There are quite a few diseases with the same "unknown" cause and similar symptoms to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Are they all the same disease? The diagnosis of CFS is done by the symptoms and not evidence of a microbe.
"I recommend a simpler and more personal way to make the CFIDS diagnosis:
"If a doctor does not know why a patient is overly tired, and if the patient has a medical record that weighs more than 20 pounds because of all the tests and consultations, providing proof that there is nothing wrong with that patient - then the patient has CFIDS.
"This "test" will probably never be accepted by the medical profession, but it works for me." - page 70
Curing Fatigue by David S. Bell, M.D.
[The following are based on actual conversations]
"Do I have Lyme disease?" she asked. ---"Yes!" the specialist asserted.
"Are the tests positive?" --- "No!"
"If all the tests are negative, how do you know I have Lyme disease?"
--- "The tests are not reliable."
"How accurate are they?" --- "At best, less than fifty percent of the time."
"Then how do you diagnose Lyme disease?" --- "By my clinical judgment."
Here is how my conversation with her went:
"Did you have food sensitivity tests done?" I asked. --- "No!" she replied.
"And mold allergy tests?" --- "No!"
"And pollen and dust?" --- "No!"
"Toxic metal tests?" --- "No!"
"Did you fill out any questionnaire about environmental sensitivities?" --- "No!"
"About stress-related factors?" --- "No!"
"Past history of antibiotic therapy?" --- "No!"
"Past episodes of fatigue?" --- "No!"
"Past episodes of severe viral illnesses?" --- "No!"
The Canary and Chronic Fatigue by Majid Ali, M.D. - pages 122-123
"In time it became apparent that approximately one-quarter of his fatigue patients were missing their fingerprints..."
- page 241, Osler's Web, Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic by Hillary Johnson
"In coming years it was discovered that little was guaranteed to exacerbate chronic fatigue syndrome more rapidly or more profoundly than exercise, particularly rigorous exercise. During aerobic exercise, CFS victims were found to experience a sudden drop in body temperature and a decrease in oxygen flow to the brain - the opposite of what occurs in normal people. The oxygen deficit in the brain persisted for several days after even brief activity" - Ismael Mena, "Study of Cerebral Perfusion by NeuroSPECT in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome," presented at the Cambridge Symposium on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis [M.E.], Cambridge University, England, April 12, 1990.
- page 146, Osler's Web, Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic by Hillary Johnson
"...the only difference between the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome patient is the degree of pain...About 75 percent of patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome will meet the criteria of fibromyalgia syndrome...Experts deem it unlikely that these two conditions are separate disease processes...." - page 15
Reversing Fibromyalgia by Dr. Joe M. Elrod
"Research by Dr. D.I. Arnold at the University of Oxford showed that the cells of a patient sick with myalgia encephalomyelitis (ME), another name for chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, were not able to get rid of waste acids after only moderate exercise." - page 55
7-Day Detox Miracle by Peter Bennett, N.D., Stephen Barrie, N.D., with Sara Faye
"In general, in order to receive a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, a patient must satisfy two criteria:
"The symptoms must have persisted or recurred during six or more consecutive months of illness and must not have predated the fatigue." [Love these definitions. So you could have three of the symptoms and they could be debilitating but you don't have CFS.-bfg]
The symptoms of CFS are shared by many other diseases.
Is Morgellon's related to CFS?
And what about Post West Nile? Is it CFS, too?
CFS has made some disabled.