Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Life Is Tough but Freedom Is Possible | Psychology Today

Life Is Tough but Freedom Is Possible | Psychology Today

Life is tough. We're all subject to suffering, stress, anguish, and dissatisfaction. This is the essence of the Buddha's first noble truth. Given life's uncertainty and unpredictability, how could it be otherwise?

When I first encountered this teaching (many years before I became chronically ill), I didn't feel disheartened; I felt relieved. Finally, someone was describing this life in a way that fit a good portion of my experience. What a relief to know it wasn't just me or just my life! Do you know a single person, healthy or sick, who has not experienced suffering, stress, anguish, and dissatisfaction in his or her life?

Monday, March 21, 2011

timesofmalta.com - Allies pound Libya

timesofmalta.com - Allies pound Libya

US tomahawk cruise missiles hit Libya late yesterday, the Pentagon said.

Washington has F-15 and F-16 fighter jets in Sicily, while the USS Barry and the USS Stout, both destroyers equipped with sea-to-ground Tomahawk missiles, are in the Mediterranean.

The USS Bataan, a helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship, and two other vessels have also been deployed to relieve the USS Kearsarge and the transport docking ship USS Ponce in the Mediterranean. The Bataan was due to leave the state of Virginia last Wednesday.

The US also has three submarines in the Mediterranean capable of firing Tomahawk missiles.

Monday, March 07, 2011

The Puzzle of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - WSJ.com

The Puzzle of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - WSJ.com

The Puzzle of Chronic Fatigue
For 20 years, a doctor in upstate New York has been trying to prove that an outbreak of the strange syndrome in his community was caused by a virus. Now new evidence is reopening the case..

excellent article

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Great research project

http://www.bond.edu.au/prod_ext/groups/public/@pub-burcs-gen/documents/genericwebdocument/bd3_016201.pdf

The International ME Research Collaboration (IMERC) confirms the strong and convincing scientific evidence of immune dysregulation in ME/CFS. Research will be encouraged into the blood-brain and other neural barriers, glial and neural cell histopathology, and neurotransmitter function including recently discovered neuropeptide function.
IMERC identified key priorities:

• The name myalgic encephalomyelitis ME would be adopted to better reflect the science and seriousness of the clinical picture in preference to the misleading label of chronic fatigue syndrome CFS.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

John Falk: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Psychotherapy

John Falk: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Psychotherapy

Until now, I've told no one except a small inner-circle of family that my mysterious breakdown in health, vitality, and cognition that started the night of May 5, 2007 was not due to an exotic virus I picked up in the Congo while on assignment for National Geographic. The truth? I'm actually a textbook case of someone with CFS, a syndrome I sniffed at until it happened to me. For the sufferer CFS means a total health breakdown, like a plane that inexplicably begins tearing itself apart mid-flight. Together, all the various dysfunctions associated with it leave the patient in a state of health more debilitating than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, or multiple sclerosis.

There is no known cause for CFS, and most terrifying from where I sit, no cure.

I've now decided to come out of the closest -- so to speak -- because it's ultimately self-defeating living a lie. Plus, someone has to start owning this syndrome in public. The more people who fess up to having it -- and there are many more who have it than let on -- the better off we all will be in the end.

When you have CFS one of the greatest battles you fight are the ignorant smirks and expressed disbelief of those who think it's all in your head; that is, those that don't live with you and live the truth of CFS everyday. Negativity and doubt amount to an energy drain you can ill afford. It's the reason I have refused up until now to identify myself as a person with CFS.

That which medicine can't explain we tend to label psychosomatic and blame the patient, a cruel phenomenon all too familiar to those who've had MS, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus, and a myriad of other ailments in decades past.