Vertigo or Labyrinthitis is a very distressing condition. Why does someone who has suffered from labyrinthitis and vertigo for six months recover after one session of physiotherapy? When another three people with labyrinthitis also respond to treatment the author begins a medical journey that leads far from the textbook. This story reveals the intriguing mechanism of the joints of the upper neck, the effect of herpes viruses, and the influence of the secretive autonomic system. Eventually the trail goes to Massachusetts. Here a neuro-scientist is researching his theory for the role of the specialised and mysterious Vagus nerve in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalitis. Could the Vagus hold the key to both Labyrinthitis and CFS/ME?

ME is the most common cause of long-term absence from school. A mild case causes regular absences from education, social life and sport, a severe case leaves a young person housebound or bedbound for years. So why is ME surrounded by a lack of understanding, even within the medical professions? During the three years when her teenage son Chris could not go to school, Merryn Fergusson kept a diary - which here becomes the remarkable and candid story of ME as seen through Chris's eyes and through the experiences of his mother, family and friends. The book also traces the history of ME from the 1930s and the emergence of the medical controversy over CFS/ME. It is a controversy which baffles sufferers and their carers, the tragic consequences of which can be the forcible removal of young people from their homes and families.