Posted on July 23, 2011, 11:12 pm by a rainbow at night:
Myalgic encephalomyelitis also has a distinct case definition, accompanied by neurologic and muscular signs. The best definition for M.E. is Ramsay’s definition of 1986, which describes the key feature being “muscle fatigability, whereby, even after a minor degree of physical effort, three, four or five days, or longer elapse before full muscle power is restored and constitutes the sheet anchor of diagnosis.” He goes on to write, “Without it, I would be unwilling to diagnose a patient as suffering from ME, but it is most important to stress the fact that cases of ME of mild or even moderate severity may have normal muscle power in a remission. In such cases, tests for muscle power should be repeated after exercise.” [A. Melvin Ramsay, M.A., M.D. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Postviral Fatigue States: The saga of Royal Free disease (London, 1st ed. 1986, 2nd ed. 1988).]
After several outbreaks of what was undoubtedly M.E., the CDC ... Read more>>
See also: The main characteristic of ME is an abnormally delayed muscle recovery after doing trivial things, if you don't have that, you don't have ME
Thanks for posting these thoughts on new international consensus definition..
ReplyDeleteI have long had severe ME, Ramsey and Hyde definitions, and do not believe this new international consensus will be any use in discriminating ME patients. What it does is summarise the voluminous, disparate findings of the CFS investigators in their diverse patient populations. Scientifically, one absolutely cannot base a definition on a group of patients with CFS and then call it a definition of ME. ME definitions must be based on patients accurately diagnosed with ME. ME has perfectly good definitons, Ramsey and Hyde, and doctors have been working with these for years in their medical practices.