From Skepticism to Science

[Guest guest]

San Francisco Chronicle Magazine

From Skepticism to Science

After 20 years, chronic fatigue syndrome may finally be getting some

respect

and cutting-edge science

- Dorothy Wall

Sunday, June 5, 2005

It was 1984 when Dr. Carol Jessop, then an associate professor in the

department of internal medicine at UCSF, first saw the patient she

would never forget. A 40-year-old businesswoman who had always been

healthy and active came to the clinic with a bizarre story. While

driving on the freeway, she was suddenly hit by such overwhelming

nausea and fatigue she had to pull over. " It was dramatic, "

remembers Jessop. " I'd never heard anything like this before, that

sudden. This woman absolutely felt drained and near collapse. "

The mystery quickly deepened. Jessop drew some endocrine labs,

checked the woman's cortisol level, looked at her CBC (complete

blood count), and " low and behold, everything comes back totally

normal. And she's getting worse by the time I see her in follow-up.

Now she's aching all over, has some baseline headaches, she's not

sleeping well, and she just feels like she's caught in a flu. "

Read this article at

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?

f=/c/a/2005/06/05/CMG3NCLBC81.DTL

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Notice the peculiar reference to the illness presentation

of " driving " and " had to pull over " that must have been compelling

enough for Carol Jessop to make particular note.

This is a classic description of " Hitting The Wall " by entering a

spore plume at the exact moment when MSH is depleted and ACTH can no

longer compensate.

This is similar to the description I gave to Dr Cheney at the

beginning of the Incline Village CFS epidemic and since I had

already experienced a similar phenomenon while driving through the

Bay Area, I could have told Carol Jessop this was a possible mold

induced CFS onset.

This is also similar to the description of Dr Rosenbaum's " MCS "

patient in his book " Solving the Puzzle of CFS " who told me later

when I said that his onset sounded more like toxic mold than the

chemical exposures being implicated: " That's what I told Dr

Rosenbaum but he changed my story to fit his theory " .

Despite the clarity of our descriptions, we apparently have no

means to communicate the characteristics of mold exposures to CFS

specialists and researchers - with the sole exception of Dr Ritchie

Shoemaker.

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