Year: 2023
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Letter on Inflated FND Prevalence Rates Accepted for Publication
As I have regularly noted, patients with diagnoses of functional neurological disorder (FND) experience tremendous suffering. A patient who goes by the moniker @FnDPortal has written a compelling and sometimes harrowing essay, Cadenza for Fractured Consciousness: A Personal History of the World’s Most Misunderstood Illness, that is well worth a read in order to understand some…
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What’s Going On with Cochrane’s Exercise Review Mess?
On September 4th, the Science for ME (S4ME) forum sent an open letter to Cochrane’s editor-in-chief, Karla Soares-Weiser, requesting the “immediate withdrawal or retraction” of “Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome,” a 2019 review. The review over-stated the evidence in favor of exercise therapies and has been widely and appropriately criticized for its seriously flawed…
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A Crap Study on “Psychosomatic Therapy” for “Persistent Somatic Symptoms”
*This post has been corrected. I initially wrote that the protocol did not appear to call for sub-group analyses, but it appears it did. I also included a passage about that is from documentation in the supplemental material. I had identified it as coming from the protocol. I apologize for the errors. Dutch investigators appear…
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A Follow-Up on a Post About Whether Anxiety and Depression Perpetuate Functional Limb Weakness
Zachary Grin, a physical therapist in New York City who specializes in treating patients with functional neurological disorder (FND), commented on my most recent blog after I posted a link to it on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. As he noted in his series of tweets (or his series of Xs?),…
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Depression/Anxiety Not Linked to Negative Outcomes in Patients with Functional Limb Weakness, FND Experts Report
The Journal of Psychosomatic Research has just published a paper called “The Impact of Depression, Anxiety and Personality Disorders on the Outcome of Patients with Functional Limb Weakness – Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis.” As I have previously noted, the journal is something of a house organ for seriously flawed research from adherents of the what…
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Depression/Anxiety Not Linked to Negative Outcomes in Patients with Functional Limb Weakness, FND Experts Report
The Journal of Psychosomatic Research has just published a paper called “The Impact of Depression, Anxiety and Personality Disorders on the Outcome of Patients with Functional Limb Weakness – Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis.” As I have previously noted, the journal is something of a house organ for seriously flawed research from adherents of the what…
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Authors of Dutch Long Covid Paper Contradict Each Other
I have slammed a recent Dutch study, Kuut et al, that investigated CBT for fatigue after an acute bout of COVID-19. The study, “Efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Targeting Severe Fatigue Following Coronavirus Disease 2019: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial,” nicknamed ReCOVer, was published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, a well-regarded journal, and proclaimed itself a…
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More of the Same Old Nonsense from the “Oslo Chronic Fatigue Consortium”
It is extremely dispiriting to have to respond to yet another wail of desperation from psychologizing dead-enders who have lost control of the narrative over the nature and treatment of ME/CFS and long Covid. This most recent screed, published last month in the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, has been written by a group…
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Norwegian Lightning Process Trial Ejects Questioning Participant
The administrators of a controversial study of the Lightning Process currently being conducted in Norway have ejected a participant who expressed critical views about the biopsychosocial approach to ME, according to MELivet [MELife], Nina Steinkopf’s invaluable blog. This decision appears to be an acknowledgement that the intervention only works if you believe it will work.…
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Celine Corsius–In Memorium
Céline Corsius, a 32-year-old from the Netherlands, died through euthanasia on September 18th after suffering with ME for 22 years. For the last seven years, she was confined to her bed, lying in the dark. Even so, her health situation continued to deteriorate. She was cared for by her parents, Iselle and Lou Corsius. Below…
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David Putrino on New Nature Study of Long Covid Immune Profiling
I’ve posted two past interviews with David Putrino (here and here) about long Covid, ME/CFS, and related issues. Dr Putrino, a neuroscientist and physical therapist, is director of rehabilitation innovation at the Mt Sinai Health System in New York. Early in the pandemic, he began seeing patients with prolonged symptoms following acute bouts of Covid-19.…
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Media Notes–Hasan Presses Fauci on Long Covid; Rehmeyer on Psych Diagnoses; Washington Post Explores Backstory of Recent Study
MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan can be a bulldog as an interviewer. He recently pressed Dr Anthony Fauci on the US government’s flat-footed response to the wave of long Covid cases. Dr Fauci came across as somewhat on the defensive and acknowledged that progress has been slow. He agreed that clinical trials to assess possible treatments…