Abide

Help!

Photo by Abigail Robinson ~ click for larger image

Nancy asks:

What's been terribly troubling me this week, with the holidays approaching and my perfectionistic parents visiting for a day, is how do you guys get any housework done? I tried to do some today and am in so much pain I can hardly type . . .  I used to have a cleaning lady but the price of my meds has forced me to cancel her. I can't take it. The clutter/??mess is driving me crazy (in addition to the other symptoms of CFIDS). Any suggestions?

How do I take care of my house? Short answer: I don't. I'm in exactly the same circumstance -- I used to have a house cleaner, and can no longer afford it. This past year (or more) has been terrible, physically, and so the clutter and the dust -- and the animal fur -- grow on every surface.

[&%!!@#!! This was a long post and I've just lost the rest of it -- I'll come back a bit later and redo it.]

Chronic Fatigue is Real!

Are you surprised?

Researchers might have found evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real and legitimate neurological condition.

A pilot study published in the open access journal BMC Neurology reveals that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have a set of proteins in their spinal cord fluid that were not detected in healthy individuals. These proteins might give insight into the causes of CFS, and could be used as markers to diagnose patients with CFS.

James Baraniuk and Begona Casado, from Georgetown University in the US, and colleagues from other institutions in the US and Italy, studied the content of the spinal cord fluid, or 'cerebrospinal fluid', in CFS patients and healthy individuals. This fluid can be tested for the diagnosis of various neurological diseases and infections. The researchers identified 16 proteins that can be found in patients with CFS but not in healthy individuals. Five of these proteins are found in all CFS patients but none of the controls. They could be a 'biosignature' for the disease, which could be used to diagnose it.

This is a pilot study, but Baraniuk et al. conclude that "this is the first predictive model of chronic fatigue syndrome to be based only on objective data". They add: "Given the controversy over whether CFS and its allied syndromes are legitimate medical conditions, our model provides initial objective evidence for the legitimacy of CSF as a distinct neurological disease."

Many of the proteins found in CFS patients are involved in protein folding and in various neurological syndromes, which might give clues regarding the origin of chronic fatigue syndrome.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcneurol/