Professor Klimas: there’s a lot of inflammation in ME/CFS in the brain itself

Presented by Beth Schipper, Mar 8, 2011:

In his book The Disease of a Thousand Names [Lyndonville, Pollard Publications, 1991], David S. Bell, M.D.states:
“We are witnessing a disease so fundamental in its origin that it affects all body systems but causes little damage.”

He notes,
“A list of CFIDS symptoms is misleading. At first glance it appears that almost every symptom possible is part of the list. This is another reason many physicians have not accepted the reality of CFIDS - there are simply too manysymptoms. But a patient relating these symptoms does not list them in a random manner. They fit a precise pattern that isnearly identical from one patient to the next.”

“The pattern of symptoms is so reproducible in the usual case that patients are able to diagnose CFIDS in others in aninstant.”“Following is a list of the myriad symptoms seen in CFIDS, including a rough estimate of the percentage of patients whowould have each symptom. Those symptoms that cause patients the greatest discomfort are asterisked
(*)
.
•
Fatigue or exhaustion 95% *
•
Headache 90% *
•
Malaise 80% *
•
Short-term memory loss 80% *
•
Muscle pain 75% *
•
Difficulty concentrating 70% *
•
Joint pain 65% *
•
Depression 65% *
•
Abdominal pain 60% *
•
Lymph node pain 50% *
•
Sore throat 50%
•
Lack of restful sleep 90% *
•
Muscle weakness 30% *


At first glance many of these symptoms appear unrelated and confusing. But if they are examined in light of braininflammation and functions of the hypothalamus, a pattern begins to emerge.

In September of 2010 Professor Nancy Klimas (principal investigator of the National Institute for Health’s Centrefor Multidisciplinary Studies of (ME)CFS Pathophysiology at the University of Miami) stated:

“…there is a chronic inflammation, neuro-inflammation, and it upsets the whole balance of your system… the patients become terribly ill...

The immune system is really cranked up; it’s a tremendous amount of inflammation. I think that if doctors could get this in their heads that it’s sort of like lupus or one of these really inflammatory disorders…it is that level of inflammation. There’s a tremendous amount of inflammatory stuff going on, and there’s a lot of inflammation in the brain itself.” http://www.litemiami.com/spotlite/index.aspx

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See also: Cerebrospinal fluid profiles can differentiate between Lyme disease, ME/CFS and healthy controls