I am in total disagreement with the diagram "Overlap between fibromyalgia and other "Sytemic" syndromes" The illnesses, Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity are subsumed under Somatoform Disorders. This diagram is nonesense from a scientific viewpoint.
Gross/cheap testing of people with ME/CFS or FM fails to show any abnormality so the assumption is that the illness is psychogenic. This is a classic medico-political ERROR.
The implication of sub-setting ME/CFS and FM within somatoform illness is that ME/CFS and FM are psychogenic. Somatoform assumes there is no underlying organic basis for the symptoms of the illness. There is no evidence for such a hypothesis, indeed all the scientific evidence indicates an immune system disorder affecting mainly the nervous systems both peripheral and central and not vice versa.
Simple tests of cell type numbers do not show any difference. The functionality of the cell-types must be evaluated.
1. NK cytotoxic activity is significantly lower in CFS patients compared to healthy controls even though there are more viable cells in the patient sample compared to the healthy control group.
2. Impaired neutrophil function: in CFS patients significantly lower levels of neutrophils were positive for oxidative burst after phagocytising E. coli.
3. miRNA levels 19 miRNAs are differentially expressed and significantly dysregulated in CFS/ME patients compared to healthy controls, of which three are clearly dysfunctional in ME/CFS : miR-127-3p, miR-142-5p and miR-143-3p and these may be implicated in the pathogenesis of CFS/ME.
In particular, miR-142-5p has been observed in most cancer-related and immunological disorders.
4. ME/CFS has clear Treg suppression.
5. B cell impairments: in CFS/ME these cells produce equivocal levels of antibodies against various antigens contributing to the persistence of symptoms over long periods of time.
6. T cell impairments: CD4+T cell proteins such as FOXP3 are elevated in CFS/ME which may signal an over reactive Treg profile
7. Immuno-proteins
the cytokine pattern in CFS/ME resembles that of the autoimmune diseases where the cytokines implicated are mainly IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ and TNF-α.
The items 1-7 do not suggest a somatoform disorder because these 7 categories of dysfunction are organic. They may not be yet defined as definitive markers of ME/CFS or FM but they tell a story of organic disease.
I believe these two conditions will reveal more scientific knowledge of homeostasis than any other illness. Calling them somatoform is just delaying our learning as well as doing a huge disservice to those with the illnesses.
“One pill every two weeks fights diabetes, cancers, heart failure, and 18 other diseases.”
The illnesses, Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity are subsumed under Somatoform Disorders.
This diagram is nonesense from a scientific viewpoint.
Gross/cheap testing of people with ME/CFS or FM fails to show any abnormality so the assumption is that the illness is psychogenic. This is a classic medico-political ERROR.
The implication of sub-setting ME/CFS and FM within somatoform illness is that ME/CFS and FM are psychogenic. Somatoform assumes there is no underlying organic basis for the symptoms of the illness. There is no evidence for such a hypothesis, indeed all the scientific evidence indicates an immune system disorder affecting mainly the nervous systems both peripheral and central and not vice versa.
Simple tests of cell type numbers do not show any difference.
The functionality of the cell-types must be evaluated.
1. NK cytotoxic activity is significantly lower in CFS patients compared to healthy controls even though there are more viable cells in the patient sample compared to the healthy control group.
2. Impaired neutrophil function:
in CFS patients significantly lower levels of neutrophils were positive for oxidative burst after phagocytising E. coli.
3. miRNA levels
19 miRNAs are differentially expressed and significantly dysregulated in CFS/ME patients compared to healthy controls, of which three are clearly dysfunctional in ME/CFS : miR-127-3p, miR-142-5p and miR-143-3p and these may be implicated in the pathogenesis of CFS/ME.
In particular, miR-142-5p has been observed in most cancer-related and immunological disorders.
4. ME/CFS has clear Treg suppression.
5. B cell impairments:
in CFS/ME these cells produce equivocal levels of antibodies against various antigens contributing to the persistence of symptoms over long periods of time.
6. T cell impairments:
CD4+T cell proteins such as FOXP3 are elevated in CFS/ME which may signal an over reactive Treg profile
7. Immuno-proteins
the cytokine pattern in CFS/ME resembles that of the autoimmune diseases where the cytokines implicated are mainly IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ and TNF-α.
The items 1-7 do not suggest a somatoform disorder because these 7 categories of dysfunction are organic. They may not be yet defined as definitive markers of ME/CFS or FM but they tell a story of organic disease.
I believe these two conditions will reveal more scientific knowledge of homeostasis than any other illness. Calling them somatoform is just
delaying our learning as well as doing a huge disservice to those with the illnesses.