Dr. Lenny Jason's interview in the NewYorkTimes.com Health Guide dated 5/30/2008

I am grateful to Dr. Lenny Jason for sharing his own battles with CFS/ME. I am also delighted to see that the IACFS/ME has taken the position to assume a leadership role in advocacy issues on behalf of our community of suffering.

May 30, 2008
Expert Q & A
Learning Firsthand About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
By DAVID TULLER
Leonard Jason is a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago and the director of the university’s Center for Community Research. He is on the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee to the federal Department of Health and Human Services and is a board member of the International Association for CFS/ME, an advocacy group.

Q: What is it about chronic fatigue syndrome that makes it so challenging for many people — patients themselves, doctors, family members?

A: Fatigue is a universal human experience, and in fact most people are very hard-working and feel fatigued a lot of the time. And severe fatigue is one of the most common complaints that people bring to their physicians. Because so many people have general fatigue and continue to function, they think, “What’s that? That’s not a disease, it’s just a fact of life.” So there’s a perception both among medical personnel and the lay public that it’s something that you push yourself through, you deal with it. There’s a tendency to think, “Well, you’re stressed out, get some better sleep, take some antidepressants.”

With heart disease or cancer or AIDS, you have an immediate feeling from your family, your work associates, your friends, that this is something we need to be sympathetic to, we need to make accommodations for. What’s strikingly different about this illness is that the majority of people not only have to deal with a particularly debilitating health problem, they also have to deal with the stigma and societal reaction and disbelief and illegitimacy, and that is crushing, Your work colleagues say you’re malingering, medical personnel say there’s nothing they can find so they’ll refer you to a psychiatrist, and your friends begin to complain that you’re never calling them, you’ve rejected them. So this person is in the whirlwind of a terrain of disbelief that is probably in some ways unique.

Q: Has the perception of C.F.S. changed over the years?

A: I spend a lot of my time giving talks to audiences of people I don’t know, and I feel it’s very different today — vastly different than 20 years ago. At that time, no one had heard of it and there was almost universal disbelief. Today, that is much, much less. I don’t mean to suggest that there is no skepticism remaining. It’s still present. But it is my opinion that the people who are skeptical haven’t really looked at the literature. It’s easy to nurse your skepticism when you haven’t really bothered to look.

Q: How much would you associate the skepticism with the name “chronic fatigue syndrome,” which is used in the United States, instead of names like “myalgic encephalomyelitis” or “myalgic encephalopathy,” which are more common in other countries?

A: The name is unfortunate. It’s a terrible name, because fatigue is the focus and that is differently experienced by people who are healthy than by people who have this illness. I do think if we called bronchitis or emphysema “chronic cough syndrome,” you’d probably have very little respect for those people, but a name that’s more medical sounding changes people’s perceptions.

When you have a more medical-sounding name, you’re saying the illness is not something fluffy, to be downplayed and ignored, and health care personnel think of it as more serious, more debilitating. I hope there will be a new name, but the problem is you don’t change names lightly, even bad names, because people come to recognize an illness by a name. I think changing it will confuse a lot of people, so it better be a new name that has broader acceptability among patients and researchers.

There is a movement developing around the world of people using different terms, and some are using the term M.E./C.F.S. The C.D.C. and the CFIDS Association are two of the last large organizations in the United States who have not come aboard.

Q: There are many people who think C.F.S. is just a form of depression. What’s the connection between the two?

A: The fast answer is, if you want to do a quick diagnostic test, you could say, “If you were well tomorrow, what would you do?” And the person with C.F.S. would give you a list of things that they want to get back to in their life, and the person with classic depression would probably say, “I don’t know.”

Eighty percent of people who have depression have fatigue, but it’s not their most serious complaint. They might have sleep problems, and some cognitive problems that are common, and they can end up being brought into the case definition for C.F.S. Some people with this disease do have depression. If you basically have a person who says they were feeling pretty good, now they’re sick, and then they get depressed, they could have depression as well as the illness. The real critical problem is when you have a person who has solely depression and does not have this illness, but has fatigue. So if your case definition is imprecise and you blur the categories, and that brings into it people who don’t have the illness, you ultimately have problems with estimating how many people have it.

Q: Why does the estimate of how many people have the illness matter?

A: This all goes back to case definition. If it includes people who don’t have the illness, some might say that at least there are advantages to that because it gives C.F.S. higher rates and more attention. So if there are millions of people with this illness, it might make the policy people take it more seriously. I think one needs to be wary of that, because if you do research with this broader group of people, and some of them don’t have the illness, and the question is what is the biologic data, how do you interpret that? If you have patient samples that are different, ultimately what will happen is it’s very hard to find genetic or biological markers because there’s been such imprecision in how it’s been identified. So what happens is that people say, “We can’t find anything, it must be psychogenic.”

Q: You were diagnosed with C.F.S. many years ago. How did that affect you?

A: That triggered my interest. I got C.F.S. in 1990 after having mononucleosis, and ended up having to leave my work for about a year and a half. I said to myself, “Well, gee, if this is affecting me like it is, I should try to do some research.” I knew a little bit about it, beforehand, and then I started reading the literature.

The epidemiology done by the C.D.C. was atrocious. What I read was that this was an extremely rare disorder that affected less than 20,000 people, that it was primarily psychological, that it affected primarily upper-middle-class people, that it had a case definition that was put together by consensus and not by research methods, and that it had a name that was pretty trivializing. The prevalence research was very poorly done. The tests they were using were inappropriate and had a real bias for psychiatric morbidity. I realized that one needed to do basic work in diagnostics and basic work in epidemiology. I looked at it and said, “Hey, I’ve got enough work here for the next decade.” It was a real work opportunity for me.

Q: How did you recover?

A: I would say that it was a very slow process. I had the good fortune that most people don’t have, in that I had resources. I was a tenure-track professor with a good income who had people rooting for me, and nobody every questioned me or said you’re making this up, or it’s not serious. Everyone knew I was a very hard worker, and they wanted me back. How many people who get sick with this have that opportunity? So they made it possible for me to build myself back up. I had benefits and a full salary. I had a work setting, and a friendship setting and a support setting that most people don’t have. Most people, the first thing that happens is they lose their job, and then they don’t have enough money. I’m still somewhat careful about how much I do and what I commit to. I think of myself as being 70 to 80 percent back, not 100 percent.

Publish date: 5/30/2008

CFSAC Meeting - Washington DC, May 6,2008 - Day 2, Part I

Great items to report. The Empty Chair project went well. I was pleased to see that the room was not empty as usually and I had a less amount of chairs available for placement of caregivers/family pictures and of CFS individuals. The feedback we received from Dr.Anand was really encouraging. He is looking at all venues of communication with the patient population by using available technology that we advocacy orgs can post on our web sites and in the case of P.A.N.D.O.R.A., on our non profit page of YouTube.com.

In the meantime, we patients need to click on their web site at http://www.hhs.gov/advcomcfs/pastmeetings.html to read the Nov 28, 2007 meeting minutes to get a feel and an update for what the CFSAC is doing. I want to acknowledge here everyone who sent us an e-mail and ask for your understanding if we did not get back to you in time for this meeting. We received 100s e-mails and letters and our volunteer office staff was overwhelmed with the response. But we will keep your letters, pictures and will contact you to finalize it as we are considering making the Empty Chair project a "travelling exhibition". We will let you know if it will be possible.

The CFSAC is up for renewal this September and although the renewal of this committee is not in jeopardy as I was told by DHHS staff, the CFIDS Association does not want us to take any chances and it has issued an action alert asking CFS patients to write to Secretary Leavitt to ensure the committee remains fully funded. I actually would like to see its budget increased considerably. So make sure to say it if you write to Secretary Leavitt on the issue to raise its future funding.

Today as I was told, (and as I witnessed yesterday) was a heart wrenching public testimony period, as the CFS patients made their presentations in person. Every personal story makes your heart cringe and your eyes watery. As much as I am a veteran,seasoned patient advocate, the emotion I hear, see and feel emanating from these patients are difficult to handle. And I today did not get to witness them in person due to a morning visit to Capitol Hill to visit House Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen whom I had the opportunity to meet again in person, and with Rep. Robert Wexler'staff as well with Rep. Ron Klein. These morning meetings were quite productive as our appropriations requests are in place and moving along the long tedious process. They will require a bit of tweaking regarding the language we used, and P.A.N.D.O.R.A. will work it out in the coming months, but before we tackle the next step of this project I will have to rest aggressively and recoup from this trip.

It is gratifying to see that Rep. Ros-Lehtinen understands that without a Center of Excellence and without statutory language with specific funding for the CFS/Neuroendocrineimmune Centers of Excellence, their establishment will not be realized. I say she gets it! And so do Reps Wexler and Klein (my own congressman who represents the district where I live in Florida!)

I am extremely grateful that two of their staff members: Eva Dominguez (Wexler) and Virgina Neale (Klein) came to the CFSAC meeting in the afternoon and were educated and appreciated for their interest in coming to such an important meeting for our community. I have been coming to Capitol Hill for the past 4 and half-years if not longer and this is the first time congressional staffers attended a CFSAC meeting. I am excited, grateful and elated to say the least!

A long list of recommendations are being sent to Secretary Leavitt by the CFSAC and it is incumbent on us to advise Secretary Leavitt of the importance of these recommendations to our Quality of Life. There is a huge momentum here and we need to grab it!

And to finish my report on the last day of this two-day meeting, with some exciting notes: The presentation by Dr. Kenneth Friedman, our Secretary & Chairman of Public Policy for P.A.N.D.O.R.A. provided a great insight on the New Jersey CFS Association and on their medical student scholarship, which is creating the much needed awareness of the plight of CFS patients to physicians-in-training, and affording our community a greater potential that the next wave of physicians will be well trained in neuroendocrineimmune disorders and in particular CFS. He proudly announced our own scholarships and we are elated that one of them we are naming it after him for his accomplishments, hard work and collaborative efforts in uniting our community. It has been a pleasure for me to personally collaborate and see the results of our joint efforts. It is extremely gratifying!

We are hoping that other organizations follow and apply these initiatives in their own regional areas. Our community grants are made to work as seed money/change to encourage this type of collaboration and additional initiatives.

I am also amazed at one of the most professional patient representations I have seen in the CFSAC since I have attended these meetings by Rebecca Artman,our Public Policy and Community Advisor, who valiantly, smartly and persistently is fighting for patient's issues. Her work has been diligent, to the point, and on target! I take great pride to say that she is a true representative of what P.A.N.D.O.R.A. means to our community.

I also want to invite you all to join P.A.N.D.O.R.A.'s efforts on May 12 2008-Awareness Day. During the month of MAY, series of proclamation day letters for May 12as P.A.N.D.O.R.A.'s Neuroendocrineimmune Disorders Day in the cities of Pompano Beach,Pembroke Pines, Lighthouse Point, Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, all in the state of Florida and in the city of Murphy, North Carolina are being issued by their respective mayors. If you live in any one this cities, please send your mayor a note of thanks!

I want to thank Cort Johnson, Pat & Bruce Fero, Dr. Sharon Ostalecki, Claudia Wendlandt and Rik Carlson whose organizations signed up on the letter we sent to Congressional Members of the Health Committees (appropriations) as well as their own congressmen inviting their staff to attend at least the public testimony portion of the CFSAC meeting followed by a short list of priorities that only funding will address.

I also want to thank patient advocates Mary Schweitzer, Megan and many of the brave patients, parents and caregivers who presented their testimonies during these two day-meeting. It goes further to show, that ONE VOICE, ONE CAUSE, ONE COMMUNITY, United can make a difference and I ask you who is reading this post today, to Join US and become an Agent for Change too!

ADVOCACY WORKS!

CFSAC Meeting - Washington DC, May 5, 2008 - Day 1, Part II

Today's meeting lasted until 5:20 pm. My name was included as the last individual to speak during the 45 minute public testimony period. Because many patients submitted letters to the committee and ask to present their testimony by phone, the committee expanded the public testimony period to 45 minutes instead 30 minutes as it was planned. I actually ended up being the next to the last as they tried again to reach out a patient whose phone number was not being answered.

It was a very busy day for the CFSAC. The first presentation was made by the CDC ex oficio: Dr. Bill Reeves, who provided a power point one titled CDC CFS Program Update May 2008 - Quality of Life/Education/Knowledge-Attitudes-Beliefs,followed by a presentation by Fred Fridinger, DrPH, CHES, Marketing& Communication Strategy Branch, Division of Health Communication & Marketing,CDC. This campaign will run from Nov 2006 to September 2009. Upcoming photo exhibit venues will be San Antonio, American Academy of Physician Assistants, Maryland Science Center (Baltimore,MD), Great Lakes Mall, Mentor,Ohio, Penn Square, Oklahoma Cit, OK and will culminate in Sept 22-29, at the Peyton Anderson Health Education Center, Medical Center of Central Georgia, Macon, GA.

Between now and Sept 2009 there will be expanded TV and Radio PSAs, distribution of brochure and healthcare profession toolkit and paid advertisement online media such as WebMD, Google Health,etc.

Fridinger reported that over 500 million readers/viewer impressions were recorded through March 2008 by the Media and that 24,527 of click-throughs to campaign's web site was tallied.

Here is the CDC web site www.cdc.gov/cfs

Subcommittee updates were made 30 minutes each on Education, Research, Quality of Life. The CFSAC is trying very hard to break down the barriers preventing expanded funding for research which will translate to medical treatments which will translate to quality of life for CFS patients. The government layers are monumental and once again I am reminding CFS patients to take ownership of our advocacy movement and pursue your member to be pro-active and take action on these issues.

We, as patients need to persist, insist until Center of Excellence are established i the U.S. Without them CFS research will not move forward in the pace that it must. Get on your PC, make a phone call or send a fax...Get involved and do it today and tell your congressman/woman to support our appropriations request for funding and forceful language to be included in the FY 2008 budget and in 2009 as well.

In the afternoon, during public testimony, 6 patient advocates either made their presentation in person or by phone. Pat Fero representing the Wisconsin CFS Association & yours truly P.A.N.D.O.R.A.)in person. Pat presented 76 postcards from her organization members (out of 216t) who wanted to attend the meeting but cannot therefore being part of the Empty Chair Project. She also presented data on how CFS vs GWI is being covered by our government.
I shared our efforts for May 12 including the Golf Classic on May 23, 2008 at the Country Club of Miami and the fact that Centers of Excellence are a must! Without these centers, our research scientific community cannot apply for expanded grants, access to medical training grants diminish considerably and obviously it diminishes the urgency that the U.S. Government needs to apply to eradicate CFS in the U.S. I suggested the CFSAC to investigate the process that immigration has to allow physicians and researchers from other countries to practice in the U.S. since Americans physicians are refusing to treat CFS and other neuroendocrineimmune patients. I mentioned PANDORA's physician mentoring program and what it meant for our community of suffering. We are an underserved population and now more than ever I believe that only through a statutory mandate from congress we will be counted!

I shared the letter that PANDORA and 5 other organizations such as the Wisconsin CFS Association, The Vermont CFIDS Association, H.O.P.E., The Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Georgia Association, The New Jersey CFS Association and Phoenix Rising sent to the Members of Congress on Health Issues (Appropriations Committees both in the Senate and House)asking them to send one of their staff to attend the CFSAC meetings specially during the public testimonies.

Finally, a last thought. Twenty letters were sent to the CFSAC from patients across the country, some had pictures as part of the Empty Chair project. I will post the pictures of the Empty Chair project on our web site when I return to Florida.
For now I have to say good night and tomorrow I will report again.

Remember You and I can make a difference. Advocacy works!

CFSAC Meeting - Washington DC, May 5, 2008

I am here in Washington DC on my way to attend the May5-6, 2008 CFS Advisory Committee meeting at the DHHS. I am excited as I heard that several patient advocates are flying in from different parts of the country to submit their testimonies. This indicates to me that I may not have as many empty chairs for our advocacy project which is exactly the results that we like to see.

I have letters from CFS patients from several states and their pictures as well to place in the empty chairs. I am meeting with some congressional staffers tomorrow. Dr. Kenneth Friedman, our Secretary and Chairman of our Public Policy committee will make a presentation at this meeting regarding initiative or methods to get medical students to learn about CFS-ME. We are excited about his presentation because the methods he spearheaded at the NJCFS Association is something that other organizations can follow. P.A.N.D.O.R.A. has expanded their original initiative and we have established community grants which will be disbursed in the coming months. The first community grant from P.A.N.D.O.R.A. was given to DePaul University for the Chronic Ill Student Patient program. The second one was an advocacy grant given to the CFIDS Association of America, Inc. Complete details on these grants and about our entire community grant initiative will be going out soon. Please check our web site on May 12, 2008 - Our International Awareness Day - One special gift that Tom Hennessy Jr. gave us when he worked valiantly for the rights of CFS and Neuroendocrineimmune Disorders Patients worldwide.

I will provide you with some pertinent information as the meeting progresses and when I am able to log on the net.

As May 12 approaches, the cities of Murhpy-North Carolina, as well as the cities in Florida of Delray Beach, Pembroke Pines,Lighthouse Point and Boca Raton have issued letter proclaming May 12, 2008 - PANDORA's Neuroendocrineimmune Disorders Awareness Day in their cities. More to come soon...
Life is Good!

Marla Silverman

JESSE VENTURA SHARED ON LARRY KING THAT HIS WIFE HAS CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME - Apri 1, 2008

Tonight, on April 1, 2008, on CNN's Larry King show, Jesse Ventura shared with Larry that one of the reasons he did not pursue his political career was due to his wife's health issues. After a lengthy search for what was ailing his wife, she was finally diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). He mentioned that doctors are not familiar with the illness but that now she is feeling much better thanks to their new home location and if I heard correctly is in Baja (Mexico). I had the television on but was not really paying attention until I heard his explanation about his wife's health and that got my attention a bit more. Click here for the Larry King complete transcript at his web site.

It is amazing that an illness like CFS, at this age and time, still being debated if it is really real! Jesse Ventura says it is! And whether you are on the side of his politics or not, if you have CFS or have a member of your family suffering with CFS-ME, you will appreciate what he said. For someone who was a famous wrestler, ran for political office as governor, his wife's health concerns turned out to be after all the most important fight of his life. I am glad he has won that fight! But for many in our community, without an advocate to speak on their behalf, they are not faring as well as Ventura's wife. But nonetheless, I wish her continuing good health and I take the opportunity to invite him to become a spokesperson for our community of suffering. I could certainly use someone like him in my corner, in the ring of my daily life, specially when I am faced with the health challenges that CFS brings on so often.

CASE FOUNDATION CHALLENGE

Becca Artman mentioned to me today about the Case Foundation Charity Challenge. See it below:
..."The Case Foundation & Parade Magazine is presenting America’s Giving Challenge and awarding $500,000 to charities whose supporters have attracted the most unique donors to their cause using new and innovative online tools.
Who can participate:
Anyone with access to the Internet, a willingness to try something new, and the passion and commitment to advocate on behalf of a cause they care about. The entire Challenge is designed to take place online, involving the use of such everyday activities as e-mailing, blogging, and social networking.
To “champion a cause” you must be a legal U.S. resident aged 13 years or older. Anyone can donate to a cause using a valid credit card or other form of payment accepted by our donation processing partners Network for Good and GlobalGiving.

There are two ways to get involved:
Champion a Cause and have the chance to get $50,000 for the charity of your choice. The eight individuals whose charity badges attract the most unique donors through the America’s Giving Challenge will get $50,000 for their cause.

Give to a Cause and help the charity you care about get $1,000. The 100 nonprofits with the greatest number of unique donations made to them through America’s Giving Challenge will each get $1,000.
The Challenge begins December 13 at 3pm EST and will close January 31 at 3pm EST.
A quick note about unique donations:
To succeed at the Challenge, the objective is to get as many people as you can to donate to your cause. Duplicate donations from the same individual will only be counted once.
For more information, please read America’s Giving Challenge Rules and Frequently Asked Questions.

Our partners:Parade and the Case Foundation are proud to partner with Network for Good and GlobalGiving to process donations made through America’s Giving Challenge. Both are leaders in the area of online fundraising for nonprofits, and both are examples of the good that can be achieved when great people, great ideas, and great opportunities come together." I created a Charity Badge, attached below. The greater awareness and donations we have, the better the chances we have to make a difference and to win the challenge.



The deadline is January 31, 2008 - so there are 28 days remaining in this challenge and I am way behind in the game, but I think the challenge is fun and invigorating.