ME/CFS and Sleep: Managing a Free-Wheeling Brain for Needed Repair
“Often ME/CFS patients get into a bad rhythm of poor sleep at night, which means they feel ill for the day, which means they get another bad night. They are half asleep by night and half awake by day. Furthermore, their natural time for sleep gets later and later. They go to bed late and if they have to get up at the usual time, chronic lack of sleep ensues.”
“Efforts are under way to find effective tests for the virus and determine its prevalence, led by a working group funded by the National Institutes of Health and including federal agencies such as the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” according to an article by Amy Dockser Marcus posted April 4 on WSJ.com. “Blood banks, academic institutions and at least one advocacy group are also involved.” (Meanwhile, alerted to the issues, Canada announced a ban on CFS patient blood donations.)
The recently discovered retrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), has been identified in some prostate cancer patients. In light of conflicting data concerning XMRV, standardized diagnostic testing is important to identify patients in which XMRV is present and to determine whether it plays a role in the incidence of prostate cancer.
Nearly 1 in 10 in the population experience fatigue of more than six months at any one time. Chronic fatigue is a common reason for consulting a general practitioner, and some patients report their symptoms are not taken seriously enough. A gap in perceptions may occur because doctors underestimate the impact of fatigue on patients’ lives. The main aim of the study is to explore the economic impact of chronic fatigue in patients seeking help from general practitioners and to identify characteristics that explain variations in costs.
Xenotropic murine leukemia-related retrovirus (XMRV) is a recently discovered retrovirus that has been linked to human prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Both diseases affect a large fraction of the world population, with prostate cancer affecting one in six men, and CFS affecting an estimated 0.4 to 1% of the population.
Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a neuro-immune disease of uncertain pathogenesis. Human parvovirus B19 infection has been shown to occur just prior to development of the onset of CFS/ME in several cases, although B19 seroprevalence studies do not show any significant differences between CFS/ME and controls.
AveULTRA: All-Natural Support for Standard Cancer Therapies & Immune Health
While new research is focusing on the broader immune support potential of this special nutrient, the major emphasis to date has been its benefit for people undergoing standard cancer treatments – helping to improve outcomes and reduce adverse reactions.
Elimination Diet – For Those With ME/CFS or Fibromyalgia
ME/CFS specialist Paul Cheney, MD, PhD, reports he has documented food sensitivities in roughly 50 percent of cases of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, says Clinical Nutritionist Blake Graham. And a large proportion of Fibromyalgia patients suffer from food intolerances, though many do not know it. Graham believes an elimination diet is the best method of assessing food sensitivities, and has developed a protocol for patients with chronic illnesses that includes a preliminary step for CFS (and fibromyalgia) patients specifically.
IOM report urges significant commitment to treating Gulf War ‘multisymptom’ illness
Military service in the Persian Gulf War is a cause of post-traumatic stress disorder in some veterans and is also associated with multisymptom illness; gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome; substance abuse, particularly alcoholism; and psychiatric problems such as anxiety disorder, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine,* the latest update in a series of reports on the Gulf War and veterans’ health.
Although exercise is therapeutic for adults with fibromyalgia (FM), its symptoms often create obstacles that discourage exercise. We evaluated the effects of accumulating at least 30 minutes of self-selected lifestyle physical activity (LPA) on perceived physical function, pain, fatigue, body mass index, depression, tenderness, and the six-minute walk test in adults with FM.
Some think chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are variants of the same illness process. This would imply that CFS patients with and without comorbid FM have similar biological underpinnings. To test this, we compared serotonergic-based responses, plasma prolactin (PRL), and self-reported measures of fatigue to intravenous infusion of tryptophan among patients with CFS alone, CFS + FM, and healthy controls.
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