The ME Association is a UK health charitable organization that provides information, advocacy, and services to persons and families affected by ME/CFS, and raises funds for research into ME/CFS. It has been reported to be one of the two largest UK charities for ME/CFS.
ME Research UK is a medical research charity based in the United Kingdom with the principal aim of commissioning and funding scientific (biomedical) investigation into the causes, consequences and treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). ME/CFS is a debilitating illness which affects between 120,000 and 240,000 people in the United Kingdom alone, but which is not well understood nor, in many cases, properly recognised.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has a long history with an evolution in medical understanding, diagnoses and social perceptions.
Management of ME/CFS focusses on symptoms management, as no treatments that address the root cause of the illness are available. Pacing, or regulating one's activities to avoid triggering worse symptoms, is the most common management strategy for post-exertional malaise. Clinical management varies widely, with many patients receiving combinations of therapies.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is an illness with a long history of controversy. Some professionals within the medical community do not recognize ME/CFS as a genuine condition, nor is there agreement on its prevalence. There has been much disagreement over the pathophysiology of ME/CFS, how it should be diagnosed, and how to treat it.
Clinical descriptions of ME/CFS vary. Different groups have produced sets of diagnostic criteria that share many similarities. The biggest differences between criteria are whether post-exertional malaise (PEM) is required, and the number of symptoms needed.
The Lightning Process (LP) is a three-day personal training programme developed and trademarked by British osteopath Phil Parker. It makes unsubstantiated claims to be beneficial for various conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and chronic pain.
Patricia A. Fennell is the chief executive officer of Albany Health Management Associates. She is a clinician, research scientist, educator, and author specializing in chronic illness, chronic and post-viral syndromes, trauma, forensics, hospice, global health care concerns, autoimmune and post-viral disease, clinical education, and training.
Graded exercise therapy (GET) is a programme of physical activity that starts very slowly and gradually increases over time, intended as a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. Most public health bodies, including the CDC and NICE, consider it ineffective, and its safety is disputed. However, GET still enjoys support among a minority of clinicians and organizations.
Daniel Peterson is an American physician in private practice in the state of Nevada, and has been described as a "pioneer" in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). He graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York, in 1976 and was an intern and resident at the University of Utah Medical Center from 1976 to 1979. In 1979, he became a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is president of Sierra Internal Medicine of Incline Village, established in 1981.
Sir Simon Charles Wessely is a British psychiatrist. He is Regius Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and head of its department of psychological medicine, vice dean for academic psychiatry, teaching and training at the Institute of Psychiatry, as well as Director of the King's Centre for Military Health Research. He is also honorary consultant psychiatrist at King's College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital, as well as civilian consultant advisor in psychiatry to the British Army. He was knighted in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to military healthcare and to psychological medicine. From 2014 to 2017, he was the elected president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit medical research institute dedicated to scientific discovery surrounding complex neuroimmune diseases including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and other similarly presenting illnesses. Founded in 2005, it is currently located within the Center for Molecular Medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno. It was founded in 2005.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating long-term medical condition. People with ME/CFS experience delayed worsening of the illness after minor physical or mental activity, which is the hallmark symptom of the illness. Other core symptoms are a greatly reduced ability to do tasks that were previously routine, severe fatigue that does not improve much with rest, and sleep disturbances. Further common symptoms include dizziness or nausea when sitting or standing, along with memory and concentration issues and pain.
Ronald Wayne "Ron" Davis is professor of biochemistry and genetics, and director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center at Stanford University. Davis is a researcher in biotechnology and molecular genetics, particularly active in human and yeast genomics and the development of new technologies in genomics, with over 30 biotechnology patents. In 2013, it was said of Davis that "A substantial number of the major genetic advances of the past 20 years can be traced back to Davis in some way."
Post-exertional malaise (PEM), sometimes referred to as post-exertional symptom exacerbation (PESE), is a worsening of symptoms that occurs after minimal exertion. It is the hallmark symptom of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and common in long COVID and fibromyalgia. PEM is often severe enough to be disabling, and is triggered by ordinary activities that healthy people tolerate. Typically, it begins 12–48 hours after the activity that triggers it, and lasts for days, but this is highly variable and may persist much longer. Management of PEM is symptom-based, and patients are recommended to pace their activities to avoid triggering PEM.
The Puzzle Solver: A Scientist's Desperate Quest to Cure the Illness that Stole His Son is a book by Tracie White with scientist Ronald W. Davis about Davis's efforts to cure his son Whitney Dafoe, who has very severe myalgic encephalomyelitis, also called chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The book was published on January 5, 2021.
DecodeME is an ongoing genome-wide association study searching for genetic risk factors for ME/CFS. With a planned recruitment of 25,000 patients, it is expected to be the largest such study to date. Recruitment closed on 15 November 2023 and results are expected in 2024.
The Open Medicine Foundation (OMF) is a US-based charity that funds research into the illnesses myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and long COVID.
Andrew Melvin Ramsay (1901–1990) was a British physician, who is known for his research and advocacy on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a chronic disease causing muscle weakness and cognitive dysfunction. Ramsay worked as a consultant at the Royal Free Hospital in London during a mysterious 1955 disease outbreak of what later became known as ME. He studied the disease and similar outbreaks elsewhere. Work by Ramsay showed that although ME seldom caused death, the disease could be highly disabling.
Carmen Scheibenbogen is a German immunologist who is the acting director of the Institute for Medical Immunology of the Charité university hospital in Berlin. She specialises in hematology, oncology and immunology. She leads the Outpatient Clinic for Immunodeficiency and the Fatigue Centre at the Charité hospital. She is one of the few doctors specialised in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in Germany, and also researches long COVID.
