BHC Strives for Excellence
As asserted in our mission statement, the Bateman Horne Center envisions a world where patients with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia (FM) are readily diagnosed, effectively treated, and widely met with empathy and understanding. To achieve this vision, the BHC is progressing toward becoming a center of excellence for ME/CFS and FM, a process that was the…
Read MoreNIH Announces Precision Medicine Initiative
Research tends to neglect ME/CFS and FM – until right now. Precision medicine is the emerging scientific idea that medical treatment can and should be maximally efficient by tailoring medicine and healthcare to individual circumstances. Current research studies, however, do not have the size and diversity necessary to produce enough statistical power for individualized treatments.…
Read MorePublic Awareness of ME/CFS : A Changing Story
Millions are missing. This tragically summarizes the status of research funding for ME/CFS and FM, the staggering financial blow to the economy as patients and caregivers decrease or withdraw their workforce involvement, and most importantly, the millions of people who are missing from communities all over the world due to these debilitating diseases. For decades,…
Read MoreNavigating the School System with Chronic Illness
School can be an exceptionally challenging struggle for students with ME/CFS and FM. This May, in our monthly education meeting, guest speaker Doctor Lane Valum shared crucial strategies for how to work with, instead of against, the school system in getting students the help and resources they need for academic success. IEP and 504 Plans…
Read MoreBuilding Communities of Understanding and Hope
“Loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more dangerous than obesity,” reports Douglas Nemecek, MD, Chief Medical Officer of behavioral health in a major new study on loneliness that outlines the prevalence and significance of loneliness and social isolation, as well as a handful of coping…
Read MoreWe See You. You are Not Missing to Us.
On May 12th, individuals around the globe will be celebrating International ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. The May 12th date was chosen because it is Florence Nightingale’s birthday and she was believed to have suffered from ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), a chronic disabling multi-system illness that remains misunderstood, underfunded in research, and even trivialized by some today.
Read MoreAccelerating ME/CFS Research Through Brain Donation
So often, people with ME/CFS are told to “get over it” since “it’s all in your head.” While this is devastatingly inaccurate, there is an unintended glimmer of truth here – the brain plays an important role in ME/CFS. According to Research Director Suzanne Vernon, “The brain is the command and control center. There is…
Read MoreProgress in ME/CFS Subset Identification
When it comes to biomarker discovery and clinical trials, disease heterogeneity is the bane of clinical researchers existence. I am showing my age here, but think of it like static on the radio: too much noisy static makes it hard to hear the nice music sound and when you tune in, the signal is loud…
Read MoreA Consensus-Driven ME/CFS Clinician Coalition Takes Shape
On March 2-3, 2018, the Bateman Horne Center hosted an exciting summit of leading U.S. ME/CFS clinicians who came together to share their pearls of wisdom on diagnosis and treatment in order to improve ME/CFS clinical care and refine more precise research targets. The meeting was remarkable for the ambitious nature of the agenda, the enthusiastic…
Read MoreDr. Bateman Summarizes the ME/CFS Clinicians’ Summit
When Dr. Lucinda Bateman attended an ME/CFS research symposium recently, she had no idea of the challenge she would face. At the conclusion of the symposium, Dr. Ron Davis, a leading researcher in the ME/CFS field, challenged her to hold a similar ME/CFS summit for clinicians. Dr. Bateman isn’t one to back down from any…
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