eClinicalMedicine, a Lancet journal, has now also published the authors' response. They agree that they were "overly assertive" in promoting exercise--but did not correct the language in their revisions. virology.ws/2026/04/26/t...

Do Americans not understand that the royal family does not take part in menaingful negotiations and that they just wander around asking people if they've come far? #c4news

1) An older paper from 2004: Tony Komaroff's team in Boston investigated the effect of pregnancy on ME/CFS in 86 female patients. The questionnaire results showed that pregnancy had no clear effect on symptoms.

1) Looks like the journal 'Psychosomatic medicine' has changed its name to 'Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine' since 2025. The journal has published a lot of problematic articles on ME/CFS in the past.

For my birthday on 3 May I’m raising money for Sequence ME & Long Covid via @actionforme.bsky.social: www.justgiving.com/page/robafme All donations gratefully received, however small or large. Thanks.

9) The entries also illustrate the context by which patients died by suicide, often noting hopelessness (life is going on without them), extreme pain, social isolation, loss of independence, and dismissal by doctors. Some felt that ME/CFS had already taken their lives.

1) 🇫🇷 Study from Angers University Hospital found that only a quarter (26.4%) of 220 Long Covid patients had post-exertion malaise (PEM). PEM was linked to earlier COVID onset in 2020/2021 and higher fatigue.

1) 🇨🇳 There's a new review on exercise therapy for ME/CFS, written by a Chinese group in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. It claims that exercise improves fatigue with a big effect (SMD = 0.85) but that it didn't improve functional capacity or cardiopulmonary function.

1/6 🚨 ME on the BBC We are delighted to have been selected for a BBC Lifeline Appeal - a unique opportunity to increase understanding of ME and share the voices of the ME community across national TV! #pwME ⬇️

Powerful testimony on #MECFS by Emma Shorter in the Scottish Parliament from 2018 “It turns fit and active people into ghosts… I know teachers who can’t teach, children who can’t play, and parents who can no longer hold their children.”

Nobody is ever truely alone. There are parasites.

NASA just dropped the closest image ever taken of Jupiter...

A badly worded poll is making vaccine skepticism look more common than it is. www.statnews.com/2026/04/17/v...

CDC funding scandal from the 1990s when the CDC spent $millions mandated by Congress for ME/CFS research on things it preferred.

1) Re-reading some ME/CFS history: in the late 1990s the CDC diverted millions of dollars budgeted for ME/CFS into work on other diseases. The CDC presented misleading data to Congress, a whistleblower was needed to uncover the misuse of funds.

About to reach 20% of the goal: crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

ME/CFS Research Review: ME/CFS onset had two peaks, which may be a clue to causes "Analysis of survey data on patients across Europe found there are two peak ages for getting ME/CFS, around 16 and the late 30s – a rare bimodal pattern.  Read more: https://tinyurl.com/4c6xsdhk #MECFS

Two other big findings: those with early onset were much more likely to be severe or very severe (odds ratio 2.4) and those with close relatives with ME/CFS we're more likely to have early onset.

Excellent blog on the two age peaks in ME/CFS. Highly recommend 👇

Ah, excellent. I'd been waiting for someone to repeat the findings of that large Norwegian study showing two spikes in onset of #MECFS. This study also found that early-onset disease tended to be more severe. @simonmcg.bsky.social first author. 🧪 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41983041/

Blog about the recent study finding evidence across Europe for ME/CFS peaking at two different ages, a v unusual feature. The peak ages of 1about 6 and late 30s is a unique combo even among diseases with two, and could be a clue to the biology of ME/CFS. mecfsresearchreview.me/2026/04/15/m...

1) Some good news: MEAction announced that it has secured a meeting with the NIH Director, Dr. Bhattacharya, on May 13th to discuss funding for the NIH ME/CFS Research Roadmap.

2) This is highly needed. While Europe is making some progress, US funding for ME/CFS research seems to be in decline for several years. We wrote a blog post about NIH funding for ME/CFS last year:

Has anyone else tried "cognitive shuffling"? I found it very helpful getting back to sleep when I wake in the night, a huge problem for getting back to sleep when I wake in the night. Take a word such as market and very briefly imagine something different fo each letter, e.g. mango for M... 1/2

justice4me.uk call for evidence - time sensitive!! If you know anyone who has severe/very severe ME, or severe/very severe Long Covid, in England or Wales please ask them to fill out the form and send it back to [email protected] by Friday 17 April 2026. 1/3

Professor Chris Ponting on the 116 blood molecule differences his team found in people with #MECFS “This is not a psychological disease” people did not alter their blood molecules just to “spook the psychiatrists”. Clip from Hope 4 ME & Fibro NI 2026

As a child of Apollo now watching current day MSM cover today’s efforts the differences are startling. Factual scientific coverage from professionals has been replaced with superficial DRAMA from deep voiced slow talking ghouls who want an emergency. Bring back scientists and professionals.👇

As usual, @julierehmeyer manages to capture things so beautifully here as she reflects on the loss of her dear friend with #MECFS. The feelings and thoughts so perfectly expressed in this piece by Julie are familiar to so many in the community: so many www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/s... 1/

1) 🇩🇪 A small randomized trial tested vagus nerve stimulation in 45 Long Covid patients but found that it didn't have more effect than a sham device. A brief summary.

This is a beautiful and deeply moving piece about the extraordinary Beth Mazur. As Julie writes, "my friend was a giant". #MEcfs

Thank you, Chris. I don't know have any hypotheses that explain all 5 features of ME/CFS, or even 3. I think this highlights how much we stillhave to learn about the illness.

Only 7% of LC cases met ME/CFS criteria in this study, this is 50% in some other studies. ME/CFS cases also responded less well to rehabilitation.

Interesting fact, I always assumed it was because of the golden ratio 😳 but reality is far more interesting.

1) Results from the RECOVER trial of Ivabradine for patients with Long Covid and POTS have been shared. While Ivabradine did produce a significant reduction in heart rate compared to placebo, it reportedly did not improve POTS symptom.

And incredibly articulate and moving account of the awfulness of this illness that leaves you with no memories because you have no life. And where many doctors tell those places to you it is your own fault.

This evening’s talk will endorse @simonmcg.bsky.social ‘s Considerations on #MEcfs Pathomechanism. Can a proposed mechanism explain 5 features: PEM, other symptoms, female-bias, common infection trigger & relapses? Does any hypothesised mechanism meet all 5? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shaping-th...

It's 8th anniversary of this paper A lot of it was only possible due to Alem's heroic FOI victory, which the #PACETrial team fought so hard to stop. That surely wasn't because the real results weren't as flattering as they had presented them? bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #MECFS

New: Well done yet again to Mark Vink @huisarts-vink.bsky.social who is bedbound with ME) "Commentary: Cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome in adults: a short analysis of the meta-analysis" www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy... #MEcfs #PwME

9) Interestingly, the survey data also point to a peak in incidence around 2009-2010, coinciding with the swine flu pandemic. This study was mostly set up by patients - a big shoutout to Simon McGrath and his colleagues for doing this important work.

This week we were informed by DHSC, alongside other organisations, that DHSC and NHS England have delayed discussions on commissioning a specialised service for very severe ME until April 2027. This means yet another year without NHS care for people with very severe ME. (1/3)

Did you know there is strong evidence that people are most likely to develop ME/CFS at two points in life - at an average of age of 16 or 37? Read more about this new study led by @aryback.bsky.social 👉 edin.ac/4v3uIv0

BBC Wales Today. Carer and campaigner Rob Messenger, who has two children with #MECFS in their 30s, says there are no specialists to turn to and describes care for Severe and Very Severe ME in Wales as a ‘desert’.

@engagedroadmap.bsky.social roadshow at @universityofgalway.bsky.social Real conversations on moving research from “for people” to “with people”. Strong engagement, clear appetite for change #Publicengagement #OpenResearch #LetsGoEngaged

Tomos is bedbound with Severe #MECFS. His mother says at his worst he looked as if he was “paralysed”, “a dead weight”, unable to open his eyes, talk or move. Clip from BBC Wales Today.

Our ME/CFS onset age study gets the usual incisive summary from this team (we found an early peak in adolescence and a later one in early middle age).

An excellent summary of the new study showing two age peaks (adolescence and early middle age) for ME/CFS in countries across Europe

This was also noted in the 1980s by Darrel Ho-Yen (Scot Med J 1988) #MEHistory

A review of 40 years of evidence of immune dysfunction in ME/CFS makes this important finding. From an ever brilliant team