The ME/CFS Society of NSW Inc.

Disability Insurance May Be a Saviour
Never Assume!
In the early 1990's the surge in superannuation entitlements under the Superannuation Guarantee legislation also brought with it an increase in employees who had access to Superannuation Disability Insurance. The problem is, people forget that it exists, or believe that it does not apply to them.

You may well be very wrong. Do not assume that you are not entitled.

What Insurances Are There?

The Society created this brochure in response to a number of clients' experiences in the hospital system. It outlines major symptoms of ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia, explains ways that a medical setting can be detrimental to a patient's health, and suggests ways that health professionals can make a patient's time in hospital more comfortable.

Please feel free to print and distribute this brochure as required. If you want a large number, contact the Society for more information.

The Sleepydust ME/CFS video was made for the friends and family of ME/CFS sufferers. Please help to educate people about this illness by forwarding this page on to as many people as you know.

Visit the Sleepydust website: http://www.sleepydust.net/

General Benefits of Massage

• There is evidence of physical, psychological and physiological benefits of massage.
• Physical contact with skin and muscle and fascia can loosen and soften stiff muscles.
• Massage may improve the immune system.
• Massage can assist the body to release certain chemicals to help with relaxation, improve blood circulation and get rid of toxic substances which build up in our bodies and muscles as they work.

A recent University of Iowa study reveals a biological link between pain and fatigue and may help explain why more women than men are diagnosed with chronic pain and fatigue conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

This year, Awareness Week is Monday 12 May – Sun 18 May, with Awareness day falling on the 12 May. Each year we work hard to spread awareness of this dreadful illness in the hope of garnering better understanding from friends, family, colleagues and the community-at-large, as well as appropriate treatment plans and an increase in research into ME/CFS and related conditions. It would be great if you could all wear a blue awareness ribbon during the week to catch people’s attention.

Clinical Guidelines and Brochures available for download. These documents requires 'Adobe Acrobat Reader', which can be downloaded for free by clicking here.

Diagnostic information

ME/CFS Guidelines - Management Guidelines for General Practitioners "The South Australian Guidelines"

Canadian Consensus Document for ME/CFS "The Canadian Guidelines"

by Jana Fleming

How easy it is to listen but how hard it is to hear.

How often do we miss hearing what we need to, just because we don’t know how to listen? I know I have, often. Much of my illness has been about learning how to listen. Listen to my body, my mind, my spirit and most of all myself. How often did you miss hearing what ‘you’ were actually saying because the noise around you was so much louder? That noise might be family, friends, doctors, all with valid things to say but if all you hear is them then what about you? What about your voice?