Chronic Fatigue

Tired WomanChronic fatigue syndrome affects between one million and four million Americans. They suffer from memory and concentration problems, debilitating pain and severe fatigue. Unable to identify a cause, doctors often dismissed these patients as complainers. Currently, diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome is largely a process of elimination.

As scientists race to find a biological cause for chronic fatigue syndrome, long considered by many doctors to exist in patients’ heads, the National Institutes of Health could shed new light on the debate at a major scientific workshop on the disorder.

Researchers at the University of Utah and elsewhere are working to create diagnostic tests, based partly on proteins or other markers that appear to show up in greater quantities in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Diagnosing the disorder is difficult, in part because symptoms vary among patients.

Other scientists are trying to understand why other infections, such as mononucleosis, appear to prompt chronic fatigue syndrome in some patients. And in a program at New York’s Columbia University, researchers are seeking to identify pathogens that may appear prominently in patients with the disorder. Researchers will be testing “for all those agents that we know affect vertebrates on this globe,” says Mady Hornig, who heads the Columbia program. Curious? Continue reading

Source: Wall Street Journal

XMRVA virus previously thought to be associated with chronic fatigue syndrome is not the cause of the disease, a detailed study led by UCL scientists has shown.

The new study, published in Retrovirology, identifies the source of XMRV in chronic fatigue syndrome samples as being cells or mouse DNA rather than infection by XMRV. The research does not rule out a virus cause of chronic fatigue syndrome – it is simply not this virus.

Chronic Fatigue Symptoms include extreme tiredness, problems with memory and concentration, sleep disturbances and mood swings. There is currently no accepted cure and no universally effective treatment Source: ME Association

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Tired WomanThis study suggests that chronic fatigue syndrome is associated with an increased prevalence of maladaptive personality features and personality disorders. This might be associated with being noncompliant with treatment suggestions, displaying unhealthy behavioral strategies and lacking a stable social environment. [continue reading…]

Expert Answers on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

With the majority of chronic illnesses, you have an immediate feeling from your family, your work associates, your friends, that this is something we need to be sympathetic to, we need to make accommodations for. What’s so different about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is  that the sufferer not only has to deal with a particularly debilitating health problem, they also have to deal with the stigma  and disbelief that surrounds this illness. Expert Answers on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the New York Times  Dr. Nancy G. Klimas, who is one of the leaders in the field,  answers readers  questions. … link to read

Source: New York Times