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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

by Charles Weber

Foundation for Eradication of Rheumatoid Disease

AKA The Arthritis Trust of America

7376 Walker Road, Fairview, Tn 37062

INTRODUCTION

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a disease characterized

by symptoms of extreme, long lasting fatigue, loss of memory

[Marcel], impaired sleep, sore throat, muscle and joint aches, head-

ache, cough, photophobia, night sweats, [Evengard] depression that

has much lower ACTH and cortisol secretion than typical depression

[Demitrack], lymph node pain, eye pain and fibromyalgia (muscle

pain) [Bell DS] as well as white spots on MRI brain scans [Buchwald

1992] and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)

scans [Schwartz], loss of fingerprints in a third of the patients

[Johnson p345], and a chronic low level activation of the immune

system [Cannon] which last may be accounting for many of the non

neurological symptoms, but all very variable, perhaps because dif-

ferent parts of the brain are attacked.

Women are much more often affected than men.

No one has been able to assign a definitive cause to it with

certainty, although it has been proposed to be a hypochondria from

misdiagnosis [Johnson p 126] or mass hysteria from reading news-

paper articles proposed by the Center for Disease Control in the

USA [Johnson p 135-138, 339, 342] (both very unlikely), an Epstein-

Barr virus [Holmes] (because that virus antigen is often found in it as

an opportunistic infection, but refuted [Buchwald 1988] ), poor nu-

trition compounded by lack of exercise [Johnson p685], a poison

[Racciatti] , or a retrovirus (because fragments were detected in some

of its victims similar to retrovirus) [DeFreitas]. (The retrovirus work

has ended because DeFreitas has become very sick and no one else

has been competent to continue her work.) That it is caused by a virus

which damages the immune system is highly probable since it comes

on suddenly with flu like symptoms and shows up in clusters asso-

ciated with social groups [Buchwald 1992]. Fragments of myco-

plasma pathogen species have been found in CFS and fibromyalgia

but they are probably opportunistic infections because when multiple

species are found in the same patient it correlates with the length of

time CFS was present [Nasralla].

The hypothesis that CFS is a psychosomatic illness has

resulted in thousands of ruined and destitute lives. There probably

has not been so ruinous a result from a failed hypothesis since gov-

ernor Phips ended the Salem witch craft trials. Even the blood letting

of the 18th century was fairly minor. After all, how much harm can

you do removing a few drops of blood? The hypothesis by medical

doctors that it was not necessary to wash hands for child birth caused

many deaths, but at least these mothers were given a fairly quick end.

The CFS victims could not collect insurance support or disability and

descended into poverty.

That hypothesis was probably an important part of the chief

cause of death, suicide. It is not only in the USA that the physical

nature of this disease was denied. A young girl was taken away from

her mother until the age of 18 because the mother dared to disagree

with a doctor that the girl was faking her symptoms.

A poison can not be ruled out as at least a contributing

factor [Bell IR], and may have been involved in the gulf war syn-

drome. Anthrax vaccine has been proposed as triggering gulf war

syndrome with some convincing statistical evidence [http://

www.house.gov/reform/hearings/healthcare/99.10.12/bates.htm ].

However, I believe there may have been other medical proce-

dures at the same time. These brave men were denied support at first

also.

There have been other names for the syndrome proposed.

Yuppie flu was proposed because at first only higher income people

had enough money saved to hire doctors or lobby officials. Chronic

fatigue immune deficiency syndrome (CFIDS) was proposed be-

cause the immune system was distorted and it was hoped that this

name would gain the victims some support and research funds. After

all the magic letters “ID” had gained massive support for AIDS. It

would be too bad if the early cavalier attitude toward CFS resulted in

adopting such a cumbersome name. Fibromyalgia, which is wide-

spread muscular pain, was proposed as a variant of CFS and prob-

ably is. The name “myalgic encephalomyelitis” (ME) was assigned

to a similar disease by medical researchers in the British Common-

wealth. Post viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) and post infectious

neuromyasthenia were also used.

DISCUSSION

So the cause is unknown. This leaves us with the problem

of what to do about the disease currently while we wait for research-

ers to figure out what direction research should take and what causes

it.

It has been proposed that poor nutrition and lack of exer-

cise are contributing factors [Johnson p 685]. It certainly is plausible

that a poorly nourished body would be more at risk. A vegetarian diet

using lots of raw vegetables has significantly improved the symp-

toms of fibromyalgia with 19 out of 30 subjects reporting consider-

able improvement of all symptoms after a few weeks [Donaldson]. It

would be a good idea to find out what in raw vegetables was respon-

sible. That diet gave five to six thousand milligrams of potassium per

day and 460 milligrams of magnesium. It has been discovered that

magnesium injections mute the symptoms significantly

[Takahasha][Cox]. So magnesium supplements may be in order for

CFS people who eat junk food and maybe for everyone with CFS.

However, magnesium was found to be normal in the red cells in CFS

patients [Hinds] and magnesium is normal in blood cells during a

magnesium deficiency as well, so red cell content can not be used in

diagnosis.

A whole body (cell content) analysis of potassium has

found that potassium averaged a little lower in CFS than the general

population [Burnet] which general population is low in potassium in

our society to start with. The CFS average was about two thirds of

the highest values of healthy people. This is ominous because the

highest values is the normalcy which the body attempts to attain since

there is no storage of potassium in the body other than the tolerable

range of soluble potassium in the cell fluid. It could be that potassium

supplements are in order as well. Magnesium should be part of the

experiment since potassium requires adequate magnesium in order to

be absorbed effectively [Petersen][MacIntyre] and it is possible that

inositol [Charalampous] is necessary also. While excessive salt in-

takes are detrimental, it is necessary to receive moderate amounts of

sodium salt because extremely low intakes also increase potassium

excretion. (See a marvelous and extensive article by Mildred Seelig

on the relation of magnesium to CFS and FM, in which she suggests

that CFS is a magnesium deficiency [Seelig]. I suspect it is not quite