggerating!

Would someone please tell me what's wrong with this picture?

May is ME Awareness Month! For more information on issues surrounding funding biomedical research into ME please see the Invest in ME website: http://www.investinme.org/index.html