Chronic fatigue syndrome is a physical disorder, not a psychological illness, panel says(SEID)

Washington Post ^ | February 10, 2015 | Lenny Bernstein

[Seizethecarp]

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a "serious, debilitating" condition with a cluster of clear physical symptoms — not a psychological illness — a panel of experts reported Tuesday as it called for more research into a disease that may affect as many as 2.5 million Americans.

"We just needed to put to rest, once and for all, the idea that this is just psychosomatic or that people were making this up, or that they were just lazy," said Ellen Wright Clayton, a professor of pediatrics and law at Vanderbilt University, who chaired the committee of the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

Although the cause of the disorder is still unknown, the panel established three critical symptoms for the condition (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis):

•A sharp reduction in the ability to engage in pre-illness activity levels that lasts for more than six months and is accompanied by deep fatigue that only recently developed. •Worsening of symptoms after any type of exertion, including "physical, cognitive or emotional stress." •Sleep that doesn't refresh the sufferer.

In addition, the committee said, true chronic fatigue syndrome also includes either cognitive impairment or the inability to remain upright with symptoms that improve when the person with the condition lies down, known as "orthostatic intolerance."

Williams predicted that the IOM panel’s proposed new name for the illness -- "systemic exertion intolerance disease"--would be widely debated by patients’ groups. But she added that the IOM “moved in the right direction by getting away from 'chronic fatigue syndrome',” which she said trivialized a serious disease.

[Seizethecarp]

SEID: Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease

The "exertion" could be physical, emotional or mental

[Seizethecarp]

ping...

[a fool in paradise]

It comes from smoking chronic, dude!

[9thLife]

yawn...

[MeshugeMikey]

Thanks!

[MeshugeMikey]

the symptoms match..

I’ve been diagnosed as having chronic fatigue by an MD

adrenal supplements seem to help a bit.

http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/what-is-adrenal-fatigue

[RetiredTexasVet]

That must be why so many EBT cards are issued .... a veritable plague of people unable to “exert” ... another factoid brought to you by the people who brought you “Climate Change”.

[MisterArtery]

I used to have a lady friend that would “develop” the symptoms of any new malady that was touted. We finally parted because of her hypochondria. Hope she doesn’t see this.

[RedMDer]

Let's get this done!
Less than $4.4k to go!!

[AppyPappy]

So, what causes it?

[9thLife]

I think it’s somewhat common in some degree or another. Like people want to know they’re loved or something. The reverse neurosis is even creepier: People who want you to be sick so they can care for you. That’s ultra-creeporama in my book.

[Ezekiel]

People who want you to be sick so they can care for you. That’s ultra-creeporama in my book.

That describes the Dem party platform.

[Organic Panic]

Here come the lawsuits and disability claims.

[9thLife]

That describes the Dem party platform.

One facet of it, at least. The Left does seem to embody every self-serving motive in one way or another.

[Ouderkirk]

I am chronicly fatigued of Obastard and every democRAT in the country....

[mylife]

Can I get disability for “Obama Fatigue”?

[Seizethecarp]

I meant to post this latest research published this week in my opening comment, but due to my ME/CFS, I forgot! There seems to be a post-viral syndrome that some people never recover from, usually from a mononucleosis-type virus.

“Distinct stages to chronic fatigue syndrome identified”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3263276/posts

[Excellence]

http://www.name-us.org/index.html

Brain and spinal cord inflammation with associated muscle pain.

[Seizethecarp]

You and me both! In my case, I have been diagnosed with ME/CFS for 15 years and in the past year had found in my blood reactivated HHV-4 and HHV-6!

My fasting cortisol tested at 25.7 the other day at 8:30 AM and my doc asked whether I had stayed up all night before the test! I thought she was joking at first, but she was dead serious...

[fini]

I once dated a girl that had this. She told me that it almost destroyed her life, because before she was very athletic and driven to achieve. Afterwards, any driven activity would cause her to crash. She had to pace her life and avoid almost everything that made her happy. Basically it took a very active person and put her in a perpetual slow lane.

Really sad, because it impacted almost everything she did. She was definitely not a hypochondriac and seemed really well mentally balanced.