{"id":28763,"date":"2021-09-12T17:36:40","date_gmt":"2021-09-12T22:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=28763"},"modified":"2022-11-14T13:48:34","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T19:48:34","slug":"chronic-fatigue-myalgic-encephalomyelitis-fibro-and-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/12\/chronic-fatigue-myalgic-encephalomyelitis-fibro-and-covid-19","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Fatigue\/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis\/Fibro and Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Regular readers of British mystery novels from the 1930s and 1940s are familiar with the old trick where the detective actually turns out to be the murderer. Or where Character A, innocent and charming, is none other than Character B, the poisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the villain can be highly elusive, and every once in a while, occasionally on the last page, the bad guy escapes, only to re-appear in the next novel, dagger (or poison or silk scarf) in hand, ready for more mayhem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chronic fatigue, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and fibromyalgia are shape shifters, a bit like the characters in these mysteries, but more and more evidence has been accumulating over the years that all three are variations of the same condition. Fibromyalgia patients present with more pain but certainly have plenty of fatigue. Chronic fatigue-myalgic encephalomyelitis patients can be bedridden with exhaustion, but ask them if their muscles hurt, and they\u2019ll say \u201cOMG, yes!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctors first reported in the 1930s what later became known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)<\/a>, but it wasn\u2019t until 1986 that the symptom of utter exhaustion following a severe viral \u00a0illness was recognized by medicine (even as many continued to call the condition Yuppie Flu).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the mid-80s, the villain aux choix was infectious mononucleosis (mono), but test results were inconsistent. Some CFS patients had had terrible cases of mono while other mono patients had no CFS. Still other people had high levels of mono antibodies in their blood but no CFS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe the fatigued person\u2019s bout with mono had damaged her immune system, weakening her body\u2019s ability to attack other infections due to reduced NK cell function<\/a>. This concept is discussed in the documentary \u201cUnrest<\/a>\u201d (available on Netflix<\/a> and excellent, but painful to watch).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between then and now, more and more patients were reporting disabling exhaustion to their primary care physicians. Referrals to specialists of all stripes revealed nothing much and often triggered curt dismissals. Many CFS patients were written off as needing psychiatric support or as seeking financial gain from their disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes CFS sufferers actually had neither fibromyalgia nor CFS-myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), but rather other conditions that mimic CFS\/ME but had been overlooked. For example, for a patient who is sensitive to mold off-gassing toxins, removing the mold from her home can work wonders for her energy. Some fortunate patients have their energy improved with a dietary change, like eliminating gluten, or having an accumulation of lead or mercury removed from their body or getting treated for chronic Lyme disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US and European physicians, usually in independent and smaller functional medicine practices like WholeHealth Chicago, are familiar with the diagnostic possibilities and \u00a0\u00a0know how to test for them. Based on the clinical situation, most functional medicine clinicians are willing to consider treatment with intravenous therapies such as vitamins, glutathione, ultraviolet, and ozone, though also with antibiotics, antivirals, and off-label prescription meds like Ariprazole <\/a>and Modafinil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shape shifter<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fact is that chronic fatigue syndrome\/myalgic encephalomyelitis\/fibromyalgia (CFS\/ME\/fibro) is a true shape shifter with no consistently accurate diagnostic test. A diagnosis is based mainly on your symptom diary and negative diagnostic tests\u2014those that rule out other likely diagnoses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re not anemic, not hypothyroid, you have no autoimmune disease, etc. But your diary tells a clear story: Yes, Monday, you\u2019re tired, but you can go grocery shopping. But Tuesday you\u2019re so exhausted you can\u2019t get out of bed. Wednesday you feel well enough to watch some TV. But by Thursday you can\u2019t    follow what\u2019s happening on Real Housewives because your brain isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a mouthful, but the term myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) may describe this elusive condition best: Myalgic means pain in the muscles.  Encephalomyelitis is smoldering inflammation in the brain and spinal cord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we know<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n