from the did-they-fall-asleep-in-the-waiting-room? dept.
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Researchers at Stanford University and elsewhere say they've taken an important step in potentially helping people with a barely understood ailment that's long been viewed skeptically by the public and even some doctors. They claim to have created a blood test that may be able to readily identify people who have myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
The diagnostic test not only further validates a biological basis for sufferers' symptoms, the authors say, but may point to new avenues of treatment for the often unmanageable condition.
Currently, ME/CFS is a diagnostic label we give to people who experience prolonged, crippling fatigue—especially after exercising—and other symptoms like chronic pain, that can't be explained by any other known illness. The elusiveness of ME/CFS once led many doctors to consider it a psychological ailment, with people's symptoms blamed on a psychosomatic manifestation of their stress or anxiety. But in recent years, the medical community has by and large accepted that the symptoms of ME/CFS have a physical root, even if we still don't know how it happens.
[...] But the researchers behind this current study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, say they've devised a test that, at least in a small sample of people, can tell apart people with ME/CFS from the general population.
[...] But there's still a long way to go before their test should be considered a slam dunk, with many questions left unanswered. Researchers elsewhere have made early efforts to find potential biomarkers for ME/CFS, for instance, but these biomarkers are unlikely to help doctors diagnose every case. That's not entirely surprising since there's no single cause or underlying mechanism that will explain every individual's symptoms (among the possible factors are viral infections, genetics, and thyroid problems). So while the team's test may have identified everyone with ME/CFS in their sample, that doesn't mean the same will be true once they start studying larger groups of people.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/researchers-say-they-ve-created-a-blood-test-for-chroni-1834421604
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Shire on Wednesday May 01 2019, @09:08PM (2 children)
The actual testing performed on the small group of people can be viewed here [youtube.com], it's fairly incredible how accurate the test is.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday May 01 2019, @10:11PM (1 child)
Terribly wrong, or horribly right?
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @02:22AM
Next they will be telling us that Lime Disease is a real thing, or that Lupus exists, and that gluten is actually the cause of my terrible bloating and flatulence. Fake science! And if The Shire is in favor of it, cannot be real. Consider the source.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @09:44PM (1 child)
Duh, they have anemia and giving blood for the test makes it worse. Stupid whiny bitches with imaginary diseases.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @10:17PM
I know right. They just need to work out a bit. Lazy gits. We should send them off to the army. That will straighten them out.
(Score: 4, Touché) by DannyB on Wednesday May 01 2019, @09:57PM (6 children)
I would look into it further, but I'm too fatigued and tired. I just don't have enough energy right now.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @10:15PM
You may have Lyme disease, better discuss it with your chiropractor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:30PM
Nothing a swift kick in the butt can't fix.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:48PM (3 children)
You aren't doing it right. The people suffering from this write very, very long posts on the internet about it. Besides that, the symptoms are the same as being hungover all the time.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday May 02 2019, @02:47AM
Nothing the hair-of-the-dog can't cure, right?
If it doesn't, well, apply the cure in larger quantities and, at least, the syndrome itself becomes secondary and you'll know why you are feeling tired.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 02 2019, @02:24PM (1 child)
Sadly, it is most unfortunate that I cannot relate to the experience of a hangover, never having had one myself.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @03:28PM
You only have yourself to blame for that.
(Score: 3, Informative) by rob_on_earth on Thursday May 02 2019, @11:07AM (4 children)
I had CFS following a bad case of Glandular fever in 2000.
For 10 years I found anything physical to be either, very difficult or would knock me back for the next day.
I used to pray(in a non-religious way) to have a broken leg or anything that people and doctors could visually appraise as most dismissed me a lazy/unfit. This led to depression and anxiety.
The biggest problem was feeling fine and trying to do normal levels of activity (above my CFS normal) and then being twice as worse the day after or even longer.
Slowly, though trying to do enough and not too much and 10 years later I feel comfortable to do most non-energetic tasks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @02:14PM
How would you compare it to the experience of being very hung over?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @06:20PM (1 child)
Then maybe we can get to work on my inner ear issues. I have vertigo that occasionally escalates to BPPV wth nystagmus, which they can treat. After the treatments though, no nystagmus but still vertigo with no diagnosis or treatment. It's less severe, but it keeps me off planes because the vertigo is hard-wired to trigger adrenaline rushes and panic attacks. They insist there's "nothing wrong now" after the nystagmus goes away, but I know there's still something wrong. I know it's not fucking anxiety either, which they insist on saying. I don't want a fucking anti-anxiety med or anti-depressant either. They just cause side effects, because I'm not anxious or depressed... except to the extent that the medical community can't fix my vertigo that's hard-wired to fight/flight, so I'm angry at them and depressed that there's no real cure; but that's not the same as having an anxiety or depressive disorder. /rant.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday May 03 2019, @04:31AM
Vertigo (and focused-angry depression) can happen when thyroid levels are just below normal. Always worth investigating. Meclazine helps; improving thyroid levels helps more.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday May 03 2019, @04:28AM
Get tested for Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.