BBC documentary about Mickel Therapy for ME/CFS

[jemal]

Has this already been posted?

http://www.mickeltherapy.com/news/bbc-documentary-aims-to-raise-awareness-about-m-e/

[peggy-sue]

 
Oh ye gods! I thought this mickey mouse stuff had died out.
It's basically the same as the"lightening your wallet" process.

Even the same, completely biologically inaccurate "interpretation" of the flight-fight response.
(or rather, a completely "new" biology of the stress response they have invented)
which says there is an overload of adrenalin.

When this system is activated, there is an initial, immediate response of adrenalin - but it does not continue indefinitely.
It is cortisol which ends up flooding the system because the feedback receptors break down and turn the system into a feed-forward one.

We do NOT have an overload of adrenalin.

Overload of adrenalin leads to HIGH blood pressure.

We have LOW blood pressure.

I've had rows with the operators of this mickey mouse bad joke, same as I've had rows with the lightening your wallet process operators.

I wrote to them both as soon as I found them, years ago. Before I got involved with and enlightened by any forum.

Even back then, I knew enough biology to dismiss them as complete charlatans. They don't even merit being called pseudo-science.


Just look at the actual website!  They've invented something they call e-motions.

I find this hysterical. 

You can flush it down the pan!

[Belle]

I've just looked at the ME Association website and it says 'The ME Association has been heavily involved in helping BBC Alba prepare the programmes'.

As there are no programs about ME CFS, I'm just wondering why the ME Association would be involved in an opportunity to make a BBC program about ME and then choose to advise on a program about Mickel therapy.

The Mickel Therapy website says 'We want to be absolutely clear though, that we are not saying that changing your thinking will stop your symptoms: this is a misconception, as is the belief the illness is created by a virus, which we believe to be untrue." The program sounds like a wasted opportunity to inform the public about the disease.


http://www.meassociation.org.uk/?p=10017

[peggy-sue]

I've commented on the MEAssociation site.
It might be moderated. 



"Air time is one thing, but why on earth is "Mickel Therapy" in it?

It's just another money making con, preying on desperate and very sick people.

They are not based on anything scientific, but on (completely untrue) "assumptions" (their word) about how the flight-fight systems operate.

I "discovered" them on the internet long before I knew anything about ME or CFS or any of the so-called controversy touted. I read the webste and I could tell immediately they did not have a clue about how the body and brain act under stress - a major area of interest I had at uni.
Just read the website - complete pseudoscience.

I can tell you where e-motions belong. Down the e-pan.

Why is the BBC advertising such blatant charlatancy?"



  And doesn't it look so much more effective with Pippin as my avatar than the pic of myself?

[Flopsy]

Oh no. Disaster.

or

Overhype by the Mickel ripoff crowd.

Here's something about Holly Thomas I think (?)

http://www.myspace.com/521261687

"I suffered from symptoms from the age of 14, beginning with IBS and Depression"

[Adam]

Never heard of it. What is it again - Mickel Mouse Therapy  .

Low blood pressure Peggy-Sue same here too 

[MEkoan]

I've commented on the MEAssociation site.
It might be moderated. 



"Air time is one thing, but why on earth is "Mickel Therapy" in it?

It's just another money making con, preying on desperate and very sick people.

They are not based on anything scientific, but on (completely untrue) "assumptions" (their word) about how the flight-fight systems operate.

I "discovered" them on the internet long before I knew anything about ME or CFS or any of the so-called controversy touted. I read the webste and I could tell immediately they did not have a clue about how the body and brain act under stress - a major area of interest I had at uni.
Just read the website - complete pseudoscience.

I can tell you where e-motions belong. Down the e-pan.

Why is the BBC advertising such blatant charlatancy?"



  And doesn't it look so much more effective with Pippin as my avatar than the pic of myself?

What did you say elsewhere about the difficulty of getting a man to disabuse himself of a lucrative notion?

From the myspace link above:

I am happy to announce that as well as seeing clients at my home in East Lothian, I am also able to offer home visits for those clients in the East Lothian and Edinburgh area. Alternatively, Email and phone sessions are available, and are offered to clients anywhere in the UK and abroad.

[peggy-sue]

Ok, my first comment has been allowed.
Let's see if this one is.



"Can anybody explain why, here in Scotland, where the New Guidelines are being implemented, and the current paper on the subject is pushing to tighten these guidelines further to use the Canadian Criteria exclusively to diagnose ME and the NICE guidelines exclusively to give a description of CFS (which is not a diagnosis - it's a syndrome - a collection of symptoms which can have many causes) precious air time is being given to futher conflate the whole mess by lumping ME and CFS together?

This is a step backwards, this is not in the interest of any sufferers of ME, this is not in the interest of the whole wonderful and pioneering aim of Scotland to properly differentiate ME and CFS and move medicine and science forwards.

Why is the "ME" Association working against ME sufferers in this way?
You had the opportunity to air a programme which could promote Scottish enlightnment on the subject.

Instead, you are dragging us back down into the Wessleyan School's invented "controversy".
There is no controvery. There never has been.
I'm utterly ashamed of you.

And you are shaming Scotland."

Can you tell I'm angry? 
I'm a very proud Scot. For a tiny wee nation "we" have made a massive contribution to both Science and Medicine over the centuries. 


ooooooooooh-grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Daisymay]

http://www.mickeltherapy.com/what-is-mickel-therapy/

What is Mickel Therapy

Mickel Therapy » What is Mickel Therapy


Mickel Therapy is the leading edge talking based treatment for ‘Energy Disorders’ including CFS, Post Viral Fatigue, ME, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, as well as other common conditions and symptoms including anxiety, depression and migraines.
 
Mickel Therapy is a process that involves identifying and rectifying the cause of symptoms rather than working directly on symptoms.  It is not ‘passive healthcare’ and does require the involvement of patients in the process.
 What does it involve?
 
Treatment involves a series of one hour face-to-face sessions usually weekly for the first 3 sessions and then fortnightly thereafter.
 
The job of your Mickel Therapy® practitioner is to guide you through the process by effectively explaining Mickel Therapy® theories and teaching you how to implement the variety of tools and techniques that will allow you to reclaim your health.
 
Who provides the Mickel Therapy?
 
Mickel Therapy® is provided by a licenced practitioners. All  Mickel Therapy® practitioners are trained to a high standard and are under continued supervision to ensure the best quality of treatment in all areas. They also partake in regular Clinical Updates throughout the year as part of their ongoing Clinical Development. Many of the practitioners are ex-clients who have endured conditions like your own and have successfully been treated by Mickel Therapy and subsequently trained as practitioners.

[Daisymay]

http://www.mickeltherapy.com/medical-conditions/myalgic-encephalomyelitis/

Mickel Therapy  and M.E (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis)


M.E stands for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or perhaps more correctly Myalgic Encephalomyelopathy. Mickel Therapy believes that M.E, CFS and Fibromyalgia are all caused by a dysfunction of the Hypothalamus that Dr Mickel has dubbed ‘Hypothalamitis’. This is a broad spectrum of illness with many shared symptoms and degrees of severity. Please note this is a hypothesis only and not backed by scientific research as yet. Similarly the results have not yet been independently studied and are based on client testimony only until the trial of Mickel Therapy is complete and published.
 
The term M.E is not universally recognised or used worldwide and most areas now refer to cases as having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. M.E as a term is partly correct. The ‘Mylagic’ purely means painful muscles and as most sufferers of M.E will know this can be extreme. The ‘encephalomyelitis’ however suggests inflammation of the brain and studies fail to prove this in M.E cases and it is really a misnomer.
 

Much research goes into M.E. This involves looking for viral clues or other infective causes. Some of the most commonly suggested causes are that M.E is due to an unknown virus, Borrelia or Lyme’s Disease, Epstein Barr infection (Glandular Fever), adrenal ‘burnout’ or Candida. Mickel Therapy has consistently treated successfully many cases of M.E who were given the above as causes. This suggests that they are incorrect and further study of such pathogens is a waste of resources. Please note that Mickel Therapy’s results are based on client testimony and have not yet been backed up by research. The latter is in place and results will be disseminated when the study is complete.
 
Through his experiences in treating M.E over the last 10 years Dr Mickel believes strongly that the causes suggested above are inaccurate and if they do exist then they are inconsequential effects of the state of dysfunction in the Hypothalamus (‘Hypothalamitis’). The latter being his hypothesis and is not yet backed by scientific research. The fact that the clients (with cases of M.E) claim that Mickel Therapy has treated them successfully and did not involve any attention to these suggested problems, even if tests showed they had been present, suggests that the case for them being causes must be in doubt. Mickel Therapy is hopeful to prove this point once and for all through the planned Clinical Trials into its work on M.E, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia

[Daisymay]

“The Science behind Mickel Therapy”
http://www.mickeltherapy.com/what-is-mickel-therapy/science-and-research/


‘The Truth about E-motions’
http://www.mickeltherapy.com/what-is-mickel-therapy/e-motions/

[Daisymay]

Never heard of it. What is it again - Mickel Mouse Therapy  .

It's been around for a good many years.

[peggy-sue]

It's non-science. "Dr." Mickel obviously hasn't even read basic biology text books on the subject.

Like the "lightening your wallet process" and the weaselly school "treatment", they are not based in any standard scientifically compatible knowledge, but on
untested, unproven
"assumptions" and "personal hypotheses"

and are just trumped up, money-making, power-seeking, career-building twaddle.
 

[Firestormm]

Charles Shepherd MEA Facebook 12 minutes ago:

'I regard Mickel Therapy as yet another highly speculative talking therapy and expressed my scepticism about the scientific basis behind it (hypothalamitis) in another programme on BBC Scotland some time ago. The interview (which I recorded in London) may still be available on You Tube somewhere.

The MEA has been regularly advising the BBC on this programme over the past year and I have been up to Glasgow to make a contribution.

But we did not have any editorial control over the range of issues covered and who was interviewed. I offered suggestions on who/what to include - including neurologist Professor Peter Behan and the 25% Group re severe ME.

Some were followed up. Others were not. The BBC does not hand over editorial control to advisers or contributors.

I would have preferred the programme to have kept away from talking therapies that have not been subjected to well conducted clinical trials (and said so) but the BBC wanted to cover a range of opinions on management.

The programme should be available on IPlayer for those outside Scotland and it should be worth watching.'

[Cytokine]

I suppose I'll watch it through gritted teeth.

Any links to the Mickel Mouse show when it turns up on iplayer would be appreciated.