Thanks for being a past supporter of the Trial By Error project--and I apologize if you've received a batch of these messages already! This month's crowdfunder has reached 70% of the goal, with almost 400 donations and eight days to go. 

I thought I'd have ended this project by now, but there is still work to do. The PACE authors and the rest of the GET/CBT ideological brigades are seeking to revive their failed treatment approach by extending it to long Covid. I don't really think that's a good idea 

That's a major reason I'm extending my project for another academic year. If you would like to support Trial By Error again, thank you!--and here's the link: 

crowdfund.berkeley.edu/tbe

TO DONATE, PLEASE USE THE ABOVE LINK!

(DO NOT CLICK ON THE "READ UPDATE" BUTTON BELOW! That default button is automatically included in this message and will take you to last fall's completed campaign--not to the page for donating now.)

Thanks much for your support!--David

Thanks so much for being a past supporter of the Trial By Error project!!

After a week, this month's campaign has reached 25% of the goal. The funds go to Berkeley's Center for Global Public Health and cover the costs of my position. I would definitely prefer to have been able to find support for my work through standard academic channels and funding streams, but that has not been possible.

Trial By Error is dedicated to exposing problematic research on ME (including ME/CFS, CFS, etc), and so-called "medically unexplained symptoms." I have also been reporting on long Covid, since the folks who brought you the GET/CBT approach for ME are trying to do the same with this worldwide phenomenon. So I have more work to do!!

I had thought of winding down this project after the release last October of the new ME/CFS guidelines from the UK's National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, which rescinded the previous CBT/GET recommendations. But the efforts to psychologize and impose the CBT/GET regimen on long Covid patients is terrible news not only for them but for ME patients as well. I'm doing my best to reveal the flaws in this research as well as ongoing ME research and make sure the focus is on proper science.

If you would like to support Trial By Error again, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/31347

TO DONATE, PLEASE USE THE ABOVE LINK!

(DO NOT CLICK ON THE "READ UPDATE" BUTTON BELOW! That default button is automatically included in this message and will take you to last fall's completed campaign--not to the page for donating now.)

Thanks much for your support!--David

Dear Trial By Error Supporters--

NICE announced today that it is finally publishing its new ME/CFS guideline tomorrow (Friday), capping two months of uncertainly. Publication of the guideline will have to be followed up with efforts to ensure that it has an actual impact on the health care patients receive. 

Thanks to all past and current donors. Here is the link to continue to support the project:  

 https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/27513

TO DONATE, PLEASE USE THE ABOVE LINK!

(DO NOT CLICK ON THE "READ UPDATE" BUTTON BELOW! That default button is automatically included in this message and will take you to last year's completed campaign--not to the page for donating now.)

Thanks again!--David

Thanks to an anonymous $10,000 donation, I reached my initial goal of $75,000, and then I extended it to $85,000. Erica Verillo, a longtime advocate and founder of the American ME and CFS Society, offered a matching grant of subsequent donations, up to a maximum of $5,000. Thanks to this generosity, I'm now within $1,000 of achieving the that second goal, which is of course fantastic. I'm obviously bowled over by the support.

In any event, the campaign will be open till the end of the day on April 30th, like the other Berkeley crowdfunding campaigns. Any money over $85,000 will help support my travel expenses and/or slightly increase my percentage time at Berkeley above 50 %. Thanks to all of you. --David

I am overwhelmed by the amount of support I have been getting in my efforts to bust the egregiously flawed PACE trial and expose the shenanigans of the CBT/GET ideological brigades.  As many of you know from my ongoing posts on Virology Blog and Facebook, I have been traveling around Australia for the last five weeks hammering home my message--that the PACE trial is a five-million-pound disaster, and that the CBT/GET paradigm for treating ME/CFS is not based on legitimate scientific evidence. I've got ten days left to go on my tour of Oz, which has been a pretty amazing experience so far. 

Your generosity has helped me close in on my crowdfunding goal, with two weeks left to go. I plan to send everyone an individual thank-you note once the campaign is over. For now, I hope a group thanks will suffice!--David

Here are a couple of radio podcasts--one from Perth and one from Adelaide: 

https://www.6pr.com.au/podcast/u-s-journalist-raising-awareness-for-chronic-fatigue/

http://radioadelaide.org.au/2018/04/15/me-cfs-debunking-medical-myths

And here's a TV news segment about the challenges Australians face in accessing disability benefits. I cried a bit while being interviewed: 

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/fighting-disbelief-chronic-fatigue-syndrome