Unrest – A Devastating Documentary On Myalgic Encephalomyelitis



What misconceptions are furthered by Unrest? 












What does this have to do with Jennifer Brea’s film? 



















7 thoughts on “Unrest – A Devastating Documentary On Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

  1. Many thanks for passing on your, very valid, views on the film. I guess its easier to pander peoples preconceptions and prejudices than present the truth.

    Its good to hear you are still surviving, if only just. Hopefully the good times balance out the bad/hard times.

  2. Interesting. What a mess all this is. I won’t be watching the film, yet I was part of the initial fundraising and my name apparently appears in the credits. You are brave. I wish I knew if I have M.E. or CFS or even SEID. So many opinions. But your explanation of some of the symptoms is food for thought. I have heard this argument before, early in my research. I wish us all, all the best in getting appropriate diagnosis and treatment and a return to real living.

  3. Thank you for having the courage to fight for us all on this vital issue, Brooke.

    Why are so many people dancing to the “CFS” tune?

    They are making life so very, very difficult for people who have Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. We have M.E. and mustn’t be afraid to say so, unequivocally, without grovelling to the CFS/ME-denial lobby.

    I’m so glad @aroundwthehound is around again!

  4. Thank you for this. I agree with you that CFS is a false political construct amalgamating many different conditions which include fatigue and burying the discrete disease ME which is much more than just fatigue. Of course some people falsely diagnosed with CFS will actually have ME, but importantly not everyone with a CFS diagnosis will have ME.
    I see though you claim ME is caused by an enterovirus. I know Dr Hyde thinks this as did I believe the late Elizabeth Dowsett. Also the late Jodi Bassett who ran the hummingbird site. Ramsey also thought it is possible. However, I didn’t think there had been enough research yet to definitively say the sole cause of ME is an enterovirus? This entry on MEpedia details the research done on enterovirus in people with ME. http://me-pedia.org/wiki/Enterovirus

    • Thank you for your comment! To answer your question about the cause of M.E. being an enterovirus, there is actually quite a bit of evidence that this is the case. That’s why the biggest, most well educated names in M.E. research all agree on this being the cause (after all, when you speak of people like Ramsay, Hyde, and Dowsett, you’re speaking of the best!). Hyde actually uses this as part of his diagnostic process, looking either to recover a live enterovirus if the patient is seen early enough in the illness, or the capsid protein from the lining of the stomach if seen later. 

      Unfortunately, the MEPedia website lists studies that included CFS patients (including those who did not have M.E. and therefore would skew any results on an enteroviral cause for M.E.). The evidence for enteroviral involvement is too much to write out here, but I will copy/paste some key points I’ve previously written down elsewhere:

      1. As mentioned, Hyde routinely finds evidence of an enteroviral cause in the M.E. patients he treats – consistently enough for him to consider it basically required for proper diagnosis.

      2. There is a lot to be said for the fact that polio is also caused by enteroviruses, and early M.E. outbreaks tended to occur at the same time and in the same place as polio outbreaks. In fact, M.E. outbreaks still occur primarily during the same time of year that other enteroviruses peak in activity. Also, once the polio vaccine began to see common use, outbreaks of M.E. actually increased in frequency. There is a saying in medicine that “nature hates a vacuum.” Basically, what is believed is that by taking the enteroviruses that are the primary causes of polio out of the picture, a void was left, which a similar virus (such as one from the same family) would then naturally fill. This happens due to the way different viruses bind to cells using receptor proteins, etc. 

      3. There is also the curious phenomenon of areas which experienced M.E. outbreaks and then later also experienced polio outbreaks, where it was noted that none of the individuals with M.E. developed polio, even in hard hit areas. This suggests a developed immunity (also confirmed by serological studies) to polio, which is what one would expect if M.E. were caused by a virus in the same family. 

      4. The incubation period of an enterovirus matches that of M.E., as does the type of damage done (and symptoms experienced). In fact, enteroviruses are the only family of viruses that meet all the criteria in terms of incubation period, damage/symptoms, etc. for M.E.

      5. Evidence of enteroviral infection has been found in the brains of M.E. patients during autopsy.

      There is actually even more evidence than this, but I’m simply not up to writing it out. I recommend checking out some of the resources shared on my “More Info on M.E.” page (link near the top of the blog, next to “About Me”). In particular, the video interview with Hyde on YouTube and the book by Ramsay may be helpful. 

      Hope this helps! And thanks again for the comment!

  5. brilliant to find out some people know the truth,why oh why do they not prevail in what is basical common sense Medical facts

  6. I loved Unrest and connected to it on an deeply emotional level…

    However, I am incredibly grateful for the technical details in this post. During the documentary I kept asking myself, what if a doctor is lazy and someone has a thyroid problem and it is misdiagnosed as CFS? Will this person go onto they’re going to be bedridden, like the people in this film? I also have hEDS (one of the roots of my CFS) and I’m looking into autoimmune diseases as well. But I’ve seen people with CFS speculate that they have EDS….. So I relate to the frustration with lumping ME and CFS together. Because hEDS is quite easy to diagnosis, you can even do it yourself with a Beighton score… It’s very specific.

    Thanks again for taking out the time and energy to make your extremely informative posts

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