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The Weekend Sun
Confusion reigns over chronic fatigue syndrome Emma was a recently qualified lawyer; Phil was a company representative; Steve was an insurance assessor; and Jane was a mother and housewife.
affected will remain seriously ill for the remainder of their lives. A bio-marker or blood test to identify the condition is being developed but, until then, diagnosing the condition can be tricky. Symptoms include profound unrelenting exhaustion, extensive pain, headaches, irritable They all have somebowel, swollen glands, and thing in common – they concentration and memory are “A-type personalidifficulties. ties’’ – driven people who ME/CFS Support (BOP) strive to do more than the average. Now they all ME/CFS Western Bay field officer Tina Richards provides a free information and advisory service supports people throughout the region. share something else – to people with ME/CFS, Photo by Corrie Taylor. they have the illness ME, their families/whanau and also known as chronic genes are either over or undercarers throughout the Western and fatigue syndrome. expressing – which, combined Eastern Bay of Plenty. The illness is still misunderstood, with other factors, like glandular The organisation is holding a with many sceptics believing it fever, can lead to the illness develfree public seminar on Saturday, to merely be a state of the mind, oping. June 16, featuring Dr Ros Valldespite the World Health OrganiAs yet, there is no cure or pharings, MNZM, of Auckland – New sation categorising the condition macological treatment available. Zealand’s foremost specialist on as a neurological illness since Only about 10 per cent of people 1969. with ME/CFS, being mainly those the condition – and Professor Warren Tate of Otago University, Now, a specific genetic signature who develop it in their teens, will a medical researcher and holder of for ME/CFS has been identifully recover over several years. the Rutherford Medal. fied – 88 out of a total of 23,000 About 20 per cent of people
Helping people achieve their weight loss goals Together Lysa Black and Gina Martin have shed 40kg combined, and they’ve stayed slim for 16 years. They have 25 years’ experience in weight-loss and they are helping others to break free from dieting and use their approach to create results. After three and a half years in business and with hundreds of successful clients, their approach not only teaches women how to use intuitive eating to know what, when and how much to eat to slim easily; but also how to get the right mindset, and end emotional eating. It wasn’t long ago that Julia was 10kg heavier, she shares.
Julia couldn’t be happier with her weight loss. “For years I was a yo-yo dieter. As soon as I dropped some weight, I’d put it all back on again and then some. I became tired and depressed because of the constant battle with my weight. I’ve lost 10kg altogether and I couldn’t be happier.” Seminar attendee Heidi shared: “I put into practice the principles I learned from Lysa and Gina and have lost 11kg. I shared the ideas with my husband and he’s dropped 20kg to date. I haven’t
felt hungry or tired from lack of food at all.” Lysa and Gina are inspiring speakers, authors and coaches. They work one-on-one with people all over New Zealand, they have written books and designed do-it-yourself six-week courses that are helping people get results by themselves. Lysa and Gina are coming to the Tauranga to present their Weigh to Freedom seminar on Monday June 11, 7-8.30pm, Matua Hall, 110 Levers Road, Matua.
CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME