Trial By Error

Author: David Tuller

  • New Biopsychosocial Paper on Long-Covid and Somatic Symptom Disorder

    Biopsychosocial Campaigners Target Long-Covid New papers from the biopsychosocial campaigners often provide opportunities to highlight unwarranted assertions, misleading use of data, and—in particular–associations interpreted as if they were causal relationships and not, well, associations. An article co-authored by Trudie Chalder, a professor of cognitive behavioural therapy at King’s Collge London, and published recently in the…

  • An Excerpt from Jamison Hill’s Memoir

    Three years ago, The New York Times‘ popular Modern Love column published a beautifully written tear-jerker by Jamison Hill–a former bodybuilder with ME. The column, “Love Means Never Having to Say…Anything,” described in tender prose how two people with debilitating chronic illness were able to find and nurture a very special love. It was later…

  • Professor Paul Garner’s BMJ Blog Post on His Powerful Cognitions

    Professor Paul Garner, an infectious disease doctor at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, has had a rough time with long-Covid. He has written about his experiences in a series of compelling blog posts on BMJ’s site. At first, he bonded with members of the ME/CFS community and expressed shock at the shoddy treatment these…

  • Professor Lubet’s Inquiry to Medical Center Holding ME/CFS Patient

    Yesterday, I posted my exchange with a spokeswoman for Hennepin Healthcare about Thane Fredrickson, the ME/CFS patient who is under threat of involuntary psychiatric commitment. Today, Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet, e-mailed her the following letter. Dear Ms. Hill: I am a law professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, and I often write articles,…

  • My Exchange with Minnesota Medical Center Holding ME/CFS Patient

    On Monday afternoon, I had an e-mail exchange with Christine Hill, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin Healthcare in Minnesota. Thane Fredrickson, an ME/CFS patient, is currently under threat of involuntary psychiatric commitment. Because of patient privacy concerns, it was clear the medical center would not be able to provide any specific information. But reporters are…

  • Game-Changing Articles in The Guardian and The New York Times

    The relationship between what is being called long-Covid and ME/CFS (and its variants) is complex. The conditions overlap in ways that are poorly understood, and the mechanisms through which they produce such significant disabilities remain elusive. As the coronavirus pandemic enters its second year, many tens or hundreds of thousands of people around the world…

  • New Study Reports First-Hand Accounts of 1955 Hospital Outbreak

    The name myalgic encephalomyelitis is inextricably linked with an outbreak of what appeared by all accounts to be a viral illness at London’s Royal Free Hospital in the second half of 1955. More than 200 people, most of them female staff and students, fell ill. Some reported long-term complications. Although no pathogen was ever identified,…

  • Tack’s Take on 2020 Studies; Professor Edwards’ Statement to NICE

    I have been laying low during the recent holiday and coup season. Today I’m watching the impeachment hearings. And I might find it challenging to get back up to full speed until after New Year’s–which for me will be January 20th, or whichever day the White House is finally de-Trumped. For now, here are a…

  • Psych Issues Do Not Predict ME/CFS, New Chicago Study Shows

    For decades, investigators have argued over the causes of the illness or cluster of illnesses variously called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS),  ME/CFS, CFS/ME and other names. In the absence of an adequate explanation for the debilitating symptoms, a flawed approach to intervention based on the perceived need for psychological and behavioral rehabilitation…

  • Swedish ME Patient Fears Forced Psychiatric Treatment

    Holger Klintenberg, a 35-year-old from the southern Swedish city of Jonkoping, has severe ME. His illness began after a bout of mononucleosis (or glandular fever) when he was 19. He has recently experienced difficult interactions with the health care system. His family fears he could be forced into psychiatric care against his and their wishes.…

  • A Letter to BMJ From Prof Hughes, Prof Racaniello and Me

    I have sent the following letter to Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ and editor-in-chief of The BMJ, on behalf of Professors Brian Hughes and Vincent Racaniello as well as me. We were responding to the recent editorial regarding the new draft of ME/CFS clinical guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence–as…

  • BMJ Pushes Back Against New NICE Draft

    The BMJ has published an online “editorial” slamming the new draft of clinical guidelines for ME/CFS from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The position expressed is an interesting one: Non-pharmacological treatments for “complex conditions” cannot be adequately measured by randomized trials, according to the two authors. It is, of course, noteworthy that…