Elke Hausmann
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drelke.bsky.social
Elke Hausmann
@drelke.bsky.social
340 followers 390 following 980 posts
German, English, Spanish
Sociology, Medicine, General Practice
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drelke.bsky.social
Elke Hausmann @drelke.bsky.social · Jul 24
It’s a lengthy read, but that’s what we‘ll get to:

‚We need a greater recognition from society and politics of what the Covid virus can do to bodies, long-term.

Above all, what we need is liberation from judgements.‘

#LongCovid
bjgp.bsky.social BJGP @bjgp.bsky.social · Jul 24
BJGPLife: Long Covid and the body: can we move beyond judgements?
bjgplife.com/long-co...

#GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #FamilyMedicine
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
longcovidadvoc.com
🔬🧠Brain‑training games for LC cognitive dysfunction? The RECOVER‑NEURO trial shows they don’t address the underlying pathology. Games can’t fix inflammation, microvascular issues, or neuro‑immune dysfunction - we need interventions that understand the biology not candy crush 🍭
November 10, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
rippermd41.bsky.social
A long excerpt from this 1987 interview with Beth Bighley, a patient with chronic EBV, now known as #MECFS

This could’ve been written by someone last year with #LongCovid and/or ME.

“My parents' reaction was one of relief that I did have something physically. But also frustration, 1/
rfh1955.bsky.social Royal Free 1955 @rfh1955.bsky.social · 3d
The Olathe Daily News, Kansas, US. Thirty-eight years ago today - 8th November 1987.

A relatively early reference to 'chronic fatigue syndrome' in the US press.

#mecfs #cfsme #myalgicencephalomyelitis #myalgice
November 8, 2025 at 11:48 PM
drelke.bsky.social
‚But when the unproven theory can‘t deliver on the claims, then what?‘

#ME
Perhaps part of why psychologically-based rationales for disease can be widely accepted is because the harm this can do is underappreciated. Miller et al argued that their narrative inspires hope, and people with severe ME/CFS deserve that. But when the unproven theory can't deliver on the claims, what then? In a study Miller et al cited, researchers found that being told the disease was psychosomatic was the most common reason for suicidal thoughts for people with ME/CFS. [9] It's not the first study to suggest that being told they are effectively to blame for not recovering is a contributing factor to the increased risk of suicidality in people with ME/CFS. [10] A critical part of hope for people suffering illness is being able to trust that the medical community will work objectively to find better treatments and ways to support them, rather than promote unproven theories. People with ME/CFS deserve better than being told that their minds can overcome what's the matter with their bodies - if only they try hard enough, for long enough.
November 9, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
spichaksimon.bsky.social
In a statement, CBC told me:

"After reviewing the interview, we concluded that it needed to be re-edited and re-posted to include further context and questions around the procedure and treatment Deacon experienced. That has now been done."

Will update the story with this soon.
spichaksimon.bsky.social Simon Spichak @spichaksimon.bsky.social · 10d
Earlier this week, the CBC broadcast an interview with Gill Deacon, discussing her Long COVID recovery using brain retraining.

They didn't tell you the specific brain retraining program, the Lightning Process, has been accused of exploiting patients.

simonspichak.beehiiv.com/p/cbc-flagsh...

1/n
CBC’s Flagship Program Platforms “Quackery” for Long COVID
CBC's national broadcast aired an interview with Gill Deacon about her Long COVID recovery. Deacon used an unproven program called the Lightning Process that's been criticized for exploiting patients ...
simonspichak.beehiiv.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
nisreenalwan.bsky.social
Unlike politics, there’s no such thing as public health centrism. It’s evidence-based radicalism. It’s all about change towards health justice and equity, not tinkering around the edges trying to keep everyone happy. Such notions, my friends, are rather radical and there’s no shame in that.
November 8, 2025 at 9:47 AM
drelke.bsky.social
Get your flu jab ASAP this year - if you’re not eligible on the NHS, it‘s thankfully much cheaper privately than the COVID vaccine.

Appointment today ✅
cvcev.bsky.social Clinically Vulnerable Families 💙💜💗 @cvcev.bsky.social · 2d
🧵 This autumn the UKHSA is rightly worried, as 'flu is a real risk...

TLDR:
Clinically Vulnerable people ALL need 'flu vaccines + antivirals this year (if symptomatic or exposed) + confused infection control guidance.

If you are Clinically Vulnerable, please read on...

1/
Graph showing the early rise of flu in the UK.
November 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
toveharris.bsky.social
1/2 Vielleicht ein Hörtipp?
"Die teure Epidemie – Wie Long Covid und ME/CFS die Gesellschaft belasten"

#LongCOVID kommt übrigens von #COVID19, der Krankheit, die SARS-CoV-2 (auch gern verniedlichend "Corona" genannt) auslöst. Und #COVID ist nicht vorbei.

#MECFS

www.swr.de/swrkultur/wi...
Die teure Epidemie – Wie Long Covid und ME/CFS die Gesellschaft belasten
1,5 Mio. Menschen in Deutschland haben Long Covid oder ME/CFS. Das erzeugt nicht nur Leiden, sondern auch hohe Kosten für die Gesellschaft.
www.swr.de
November 7, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
longcovidadvoc.com
🧵 Important new study out in Cell Reports Medicine (Shahbaz et al. 2025):
👉 Long Covid with ME/CFS isn’t the same in women and men - biologically.
👉 And it’s not “fatigue.” It’s immune, hormonal, and neurological chaos.

Let’s break it down layperson style 👇
A young woman sits on the edge of her bed in a slightly cluttered room decorated with string lights. She is wearing a tank top and shorts and looks pensive or unwell. The text on the image reads "LATEST RESEARCH," "LONG COVID," "SEX SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES," and below the image, "Long COVID patients with ME/CFS show sex-specific immune, hormonal, and neuroinflammatory disruptions, with women exhibiting stronger inflammation, gut dysfunction, cognitive gene changes, and lower testosterone/cortisol." The source is listed as "Shahbaz et al 2025, Cell."
November 8, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
neurostingl.bsky.social
Man muss sich bei #MECFS vom Hilflosigkeitsnarrativ lösen, das manche Stakeholder vor sich herschieben, um sich vor der Verantwortung einer normalen Versorgung zu drücken.

"Man weiß zu wenig", um systematische Angebote zu schaffen, ist letztlich vor allem eines: lächerlich.

1/7
November 8, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
germainehypher.bsky.social
chronic.market/chronic-illn...

Fiction, self-help, nature, creativity, poetry, memoir, cookery, children’s books… Have a look, put them on your wish list, buy copies as gifts, talk about them, share the link - please lend your support in whatever way you can! 📚 📖

#chronicillness #mecfs #books
Books by Authors with ME/CFS and Related Chronic Illnesses – Chronic Market
chronic.market
November 8, 2025 at 1:07 PM
drelke.bsky.social
More thoughts on PEM.

#LongCovid
#ME
More thoughts on PEM. We could know more about it, if we had studied it better by now. But we know enough to inform people of it existence. PEM is not a straightforward symptom. Mild PEM is much less obvious than severe PEM. Education about PEM is just a first step. Knowing that something like that exists (it's not just in your mind, you're not going crazy) equips you to recognise it, or discount it. Or, if it's not obvious in your case, to at least proceed with caution with going all out in the gym again after an infection when you're still not feeling quite right. Or make an informed decision as to whether physical rehab is a good idea for you. Or look closely at what triggers you most - the physical, mental or emotional exertion, because that will help you to do pacing better, which is inherently difficult to do well.
November 8, 2025 at 8:38 AM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
#ME
I feel for anyone who lives with a history of childhood trauma and is then on top of that struck by an illness like ME, and has to encounter professionals who can't tell one from the other. There are plenty of ME patients with no history of trauma. Long COVID has shown that it can it affect the most well adjusted people with no trauma in their past. You would have hoped that this would have changed the narrative, but no. It just reinforced the narrative by suggesting that in those people, there must be deeply hidden trauma that the patient is not even aware of that is arising from the psyche and becoming visible through this physical illness. People who would be perfectly healthy now if the COVID pandemic had never happened. This just shows the absurdity of this line of reasoning.
November 8, 2025 at 7:54 AM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
This is really interesting reading for someone who does not tend towards hypochondria, but suffers from Long Covid with PEM. It has made me realise even more how let down we all are by not having the difference between Long Covid with and without PEM spelled out, in the form of a major public health information campaign. Without it, people without PEM end up thinking that they have to act as if they did have it (with the resultant negative effects of de-conditioning, also if you are someone managing a mental health condition by remaining active, you are risking a worsening through inactivity), while some of us who do have PEM struggle to recognise it and act accordingly. This is the major fault line - PEM or not PEM. This is the one area where education would be really helpful for everybody, whether you have it or not.
November 7, 2025 at 7:25 PM
drelke.bsky.social
‚Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’‘

Radical, extreme left, socialist??

No, ‚normal‘.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’
Critics of New York City’s mayor-elect have said his pledges of free bus service and universal childcare are unrealistic, but in Europe it’s a given
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
abrokenbattery.bsky.social
After a number of requests I’ve made all of the TV clips on my YouTube channel public. They’re now searchable on and will appear on my homepage and in the videos tab.

youtube.com/@brokenbattery
Broken Battery
Severe ME patient currently on a 10% battery, the gas goes out more than I do. I also compile ME/CFS Awareness videos.
youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
chrischirp.bsky.social
The early flu season in England continues to build, while the latest Covid wave continues to recede.

Latest UKHSA hospital admission data up to 27 Oct.
November 6, 2025 at 7:28 PM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
Why is it so difficult to write that the most important thing you need to be aware of if you have Long Covid is PEM (plenty of good explanations of what that involves out there). If you have PEM, physical rehabilitation is contraindicated. It is pretty straightforward. If you have Long Covid without PEM, you may benefit from from slowly getting more active again - after a good few weeks of recovery from the acute infection. Journalists, do your work. It's not that hard.
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 PM
drelke.bsky.social
‚If you‘re disabled, you‘re not ill.‘

Where does chronic illness and disability secondary to chronic illness fit in here?!

#LongCovid
abrokenbattery.bsky.social Adam @abrokenbattery.bsky.social · 5d
‘If you’re disabled, you’re not ill.’
Sir Charlie Mayfield (author of the Keep Britain Working review)

This is who’s shaping UK disability employment policy. Shocking, he doesn’t even understand the basics.

I’m disabled because I’m chronically ill with #MECFS.
November 6, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
bmhughes.bsky.social
Many thanks to @davetuller1.bsky.social for the chance to chat about my book and its resonance with #MECFS, #LongCovid, and the war on disabled people

(For those interested in reading more, pls check here: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...)
Interview with Brian Hughes, professor of psychology and University of Galway in Ireland.
YouTube video by David M Tuller
www.youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
taniaspencer.bsky.social
1/
"I think there’s a collective amnesia right now about #COVID-19" -

Via @violetblue.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
COVID-19 is spreading again — how serious is it and what are the symptoms?
Limited COVID-19 surveillance data are hampering vaccination and health strategies, researchers say.
www.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
bettinagrande.bsky.social
Regarding the biopsychosocial model for ME/CFS:
My role as a psychotherapist should be small.
It only becomes large because the biological causes are not researched and the social consequences are not mitigated.

www.spiegel.de/gesundheit/d...

#MECFS #PEM #NoGET #NoRehab
A quote is centered on a teal-blue background. The text reads: „Grande: Regarding the biopsychosocial model in relation to ME/CFS, I say the following as a psychotherapist: If physicians and scientists focused on the biological factors, and if authorities and health insurers ensured that the social factors were less devastating, then there would be very little left for my profession to do.“
November 6, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
abrokenbattery.bsky.social
This clip from 2018 perfectly captures just how passionate @davetuller1.bsky.social is and how shocked he was by the way the PACE trial was defended.

His crowd funding has just 1 day to go and he’s ~$10k from his target. I’ve just donated again so he can carry on doing his important work
November 6, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Elke Hausmann
longcovidsos.bsky.social
We are proud to share a deeply meaningful publication: the final paper co-authored by our late co-founder, Ondine Sherwood.

The paper identifies the nine top priorities for Long Covid research. This work honours her legacy and the power of patient-led science. 🧵
ALT text for cover image: An image that says 'frontiers ORIGINAL RESEARCH article Front. Public Health, 06 November 2025 Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion Volume 13 2025 https:/.b/./g/0 Co-creating a social science research agenda for Long Covid. Oonagh Cousins, Maaret Jokela-Pansini, Ella Barnard, Jo Dainow, Nisreen Alwan, Mark A Faghy, Caroline Dalton, Eileen Gilmour, Gail Davies, Ondine Sherwood, lan Patel, Lotus Westerhof, Beth Greenhough. There is a Long Covid SOS logo at the bottom of the image.
November 6, 2025 at 1:01 PM
drelke.bsky.social
1/4

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Still, the chief reason Mamdani has aroused such keen interest is because he is the first leftwinger to show that politicians can not only face down Trumpism, they can beat him. That is the defining task of our era, as New York's new mayor knows. Amid the thank-yous of last night's victory speech, he declared: "If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
November 6, 2025 at 7:01 AM
drelke.bsky.social
I tried to ‚recover at work‘.

I failed.

I really didn’t want to feel like a failure, so I hung on in there for longer than I probably should have, had my health been my only concern.

#LongCovid
Many people with ME/CFS or Long Covid are too unwell to engage in any form of employment. The idea that work can always be retained with the right support fails to recognise the reality for those with severe or very fluctuating symptoms. Post-exertional malaise (a hallmark symptom of ME/CFS) can be triggered by even minor cognitive or physical activity; this is not a population that can be expected to "recover at work." While the Keep Britain Working report does acknowledge fluctuating conditions, its core message emphasises retaining people in employment and reducing health-related inactivity. For people with disabling energy impairment, this risks fuelling a narrative of non-compliance rather than unmet health need.
November 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM