posted by Adam on 21 Feb 2011 at 10:06 am

This is a terrible study, and worse, the media is making false statements which are nowhere to be found in the study. This was a study of people who were “tired” or “depressed,” and intentionally restricted the sample. This was a purely political study financed by insurance and by government.Most people with CFS find out their limitations and understand what level of activity they can withstand without relapsing.CFS patients have 30% less blood volume, have marked mitochondrial dysfunction, both of which can lead to congestive heart failure. They have multiple co-infections with herpesviruses EBV, CMV, HHV and often have others such as pathgenic mycoplasma, chlamydia pneumoniae, and intrusion of enteric bacteria into the blood due to high levels of inflammatory cytokines. They have high antibodies to many bacterias and viruses at levels which healthy people just do not have. Their RNaseL enzyme system is engaged at fighting viral replicated at levels healthy people just don’t have, and it borrows from the cellular energy needed to maintain normal levels of activity.Telling CFS patients to exercise their way out of illness makes about as much sense as telling a person with a severe cold to get on an exercise bike and go really fast until they get better.They have marked irregularities in cytokines, abnormalities in natural killer cell counts, and markedly decreased natural killer cell cytotoxicity. CFS patients can lose nearly all of their ability to kill latent viruses — scoring worse than HIV/AIDS patients. by contrast, severe depression combined with smoking has a small fraction of the effect on the immune system.

| post followup | alert a moderator |