New research sheds a little bit of light on the often overlooked, or even ignored, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (or CFS), which many of my patients know, and identify themselves with, is in the news again. We, as doctors, don’t know, or fully understand, what causes CFS as yet. Some doctors don’t even acknowledge that it exists. We are not sure if it is a psychiatric disease, immune disease, hormonal disease, or what the underlying cause is. So often I will test my patient for their hormone levels, foods sensitivities/allergies, and talk with them about their moods, emotions, and responses. As a Naturopathic Doctor, I want to find the root cause, and treat that process so that we cure the body.
A new research article, written about in The Independent, was just published looking at patients with CFS, and the high levels of cytokines that they have in their systems within the first 3 years of having symptoms of CFS. This gives us some underlying information of what might be going on in the system. The researchers went on to say that over the course of the disease these levels of cytokines do decrease. Cytokine protein signals, that are released by the body, influence how cells respond. Therefore, there may be a progression of the disease process, and thus there would need to be different treatments at different times.
This is just one example of how we still do not understand the disease process of every disease that affect people. Again, as doctors, we are still learning, and researching, what is the best treatment option for each individual patient. I thank all of my patients for teaching me about their diseases, and about how it affects them to the cellular level, and beyond. I hope one day medicine will know all, and we will be able to help patients with more precision and effectiveness.
Source: The Independent