Evening lectures by Ola Didrik Saugstad and Jørgen Jelstad is soon available with english subtitles on YouTube (subtitles must be enabled)
Ola Didrik Saugstad gave two lectures at the ME conference Stryn, one in the evening and one at the professional conference. Dr. Saugstad worked at the pediatric research institute until 2017. He then retired from that position, but continued working as a researcher at the University of Oslo, where a large research group is going to study ME from a immunological and genetical perspective, thorugh the «ImmunoME study». Blood samples from pasients will be a focal part of the study.
Saugstad has made several voluntary trips to visit those that have been hit by ME the hardest. He might be the one person in Norway who has seen the largest number of severly ill ME pasients. Saugstad has described this experience as shocking. The ME pasients er amongst the sickest among the sick. Many of them are bedridden in severe pain, and the sickest in this group is living in a state of semicomatose. Pain might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about ME. What struck Saugstad while visiting the ME patients was the resemblance to pasients with encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). – The biggest betrayal done by the Norwegian health care services is the lack of curiousity in finding out the ins and outs regarding this disease, especially considering the severeness of the disease for a lot of the pasients in this group. A lot of Norwegian ME pasients have been treated poorly, says Saugstad.
Ola Didrik Saugstad have been working on the case of ME or over 20 years, and on the ME Conference Stryn 2021 he held the one lecture in the evening, titled: «Nytt lys på ME» - oppsummering av nokon av dei siste forskningsfunna («New light on ME – a summary of some of the latest research findings).
This lecture is available on YouTube with English subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWR617ST0GU
Jørgen Jelstad: Research journalist and author of the book «De Bortgjemte» («The Hidden Ones»).
The book «De bortgjemte» («The Hidden Ones») is a result of over two years work. After the book came out in 2011, Jelstad has written updates from the research field on his blogg www.debortgjemte.com. Throughout several years he has held lectures about this subject and participated in the public debate about ME. Jelstad has been following this field closely the last decade, and he is really up to date on the lates from the research field, domestically and internationally.
He has been working on a new book that was published in the spring of 2021: “Våre liv, våre stemmer” (“Our lives, our voices”). This is an interview and photo book about ME and is a collaboration with Morten Borgersen, Fin Serck-Hanssen. Two of the initiators tied to the ME polyclinic at Sørlandet Hospital, Kim Fangen and Ole Rysstad, is involved in the project as well. Thousands of Norwegians are living with ME. In this book you get to meet them up close and personal; the pasients, their next-of-kin and the researchers that are working to come up with answers.
The theme that Jørgen Jelstad talked about on the ME Conference Stryn 2021 was «ME – Utviklinga når det gjeld forsking, synet på ME, og økonomisk midlar til biomedisinsk forsking gjennom tiår» («ME – The development in regards to research, the general perception on ME, and economic funds for biomedical research throughout decades»)
This lecture is available on YouTube with English subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-PvjtpixQ0
The film Pål Schaathun made interview with the lecturers from Bergen; Kristian Sommerfelt, Ingrid Gurvind Rekeland and Øystein Fluge is available with English Subtitles. Read more here: https://www.mekonferansestryn.no/filminterviewenglishsubtitles
Here is report from the conference translated into English (PDF button no 3): https://www.mekonferansestryn.no/rapportfrakonferansen2021