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Chronic fatigue syndrome affects some, is ignored in those who have anything-at-all wrong, might be accepted with a shrug and a pat on the back for the otherwise healthy, and is otherwise unknown. Until now, no one has had anything to go on — but now, there's a way to show that seemingly healthy people are, in fact, affected by something. Well, it's a start.
Using a test to judge the stress of the immune system, researchers at Stanford have now identified those symptomatically diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome as having a condition that is not identified in a control group. While this is very little to go on, it is more than nothing to go on, and so could start a search for a treatment for an otherwise clueless grab at nothing. The simple fact that there is now a distinction is itself news, but also that the research uses a lab-on-a-chip to assess change in current of a sample of immune cells, giving them an indicator of the health (or stress) of the sample is an example of a technology that hasn't been considered until the last few years — and a hint at advances offered by even simple, routine advances of technology.
As a shameless plug, I consulted a trusted holistic health friend (note: whole-health/holistic, not homeopathic/pretend) about CFS, and she mentioned that she feels it's a general toxicity problem. The immune system does play a role in clearing various toxins from the body, so perhaps another clue for researchers to pursue. (Tip: up until 1990, lead-based solder was used in household plumbing. How much that matters, perhaps not a whole lot.)
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Friday May 10 2019, @01:13PM
A "general toxicity problem"? Yeah, so what are these "toxins" she speaks of? A lot of "alternative medicine" interventions are based on the idea that some vague, unnamed "toxins" are poisoning you and the only way to fix it is to "detoxify". These "detoxification" regimens tend to range from the relatively (but not entirely) benign such as "juice cleanses", to the weird and somewhat risky such as coffee enemas, to the downright dangerous like chelation therapy. This concept of unspecified "toxins" and the process of "detoxification" to clean them out is basically much like the concepts of "sin" and ritual purification [respectfulinsolence.com] in religions. Orac puts it very well:
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.