Magazine


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“Hello everyone! I hope you are all staying safe.

“I’m really not sure where the time goes, but ME Awareness Week is approaching again.

Caroline Cavey, Editor, ME Essential Magazine.

“If you, or your friends and family, are planning to hold a fundraising event for MEAW (albeit virtual) there are just a few weeks left to prepare.

“If you need any help, advice or merchandise for your event, please do get in contact with Tony Britton, the MEAs Fundraising Manager.

“As well as the excellent Go Blue events, this year we are focusing on the new NICE clinical guideline and on your healthcare experiences.

“We are asking for your stories – we will feature them online and in the magazine – so please send them in!”

Members of the ME Association receive the quarterly magazine – ME Essential – delivered to their homes. 

It features exclusive interviews, comment from MEA staff and trustees, medical and scientific developments and includes stories and opinions from people living with M.E.

  • If you have stories to tell and pictures to share, poems, illustrations or suggestions about anything at all, and would like to be featured in the magazine, please email Caroline: caroline.cavey@meassociation.org.uk.

ME Essential Spring 2021

This issue features 68 full-colour pages of content and comes with the a free copy of the new leaflet summarising the NICE clinical guideline on ME/CFS. We hope there is something that will appeal to everyone. Extracts from this issue are shown below…

Chairman’s Message

““I am seriously debilitated, with crashing post-exertional fatigue… on bad days, my brain doesn’t want to function, a conversation can be too much, I’m in my 50s, always been fit, but remain too unwell to work…””

Neil Riley, Chairman

“Sound familiar? Those words come from a Long Covid sufferer. Here, at your charity, we hear stories like this every day. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently produced a Guideline for this new generation of post viral patients.

“We welcomed this but pointed out what was missing. Not a jot about convalescence, pacing or keeping within your energy envelope. Patients need such practical advice on managing the symptoms they’ll get.

“Soon we’ll have new guidance from NICE on our illness. It will, if the draft Guideline is followed, show a much better understanding of what you and I go through.

“Yes, finally, they have listened to us, the patients. It’s been a long time coming but we’re nearly there. It makes me wonder why the Guideline Group for Long Covid hasn’t leaned over the fence and talked to our ME/CFS group.

“We’re a friendly bunch and, with our experience, they’d learn a lot.”

Neil Riley, Chairman, ME Association

Highlights from ME Essential

  • If you have stories to tell and pictures to share, poems, illustrations or suggestions about anything at all, and would like to be featured in the magazine, please email Caroline: caroline.cavey@meassociation.org.uk.
Member Feedback

“I am writing to say how much I enjoy ME Essential magazine. You have made such a change both in looks and content – so much content! You have also managed to make it feel more personal as well as amazingly informative.”

“M.E./CFS is such a lonely illness and the magazine helps us to feel we are not alone, that there are others going through the same journey as ourselves.”
ME Essential Magazine

Not a Member? Join Today!

To receive a regular copy of our magazine you will need to be a member of the ME Association.

To read more about the benefits of membership and to make an application, please visit our membership page.

You can join or renew membership online, or complete an application form – especially if you would like to pay by annual standing order and receive up to 10 £1 leaflets free. Just return it to us in the post and we will do the rest!


Ask the Doctor

ME Essential Frequently Asked Questions

In every issue of ME Essential magazine, Dr Shepherd answers questions from members on a whole variety of subjects relating to life with M.E. that together provide a useful source of reference.

You can view or download the latest list of frequently asked questions and then find answer from your own back-copies of our magazine, or contact head office who should be able to assist.

The ME Association

Please support our vital work

We are a national charity working hard to make the UK a better place for people whose lives have been devastated by an often-misunderstood neurological disease.

If you would like to support our efforts and ensure we are able to inform, support, campaign, and invest in biomedical research, then please donate today.

Just click the image opposite or click here for one-off donations or to establish a regular payment.

You can even establish your own fundraising event on JustGiving.

Or why not join the ME Association as a member and be part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) subscription you will also receive ME Essential – quite simply the best M.E. magazine!


ME Association Registered Charity Number 801279


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