Voices from the Shadows

Flier for ‘Exercise and ME/CFS Event’ and a letter

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Letter which can used as a template to contact your GP or other healthcare professional to ask them to come to the ‘Exercise and ME/CFS’ evening on Feb 5th at the Watershed, Bristol.

 

Dear

There is an event in Bristol on Feb 5th at the Watershed, of interest to all healthcare professionals who help patients suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis – CFS & ME. This is a unique opportunity, following a presentation to MPs and medical practitioners at Stormont, Belfast, by Professor Mark VanNess from the Workwell Foundation USA. CPD accreditation is being applied for.

The role of exercise and activity management in ME and CFS has been a source of great controversy for many years – widely accepted as beneficial by many healthcare workers but questioned by many ME charities and patients who have suffered adverse consequences from overactivity or exercise programmes. This work from the USA brings objective scientific measurement into a field that has long been dominated by prejudice, confusion and subjective impressions.

The keynote –“Understanding fatigue in ME/CFS: An exercise in objectivity”  will be given by Prof. VanNess. He helped develop ways to more accurately identify patients with ME or CFS who suffer Post Exertional Malaise. They use standardized cardiopulmonary exercise testing to more clearly characterize “fatigue” in CFS/ME and to clearly define the illness. They are able to describe metabolic, cardiovascular and ventilatory dysfunction by examining the results from cardiopulmonary analysis during exercise testing.

As exercise physiologists they are also interested in the use of anaerobic exercise therapy and energy conservation as techniques to enhance quality of life and avoid symptom exacerbation associated with excessive aerobic activity.  See www.workwellfoundation.org/research-and-latest-news/  Dr VanNess’ main research interest is the role of the autonomic nervous system in immune dysfunction, with a particular interest in the mechanisms that produce post-exertional malaise, especially as they contribute to physical and cognitive dysfunction.

There will be a short presentation by Erinna Bowman, a member of the CURE-ME team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Recently they were awarded approximately £1,000,000 for their research programme. Dr Nigel Speight is a consultant paediatrician; the paediatric medical advisor for many ME charities. He will explain some of the pitfalls sometimes encountered by families when dealing with professionals in psychiatry, education and social services who are unfamiliar with the illness. He also has expertise in child protection, emotional /psychological problems, childhood asthma, food allergy and ADHA. There will be a 30 min film showing the stories of four young sufferers: a shortened version of an international award winning film.

I hope you will be able to attend this exciting event. More information and tickets which cost £10 can be found at http://voicesfromtheshadowsfilm.co.uk/2013/bristol-event-feb-5th/

If you have any queries or problems please email email bristolnorthfm.e@gmail.com or  info@voicesfromtheshadowsfilm.co.uk.

Yours sincerely,