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!