Tymes Trust Alert 2012-01 Message from Jane 08 January 2012 ====== Follow Jane on Twitter @JaneCColby or read her tweets at www.tymestrust.org ====== GUARDIAN DECLINES LETTER ON BATH STUDY ====== I am writing to send you all a copy of a letter I wrote to The Guardian in December, which they did not publish. They had published a previous letter from me, but in this instance I was told that the Guardian is very cautious about getting involved in medical controversies. It seemed to me that in giving the Bath schools study such publicity (see Tymes Trust Alert 2011-10) they had already involved themselves in a medical controversy and should have been prepared to publish responses. They can, after all, edit letters if they wish. We now consider that in view of the seriousness of the suggestion as reported in their article that schools should refer pupils to an ME/CFS specialist centre if the school thinks they may have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, my letter should be made public. As usual you have our permission to repost or republish this Alert. LETTER FROM JANE COLBY TO THE GUARDIAN 14 December 2011 Dear Sir 'Schools swept by ME plague' ran the Guardian leader, 22 May 1997 (Dowsett and Colby, JCFS). As one of that study's authors and a former head teacher I would caution against the suggestion by paediatrician Esther Crawley (Guardian, 13 Dec) that schools who suspect pupils of having CFS/ME should refer them to a 'specialist centre', cutting their GP out of the loop. Only a doctor is qualified to diagnose whether 'fatigue' could be due to cancer or a heart defect. In our experience, most specialist CFS/ME clinics have no doctors. They typically prescribe psychological and graded activity treatment. In 2010 Dundee University found evidence of persistent viral infection in the blood of children with CFS/ME. Classic ME can be severe and chronic. Rather than pointlessly forcing sick children into school, consider the remarkable results achieved by pupils at home through virtual education whilst still on the school roll, until able to attend without detriment to their health. This is the 21st century and we should use 21st century tools. Calling ME 'fatigue' is like saying the plague gave you spots. Jane Colby FRSA Former Head Teacher Executive Director The Young ME Sufferers Trust PO Box 4347, Stock, Essex, CM4 9TE www.tymestrust.org Tel: 0845 003 9002 Holder of The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service: The MBE for Volunteer Groups ====== READ ALL PREVIOUS ALERTS AND SUBSCRIBE TO MY LIST AT www.tymestrust.org To unsubscribe, send an email via the website Contact Us form. ====== You are welcome to redistribute or reprint this email without seeking our permission provided: 1) you do not abbreviate, add to, or change the text in any way; 2) the authorship information is retained; and 3) www.tymestrust.org is credited as the source. Jane Colby is Executive Director of The Young ME Sufferers Trust. She was a Headteacher for nine years, a member of the government Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on CFS/ME and co-authored ME/CFS In UK Schools, the largest epidemiological study of ME to date. She is a life member of the National Association of Head Teachers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Copyright (c) 2012 The Young ME Sufferers Trust