2.5 million people are said to suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the USA. About $24 Billion are spent each year seeking relief. Most patients are ridiculed and mollified with a quick prescription for an anti-depressant. Fancy, ridiculous names are pinned on the problem (Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease-Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), as if that explained WHY people are tired.
You know why if you have been following the postings on this website.
Here are the clues that make the answer obvious:
- Central and autonomic nervous system. White matter lesions/inflammation
- Impaired metabolism
- Immune changes
According to the JAMA, they lead to a “Unifying Model:” The Microbiome!
That is where most neurotransmitters are (think of the Brain-Gut connection), where we metabolize energy and where 2/3 of the immune system are found. So, improve your diet and consider optimizing your microbiome with the help of an Integrative Doctor.
References
Advances in understanding the pathophysiology of chronic fatigue syndrome,
JAMA 2019;322:499
Chronic fatigue syndrome could be triggered by overactive immune system
CNN (12/17, Avramova) reports that research suggests “chronic fatigue syndrome…could be triggered by an overactive immune system.” HealthDay (12/17, Preidt) reports that investigators “assessed fatigue and immune system activity in 55 patients before, during and after treatment with interferon-alpha.” The researchers “discovered differences between the immune systems of 18 patients who developed long-term fatigue and those who had a normal recovery.” These “18 patients had a much stronger immune response during treatment with interferon-alpha, with a doubling in the levels of immune system messenger molecules called interleukin-10 and interleukin-6, according to the report,” which was published in Psychoneuroendocrinology.
“Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth,” JAMA 2004;292:852.
“The clinical criteria for Irritable Bowel Syndrome diagnosis do not include the extraintestinal symptoms that are common in these patients such as fatigue or myalgia. Instead, these complaints are viewed as symptoms of other diagnoses that coexist with IBS and fibromyalgia. This separation may be an artifact of medical specialization. As such, a unifying framework for understanding IBS that could account for both… gastrointestinal as well as extraintestinal symptoms would warrant serious consideration… The gastrointestinal and immune effects of Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth, SIBO, provide a possible unifying framework for understanding frequent observations in IBS, including postprandial bloating and distension, altered motility, visceral hypersensitivity, abnormal brain-gut interaction, autonomic dysfunction and immune activation.”
