The PACE trial said graded exercise is an effective treatment for CFS. CFS patients disagree. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and the recently-suggested IOM term systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID), is characterized by long-term fatigue and a host of other symptoms that impair the patient’s ability to… read more "Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Graded Exercise Therapy: How the PACE Trial Got It Wrong"
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Rituximab Revisited
Three years ago I wrote about an experimental treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): rituximab (brand name Rituxan). I was concerned that doctors who offered it, like Andreas Kogelnik, were jumping the gun by offering it before the evidence was in, and that they might be putting patients at risk. A correspondent… read more "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Rituximab Revisited"
IOM Recommends Replacing CFS with SEID
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a controversial diagnosis that has also been called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS), post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVS), chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), Iceland disease, “yuppie flu,” and many other names. A new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) says that none of those names really… read more "IOM Recommends Replacing CFS with SEID"
Followup: More Evidence against the XMRV Virus as a Cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
A mouse leukemia retrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRVretrovirus), has been under consideration as a possible cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, and also prostate cancer). In a study published in Science in October 2009, Lombardi et al. found XMRV in 67% of CFS patients and 3.7% of controls.… read more "Followup: More Evidence against the XMRV Virus as a Cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome"
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Retroviruses: Jumping the Gun
When I first heard that a retrovirus had been identified as a possible cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, I withheld judgment and awaited further developments. When I heard that two subsequent studies had failed to replicate the findings of the first, I assumed that the first had been a false… read more "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Retroviruses: Jumping the Gun"