The 44 page October issue of ME Essential is now available.

• Update on what is happening plus a two page letter insert that you can sign and send to your MP to ask him/her to take part in the ballot for a House of Commons Adjournment Debate that the MEA is helping John Bercow MP to organise.  The debate will cover all the current major concerns:  DWP medical guidance for DLA applications; NICE guideline;  NHS Plus leaflets and lack of research into the underlying physical cause.

• John Bercow MP visits The MEA’s office in Buckingham to discuss the adjournment debate and the issues it will cover
• Report on the MEA annual medical meeting in Peterborough in September at which representatives from NICE presented their recommendations and answered questions from the audience.
• When NICE is not good enough - the MEA response to the final version
• MEA statement on the final version of the DWP medical guidance for DLA applications
• Joint charity response, co-ordinated by The MEA, to the three NHS Plus leaflets on employment issues
• Report on the July APPG meeting at Westminster that covered problems with NHS service provision, including the presentation from Dr Terry Mitchell on the East Anglia model

• Update on plans for the two year Amazon Walk - to raise funds for an ME tissue bank and post mortem research unit. Watch the video as well!
• Recycle your phones to help the MEA
• MEA Christmas cards
• Swaddles Organics – advert for the commercial partnership with The MEA.

• Diary of forthcoming meetings and conferences in Belfast, Berkshire, Dumfries, Eastbourne, London, Lincoln, Maidenhead, Sunderland
• Legal problems facing people with ME - how to find a good solicitor if you need one.
• ME/CFS in the USA
• News from local groups

• A disease of many names: ME, CFS, CFIDS, PVFS   But what do they all mean?
• Alcohol intolerance and ME/CFS
• Benzodiazepine withdrawal
• Disability Living Allowance - a new MEA Management File
• DLA medicals - one person's experience
• Genes - is ME inherited?
• Lightning Process - a range of views
• Lumbar puncture - is it relevant to the clinical assessment of ME/CFS?
• Nutrition - a three-page review from dietician Deborah Lycett
• Private laboratories - using them for ME tests
• Tonsils and recurrent tonsillitis - when should they be removed?
• Total food allergy
• Vaccines and ME
• Valganciclovir - taking part in the new clinical trial
• Weight gain - why do some people with ME put on weight?  What can be done to reduce unwanted weight gain?

• Trustee elections
• Report on the August Board of Trustees meeting
• ME Connect - more telephone volunteers wanted for our telephone information and support service

Our six-page literature order form insert contains details of:

• How to obtain paper copies of the NICE guideline, plus the MEA response
• The new (July 2007) edition of 'ME/CFS/PVFS - An Exploration of the Key Clinical Issues' - our essential 36 page fully referenced guide to research, clinical assessment and management.
• Our new Management File on Employment - available in November
• Canadian guidelines booklet - now back in stock
• A summary of all our current information leaflets covering all aspects of management

NEWS

• President Bush and Lyme disease
• Royal Free Hospital outbreak survivor Pauline Ovendon receives an award

RESEARCH AND RAMSAY RESEARCH FUND NEWS

• Risk factors for severe ME - summary of a major MEA funded research study from Dr Derek Pheby that is now being submitted for publication
• Call for volunteers to take part in a new research study in Birmingham
• More on the link with chronic enterviral infection in the stomach and ME/CFS - as published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology
• MEA funded research into the role of diet in ME/CFS - this paper is about to be published in Human Nutrition and Dietetics
• Volunteers wanted for a new research study into the value of pet companionship in chronic illnesses

• A new CD from Maddy Stuckley - is she the new Katie Melua?
• Steve Craig's online ME art gallery takes shape

ME Essential magazine is sent free to all MEA members.  Single copies can be purchased for £5.