chronic fatigue syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome and Gulf War illness are distinct syndromes

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Researchers at Georgetown University have found two distinct molecular signatures in the brain disorders chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and Gulf War Illness (GWI). In the past many doctors have told patients suffering from these syndromes that the disorders are psychological in origin so this news may come as useful to patients. The work also showed two variants of GWI. The two brain disorders share have many of the commonalities, such as fatigue, pain, exhaustion after exercise, and cognitive dysfunction. According to the National Academy of Medicine, chronic fatigue syndrome affects between 836,000 and 2.5 million Americans. The disorder was believed to be psychological in origin until a 2015 review of 9,000 articles pointed to unspecified biological causes.  Gulf War Illness has developed in more than one-fourth of the 697,000 veterans in the U.S. who were in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War. Gulf War … Read more

Moving Towards a Clearer Diagnosis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

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A group of researchers have recently used functional PET imaging to show that levels of neuroinflammation is higher in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis also commonly referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome than in healthy patients. Myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome is a debilitating condition which is mostly characterized by chronic and disabling fatigue. Some patients feel that chronic fatigue syndrome trivializes the condition and prefer a name change. In a study in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine researchers found that levels of neuroinflammation markers are elevated in myalgic encephalomyelitis patients when compared to healthy patients. It had been suspected that neuroinflammation is the cause of the condition. In the study the researchers performed PET scans on nine people diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis and ten people who were healthy. The patients were all asked to describe their pain, depression, cognitive impairment, … Read more