This - "the wishy washy nature of diagnosis" - History will not be kind! To these naysayers as well as many "advocates" who continue to perpetuate a diagnostic criteria that opens the door to misrepresenting what people like me (for 34 years) are experiencing. The current "ME/CFS" criteria overrides the original ME/CFS Canadian Consensus Criteria in a way that undermines the reality of what experts tried to clarify when they wrote the International Consensus Criteria. We need to be using the ME-ICC as an accurate description and for research.
Yes. Some researchers are now differentiating patient populations (with ME) using the various criteria on offer and finding marked differences between them.
Here, pathological changes only apply to subjects who met ICC definition for ME: "Our DTI study detected axonal microstructural abnormalities in ME/CFS patients. The group
analysis using a voxel-based method detected differences in diffusion metrics in ascending and
descending tracts in the medulla, pons and midbrain of the brainstem in ME/CFS patients, but
only for those meeting ICC criteria. This demonstrated the importance of strict case definitions
ICC ME is a very different beast compared with other long term conditions meeting other sets of criteria. It's no surprise that misdiagnoses within this area are almost 50%. Diagnoses like MS, SLE, Parkinson's, major psychiatric disorders etc and so on are being missed because the BPS mantra has ensured 'wastebasket healthcare' is predominant where a diagnosis isn't easy and fairly self-evident in the first instance. A dx of ME (or more probably 'CFS' because the name of 'Myalgic Encephalomyelitis' is like Kryptonite to the BPS) or FND (whatever the heck that is (!) ) is far, far easier, and so much more satisfying, if not helping people is your gambit. I hear that in the emergency setting medical students are now being taught to assume everyone is somatising as a first response. I've heard this is the case from two reliable sources, I hope medical students are more savvy than to actually act upon it.
Can someone please dig up Semmelweis? We need him!
This - "the wishy washy nature of diagnosis" - History will not be kind! To these naysayers as well as many "advocates" who continue to perpetuate a diagnostic criteria that opens the door to misrepresenting what people like me (for 34 years) are experiencing. The current "ME/CFS" criteria overrides the original ME/CFS Canadian Consensus Criteria in a way that undermines the reality of what experts tried to clarify when they wrote the International Consensus Criteria. We need to be using the ME-ICC as an accurate description and for research.
Yes. Some researchers are now differentiating patient populations (with ME) using the various criteria on offer and finding marked differences between them.
Here, pathological changes only apply to subjects who met ICC definition for ME: "Our DTI study detected axonal microstructural abnormalities in ME/CFS patients. The group
analysis using a voxel-based method detected differences in diffusion metrics in ascending and
descending tracts in the medulla, pons and midbrain of the brainstem in ME/CFS patients, but
only for those meeting ICC criteria. This demonstrated the importance of strict case definitions
for ME/CFS" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34355438/
ICC ME is a very different beast compared with other long term conditions meeting other sets of criteria. It's no surprise that misdiagnoses within this area are almost 50%. Diagnoses like MS, SLE, Parkinson's, major psychiatric disorders etc and so on are being missed because the BPS mantra has ensured 'wastebasket healthcare' is predominant where a diagnosis isn't easy and fairly self-evident in the first instance. A dx of ME (or more probably 'CFS' because the name of 'Myalgic Encephalomyelitis' is like Kryptonite to the BPS) or FND (whatever the heck that is (!) ) is far, far easier, and so much more satisfying, if not helping people is your gambit. I hear that in the emergency setting medical students are now being taught to assume everyone is somatising as a first response. I've heard this is the case from two reliable sources, I hope medical students are more savvy than to actually act upon it.
Can someone please dig up Semmelweis? We need him!