M.E.
(Link to M.E.)
The acronym "M.E. " abbreviates "Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis" which is a disease
that
is marked by its chronic nature and is manifested by
lack of energy and muscle aches. The cause is not
known, and there are no widely accepted succesful
treatments.
Also,
the name "Myalgic Encephalomyelitis" when the
medicalese is translated into English is fairly
nonsensical (like many medicalese terms) but I
prefer it over "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". This
sounds far too much like a politically
correct euphemism. (After all, you would also
dislike it if your doctor explains his diagnosis
"you have cancer" to you as "You have the Chronic
Problems Syndrome. Don't we all have problems most
of the time? So buck up and act normal! C'mon - it's
all in the mind anyway!")
I
have this physically crippling disease now for 25
years, and since I hold - brilliant - academic
degrees in psychology and philosophy and am in the
Dutch dole anyway I suppose I have sunk so low on
the scale of decent Dutch values (income! money!
stardom in a soapseries!) that it is allowed that
I may be "officially ill".
In
any case, apart from the dole I am also now in the
25th year of getting no help whatsoever while
I really am ill, usually feel very tired
and often have muscular pain (of the "lactic
acid" variety: unpleasant but not lethal).
Part
of the just mentioned facts have to do with Dutch
morals and the Dutch health system, which need a
brief explanation for non-Dutchmen.
One paradoxical problem of Dutchmen who really
have M.E. - or indeed any other real disease - is
that in Holland 10 percent of the working
population the last 20 years or so was "officially
ill" from their jobs while receiving 70% or 80% of
the incomes they have when working.
Hence: Either Holland is a country in
which it is very dangerous to live, since
one has a 10% chance of being ill (while outside
Holland this is less than 0.01%) or else
there are many Dutch malingerers who abuse the
excellent Dutch public health insurance. (Dutch
politicians lack the guts - if female - or balls -
if male - to speak the truth about this issue,
like about so many other issues. And indeed they
want to get votes far more than they want to speak
the truth.)
Consequently,
since M.E. is a disease which has no biological
marker, there are many Dutchmen who have tried to
get long and paid holidays by pretending to have
M.E. or another disease that has no biological
marker and allows one to look fairly healthy.
Since
the Dutch health-system has been so massively
abused for the last 25 years - in which I could
get no help - it is being revised and broken
down at present: It was too good for average Dutch
morals, which are none too good. Therefore, at the
speed with which things tend to go in Dutch
bureaucracy I may get some form of
official help when I have been ill for 50 years or
so, and survived it without any help - if I live
that long, for by then I will be 78. Yes, indeed:
there is some hope for me, dear reader!
Outside
Holland the situation is different and far
less pleasant for medical malingerers, for which
reason non-Dutchmen who claim to have M.E.
are considerably more likely to have M.E. than
Dutchmen who receive 80% of their normal income
when they claim to be ill.
P.S.
for angry Dutchmen:
I
am ill since many years. I have pain since many
years. My income is the lowest in Holland since
many years. And I get no help since many years
because by common consent most Dutchmen
who claim to have M.E. are malingerers who abuse
the excellent Dutch health insurance system -
which has to be broken down precisely because it
has been so extensively abused (and not
just or predominantly by people claiming M.E.).
And
for those who do have M.E. and are
Dutch: Yes, there are such people - I am
one of them. As tor you, if you are: You will end
up in the dole, poorer than any other Dutchman and
without any bureaucratic or official help. You
will find yourself in the situation I have been in
since 25 years, all thanks to the average Dutch
morality. I am really sorry for you, since
in the dole you will have an even more difficult
life than you have now, but that is not my fault
or doing. I am merely honest and without
illusions.
To
show you how few illusions I have here are some
facts:
I
live in Amsterdam. The Amsterdam municipal medical
authorities are called GG&GD. They are
supposed to help the inhabitants of Amsterdam and
are paid - very well indeed - from the taxes. I
have been refused help for 25 years now -
and I am at present 53 and equipped with the best
possible academic degrees in psychology one may
have, and the GG&GD agree I really am ill and
have been ill since 25 years.
Therefore:
If you really have M.E.,
live in Amsterdam and want the help you
should be able to get under written Dutch law -
very beautiful, on paper - here is the
personal advice I received from prof.dr. Rene
Coutinho, the head of the Amsterdam
GG&GD; from mayor mr. Job Cohen of
Amsterdam, and from alderman drs. Rob Oudkerk
(*) of Amsterdam, the man responsible for
the Amsterdam GG&GD, the dole and the
well-being and happiness of Amsterdams junks and
alcoholics:
If
you really have M.E.,
live in Amsterdam, and want help ..... start
shooting heroine and become an alcoholic: Then
there will be help soon from
the GG&GD for you - you wll receive free
heroine, you will get free programs to "integrate
you into Dutch society", and there will be all
manner of free help, assistance and money - and
this may also help you to survive M.E.
(Alternatively - so messrs. Coutinho, Cohen and
Oudkerk have advised me personally - there are
high flats in the Bijlmermeer and elsewhere in
Amsterdam, from which you can jump conveniently to
solid stone pavement, praising the Lord as you are
falling that Amsterdam's mayor and alderman are
such great humanists, according to themselves.)
Otherwise,
messrs. Coutinho, Cohen and Oudkerk will do their
very best to make sure there will be no
help for you from Amsterdam's municipal
bureaucracy: If you merely have M.E. and
try to cope with that, you are - in Amsterdam -
very much the inferior of a junk or alcoholic, and
far too inferior a human being to be
helped by the noble and humanistic persons that
form the heart of Amsterdam's bureaucracy, mayor
& aldermen, and city-council.
Personally,
I don't use drugs and I don't drink, so I cannot,
have not and will not receive any
help whatsoever from the Amsterdam municipal
authorities - it seems safe to say after 25
years of asking in vain. Let's praise the
Lord that messrs. Coutinho, Cohen and Oudkerk and
their ilk take care that in Amsterdam the
sub-human likes of me cannot abuse Amsterdam's tax
money, so that it can be spend profitably on
Amsterdam's junks and alcoholics and on salaries,
subsidies, perks and help for Amsterdam's mayors
and aldermen!
