News From the CFIDS Association - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The body of evidence is building in the 20-year scientific investigation of CFS. How are established facts, new clues and advanced technology coming together to make an impact?

Its been a long time since we havent had a full-blown Lobby Day event on Capitol Hill. This year would have been our 16th, but the high costs of transportation and hotel rooms, a short legislative season and a crowded congressional calendar led us to decide early on that we would use an alternative strategy for our annual congressional event.

More than 10 years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began a surveillance study in Wichita, Kansas, that ended in 2002. This study served to identify people with CFS in the general population of Wichita and gave eligible subjects the opportunity to participate in a two-day clinical investigation.

A study published in the March issue of Neurochemistry Research uses a mouse model of physical fatigue to examine the effect of the herbal tonic hochu-ekki-to (TJ-41) on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression.

On May 8, 2008, the CFIDS Association, with the help of Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), hosted a congressional briefing on CFS in the Capitol building.

One day two sisters came to reside in my body. Although they share many of the same characteristics, they are not identical twins. Sometimes they travel alone, but often they travel together. One is named chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, for short) and the other is named fibromyalgia. As it is with some houseguests, these sisters were totally uninvited and unwelcome, but they barged in anyway. And as with most unwanted houseguests, they demanded my full attention and turned my inner household upside-down.

What is sleep and why is it so important to proper physical functioning? In this first of a four-part series from the CFIDS Chronicle, learn the basic elements of sleep. (CFIDS Chronicle, Volume 21, Issue 2, Spring 2008)

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