Tuesday, June 16, 2009

US expert in M.E, C.F.S and Fibromyalgia speaks in Dublin this Thursday

Via the comments:

The Irish ME/CFS Association is delighted to announce that US ME Expert, Dr Derek Enlander, has agreed to speak in Dublin.

Title of talk: "Current treatment of ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome".

Venue: Mount Herbert Hotel, Herbert Road, Dublin 4

Time and date: 7.45pm, Thursday June 18

Admission: €5. All are welcome.

Dr Enlander grew up in Northern Ireland and studied medicine in Dublin in the 1960s before obtaining a fellowship to Stanford University; he has lived and worked in the US ever since.

Dr Enlander’s practice in New York is devoted to ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia. He has co-authored numerous research papers on the illness and is principal investigator of a US$900,000 study investigating the use of hyperbaric oxygen in ME/CFS.

Around 12,000 people in Ireland are thought to suffer from ME, now often diagnosed under the name Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The exact cause of ME/CFS remains unknown, but most patients experience a flu-like illness before the onset of ME/CFS.

Patients experience symptoms such as sore throats, concentration problems, sleep problems, muscle pain, and flu-like weakness and exhaustion especially after activity. There is no known cure at the moment, though some sufferers do improve over time.

Further details and a free information pack can be obtained from the Irish ME/CFS Association, PO Box 3075, Dublin 2.

E-mail: info@irishmecfs.org
Tel: 01-235 0965
I'll certainly be there. Suffering badly at the moment.

Friday, June 12, 2009

"I'm going to twitter!!" - the #darraghchute movie

Well, I did it. €2129.99 so far.

Niamh and I made a very cheesy video of the day, which is below. Will try to do a higher quality version later. Also used footage from the Irish Parachute Club.

I was nervous. VERY nervous. Of course it wasn't "the first live tweet ever from an aircraft". I love the "I'm GOING TO TWITTER" yell!

There's so many DO NOT WANT expressions on my face, especially as the parachute opens, and basically, I was in bits for a while afterwards.

But I did it.

Once again, thanks to everyone who donated, blogged, tweeted and wished me well. As embarrassing as this video is, this one is for you :)



There's a far more professional documentary about the day right here: