Guest guest Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Oh Dee, welcome, you have opened Pandora’s Box with that question! Everyone has an opinion and they are quite, well, divergent… By my reckoning and in my researches and experience, my own particular opinion is that ME is an infectious neurological disease that has been well documented since the 30’s, and CFS was the invention of the US. CDC in the 80’s to cover up the multiple ME epidemics taking place. The diagnostic criteria for CFS is much broader than for ME. Doubtless some will disagree and there have been numbers of books written about it, and I’m not gonna write another right now LOL! As to the hypothyroid theory, it’s patently ridiculous. Let’s just say that many folks with ME (CFS, CFIDS etc) do develop thyroid dysfunction, but everyone with hypothyroid does NOT have ME (CFS etc.) It does not account for many/most of the symptoms and process of this disease. Good luck with your explorations, if you only follow this list for awhile the great debate will present itself quite nicely! Take Care, Aylwin - a Canadian with ME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism in addition t cfs, fibromyalgia & MCS. I also have intermittent high intracranial pressure which affects my pituitary gland. Any questions ask, I'm not shy. Take care of you. Big gentle huggles, Di in Feasterville-Trevose, PA ) dimntd on AIM, IRC, ICQ & Yahoo! Messenger deb wrote: > Hi, i'm quite new here but i do have some questions that you might be able to help with? > > I was wondering why CFS and ME are still put together as the same thing when ME has been discovered to be something very different. (from my research anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Hi, Dee. With CFS/FM and related chronic illnesses/syndromes, the diagnosis of hypothyroidism must be done clinically, not relying on blood tests. (As someone said, lab tests lie, but patients don't.) My daughter (sick for 9 years) is recently being treated as if she has hypothyroidism by a doctor who, through his experience, has found that folks with chronic fatigue (and related unidentified illnesses), sometimes fit the clinical diagnosis for hypothyroidism - even though their blood tests look normal. So, find a list of symptoms for hypothyroidism and check to see if you fit most of the characteristics. Then talk to your doc about treatment with thyroid meds. > > Hi, i'm quite new here but i do have some questions that you might be able to help with? > > I was wondering why CFS and ME are still put together as the same thing when ME has been discovered to be something very different. (from my research anyway > > I'm also wondering what others think of the 'CFS is undiagnosed hypothyroidism' debate? > I have hashimoto's so thats why i have an interest in this. > I find it all so confusing as there are so many different ideas and opinions on these subjects. > Just wondering what everyone elses thoughts were? > > Thanks so much, > Dee > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Hi Di, Thanks so much for answering as i'm new to all this and am just starting to find out things about these illnesses (as docs are mostly putting it all down to a 'depressive reaction'. They've never said what i'm 'reacting' to strangely enough. lol Anyway, i've been diagnosed with Hypo Hashimoto's disease. But even though i'm taking my meds for that i'm not feeling much better, and i'm having strange sypmtoms which don't seem to match up to the hashi, so i've been researching and my symptoms led me to the cfs/me and fibro direction. My question though, is that there seem to be a lot of people with hypothyroid disease are telling me that cfs, fibro etc...doesn't exist. That is it just an undiagnosed form of hypothyroidism, or something that the drug companies made just so they could invent another medication. A case of, why just flog them thyroid medication when we can say they are completely seperate conditions and sell double the amount of medications.' Is this true? I'm only asking as i'm trying to sort myself out, and being from Australia we don't really have that huge 'drug companies' thing here. We just kind of go along with what the US seems to do and say. Any adice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Hi Dee! I've noticed on my RA and Lupus health board that many have thyroid issues and hyperactive thyroid with their autoimmune disease. I do have an article that was written in my local paper from a nurse practitioner. They found that although most blood tests were normal, almost all patients had 's Disease (thyroid disease). They did this by comparing symptoms. One of them being a temperature always below 98.6. If I can locate the article in my files I will post the information for you. " J. Catchpole " wrote: Oh Dee, welcome, you have opened Pandora’s Box with that question! Everyone has an opinion and they are quite, well, divergent… By my reckoning and in my researches and experience, my own particular opinion is that ME is an infectious neurological disease that has been well documented since the 30’s, and CFS was the invention of the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Dee, My opinion on CFS & Fibromyalgia... I know CFS & Fibromyalgia are assigned to people with certain sets of symptoms. Until there is a test for either condition both terms can be used a diagnosis for anyone with similar symptoms. There is no treatment for either condition, only treatment of symptoms. The quality of the treatment varies with the quality of the doctor prescribing the treatment. Some doctors refer to CFS & Fibromyalgia as garbage can diagnoses, eliminate specific conditions and dump everyone left in. Some doctors do not believe in conditions which have specific tests, humans are funny critters. My medical history is a bit complex, I have been diagnosed with approximately 35 separate conditions. Several of these conditions can be responsible for many of the symptoms of CFS & Fibromyalgia, I have been diagnosed with both. I also have conditions which impair the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in my head which puts pressure on my adrenal glands. I do not know whether I truly have hypothyroidism or it is an effect of the high intracranial pressure (ICP). I do know I had a wonderful endocrinologist who treated me based upon both symptoms and lab results. She took a full set of labs every 4-6 weeks. She would raise the thyroid meds when i stopped losing weight. She would go over the symptoms of overdose each visit, I was to go back to the lower dose if I had a symptom of overdose. I have also been diagnosed with an adrenal condition which is genetic, though I have no idea of the degree the high ICP affects the hormone and related conditions. I keep track of the symptoms, give the list to the doctors and let them worry about whether a specific condition is involved. Any questions ask, I'm not shy. Take care of you. Big gentle huggles, Di in Feasterville-Trevose, PA ) dimntd on AIM, IRC, ICQ & Yahoo! Messenger My blog Dimntd Thoughts http://dimntd.livejournal.com/ deb wrote: > Hi Di, > > Thanks so much for answering as i'm new to all this and am just starting to find out things about these illnesses (as docs are mostly putting it all down to a 'depressive reaction'. They've never said what i'm 'reacting' to strangely enough. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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