Category: Alem Matthees
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My Unexpected E-Mail Exchange with Alem Matthees
In recent months, one of the most high-profile people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)—Australian Alem Matthees—has reported significant improvement in his condition. He is still bed-bound, and is still not speaking. This is not, by any means, “recovery.” Nonetheless, the change in Alem’s ability to read, consume information and communicate is remarkable. As Alem’s…
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My Visits with Alem Matthees, 2025
In 2018, I spent six weeks in Australia, visiting multiple cities on a kind of “chronic fatigue” tour around the country. (In Australia, doctors and patients more often than not referred to the cluster of overlapping illnesses now generally being called ME/CFS as simply “chronic fatigue.”) Near the end, I spent five days in Perth.…