Testing for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Many of the articles on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) in the mainstream media (and even some of the medical texts on the illness) unequivocally proclaim that not only are there no tests which can be utilised to help confirm a M.E. diagnosis, but that despite extensive testing no objective or quantifiable abnormalities have ever been found in any patients with M.E. whatsoever. Despite their popularity, these are simply absurd claims.The reality is that objective evidence of quantifiable organic abnormalities in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis patients has existed since the 1950s. Not only are there a series of tests which do allow a M.E. diagnosis to be confirmed, but more than 1000 medical studies have shown a variety of measurable and in some cases extremely severe abnormalities in many different bodily systems of M.E. patients. (M.E. can also be fatal; it can cause multiple organ failure or heart failure). Tests will only all be normal -- as with all illnesses -- if the wrong tests are done, or if those tested do not in fact have M.E. in the first place. Contrary to much of the propaganda surrounding the illness, it is also not 'fatigue' or 'tiredness' that is the one essential characteristic of M.E. but MEASURABLE central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction (a specific type of damage to the brain). As M.E. expert Dr Byron Hyde M.D. explains: 'The one essential characteristic of M.E. is acquired CNS dysfunction, [not] chronic fatigue. A patient with M.E. is a patient whose primary disease is CNS change, and this is measurable. We have excellent tools for measuring these physiological and neuropsychological CNS changes: SPECT, xenon SPECT, PET, and neuropsychological testing.' Thus it is these tests which are therefore most critical in the diagnosis of M.E., although various other types of tests are also useful. For more information, and for a full references, see 'Testing for M.E.' at: http://www.ahummingbirdsguide.... it or not, M.E. is every bit as real, as organic and as scientifically verifiable and measurable as all of the plants, flowers, insects, rocks and dirt shown in this video.M.E. is a distinct, recognisable disease entity that is not difficult to diagnose and can in fact be diagnosed relatively early in the course of the disease (within just a few weeks) -- providing that the physician has some experience with the illness. There is just no other illness that is even remotely like M.E. Although there is as yet no single test which can be used to diagnose M.E. there are (as with Lupus and multiple sclerosis and ovarian cancer and many other illnesses) a series of tests which can confirm a suspected M.E. diagnosis. Virtually every M.E. patient will also have various abnormalities visible on physical exam. If all tests are normal, if specific abnormalities are not seen on certain of these tests (eg. brain scans), then a diagnosis of M.E. cannot be correct M.E. is not medically unexplained, nor a problem of mere 'fatigue' -- M.E. is not the same thing as 'chronic fatigue' or 'CFS.' The politically and financially motivated bogus disease category of 'CFS' must be abandoned, for the benefit of people with M.E. and all the other different patient groups involved.

Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm
Author: AHummingbirdsGuide

Length: 09:58
Rating: 4.63
Views: 2266

Tags: activism  advocacy  CFIDS  CFS  CFS/ME  Encephalitis  Encephalomyelitis  Encephalopathy  ME/CFS  Myalgic  severe  

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