Lyme4 Channel's video: What happens when you have a disease doctors can t diagnose Jennifer Brea 17-01-2017

Five years ago, Jen Brea became progressively ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating illness that severely impairs normal activities and on bad days makes even the rustling of bed sheets unbearable. In this poignant talk, Brea describes the obstacles she's encountered in seeking treatment for her condition, whose root causes and physical effects we don't fully understand, as well as her mission to document through film the lives of patients that medicine struggles to treat. Jennifer Brea is an American documentary filmmaker and activist. Her debut feature, Unrest, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and received the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award For Editing. Brea was a Ph.D student at Harvard University when she became suddenly ill with a high fever and became bedridden. She was initially diagnosed with conversion disorder and eventually, myalgic encephalomyelitis, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In 2013 she began making a documentary film from bed about her experience. In 2014 The Root recognized her as an African-American influence in the Root100 list and in 2015 she co-founded , a global network of patients living with ME. MEAction went on to spearhead the movement, a patient-centered protest in which hundreds of empty shoes were displayed in order to represent the 25% of patients with ME who are housebound or bedbound. In 2012, Brea married Omar Wasow, co-founder of BlackPlanet and a professor at Princeton University. In June 2016, Brea gave a TED Talk on her experience as a person with ME. The TED Talk was published on the TED website in January 2017. See also: Trailer "Unrest" med Jennifer Brea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L7s0IfCNb8 Read also: Jennifer Brea Filmed Her Sundance Premiere Without Leaving Bed — And it Saved Her Life http://nofilmschool.com/2017/01/unrest-jennifer-brea-interview-sundance-2017