ME and CFS in popular culture

Common stereotypes
Three common but incorrect stereotypes are express across many media:
 * 1. Patients are just tired, like everyone else gets, or lazy.
 * 2. Or conversely, that patients are ambitious overachievers, burnouts
 * 3. Patients are hypochondriacs and attention seekers.

The primary misconception behind these stereotypes is that patients are not simply tired, they are severely sick & disabled.

Film

 * David Puttnam (British filmmaker)

Television

 * Michael Crawford (British actor)
 * The Golden Girls
 * Ricky Gervais mocked ME patients in his comedy act. Matthew Smith blogs at Indigo Jo Blogs about this and has a short clip of Gervais in a 3 minute Youtube video C.F.S/M.E - The Torturous Disease embedded in the article "Ricky Gervais on ME, and other bad comedy". The ME Association wrote about his "apology".
 * Transparent
 * Vicky Beeching (UK TV broadcaster)
 * Martine McCutcheon (British actress)
 * Armando Iannucci wrote a comedy sketch where Jesus healed people with various ailments. When faced with a person with chronic fatigue syndrome Jesus replied "yeah, well we all get tired".
 * House MD In the pilot episode (27:05, 42:57), Dr. House speaks with a patient who describes symptoms of tiredness, suggesting it might be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Dr. House suggests tiredness is a symptom of getting older and dismisses his problems with concentration by stating it did not prevent him from researching the condition on the Internet. After the man suggests he thinks he may have fibromyalgia, Dr. House sarcastically suggests it is an excellent diagnosis and "proves" the man is a hypochondriac by giving him candies in a prescription bottle for which the man later returns to get more. (In Season 5, episode 12, fibromyalgia is treated more seriously, with it being suggested a patient may have the condition and that "the American College of Rheumatology" recognizes "specific diagnostic criteria" for fibromyalgia, but the patient's particular case fails to meet the criteria.)

Fiction

 * Love and Fatigue in America

Comics & cartoons

 * Blondie comic
 * Chronic fatigue syndrome anonymous
 * National chronic fatigue association
 * I'm too tired to eat
 * My stomach would hurt but I'm too tired
 * What doctors are really thinking
 * You're just dog tired

Music

 * Cher (singer)
 * Howard Bloom (publicist and writer)
 * Stevie Nicks
 * Stuart Murdoch (lead singer of Belle and Sebastian), "Nobody's Empire"
 * Yuppie Flu (Italian music group)

News and non-fiction

 * Yuppie Flu
 * Laura Hillenbrand
 * Lena Dunham
 * Ken Wilbur

Fashion

 * Laura Dundovic (model). Diagnosed with the disease when she was 16 years old.

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - List of people with chronic fatigue syndrome