Reports & Fact Sheets

Learn about ME. Find educational tools for your advocacy.

Also, learn from other activists – check out our How-To Guides. 

GENERAL

• What is ME? – a brief overview of the disease
• Diagnostic criteria: Canadian Consensus Criteria | International Consensus Criteria | IACFS/ME Clinical Care primer | Pediatric Primer
  
• The Institute of Medicine 2015 report on ME/CFS – a good summary of the research. Also searchable for information on a specific topic.
  Report brief
  Guide for Clinicians
  Fact sheet
  Full report

SCIENCE

• #MEAction ME/CFS Research Summary – Full Summary
• #MEAction ME/CFS Research Summary – Highlights

Reports on Graded Exercise Therapy

• Post-Exertional Malaise & Graded Exercise Therapy in ME/CFS: Primer
• The flawed science behind the CBT and GET recommendations – a comprehensive report by Mary DimmockPost-Exertional Malaise – a report by Jennie Spotila

UNITED STATES

Printable Brochures

(Best printed in color. If printing at home, print inside version first, select landscape orientation, print, flip and put back into the printer with the print facing up, print outside version.) 

• About ME (general audience) –  inside and outside.
• I have ME. What’s Next. (For people who think they might have ME.) – inside and outside.
• A guide for Caregivers – inside and outside.

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#MEAction Congressional Fact Sheet – Facts about ME/CFS to present to your representatives

Prevalence spreadsheet that shows the number of people in your state with ME

Disease burden of ME/CFS – based on research paper by Dimmock, Mirin & Jason

Talking points on ME

#MillionsMissing Fact Sheet

“The Voice of the Patient,” a report on people with ME and CFS by the FDA.

UNITED KINGDOM

UK Fact Sheet

Scottish Good Practice Statement on ME-CFS – this set of guidelines informs doctors of the potential adverse effects of graded exercise and the use of cognitive behavioral therapy not as a cure but as a coping tool, similar to other chronic illnesses.

AUSTRALIA

Australia Fact Sheet

ME in the News

FILM & VIDEO

Documentaries: Unrest | Forgotten Plague | Voices from the Shadows | I Remember ME
Short educational video content: #MEAction playlist | TED Talk
Advocacy videos: Activist teach-ins
Radio: TED Radio Hour | Science Friday

HISTORY

Thirty Years of Disdain: How HHS Buried ME by Mary Dimmock and Matthew Lazell-Fairman

Osler’s Web