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torquillGenetics may play a role in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Reeves said the study demonstrates that people with chronic fatigue syndrome are unable to deal with everyday challenges and adversity. That could include injuries, illnesses, divorce, even stressful jobs, the researchers said.
[...]
Among their findings: Chronic fatigue patients tested with high levels of allostatic load, which is a stress measure of hormone secretions, blood pressure and other signs of wear and tear on the body. The patients were about twice as likely to have a high allostatic load index as people who did not have chornic fatigue syndrome.
The researchers also found that certain genetic sequence variations in five stress-moderating genes showed up consistently in chronic fatigue patients. And they identified at least five subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome, classified according to criteria that include their genetics and the way their symptoms unfold.
So someone finally did The Study. The implications are huge, not the least of which that it finally begins to provide a metric for diagnosis; maybe we'll be able to start training doctors away from the "it's all in your head" meme.
People always seem to ask me "So what happened to give you CFS?" I've answered that I don't know, but I just seemed to have some sort of congenital disadvantage. That explanation might have been right on the money -- this study suggests that if you are genetically susceptible, adding enough stress will create the syndrome. And heaven knows, if you combine the genetics with things like my body's tendency toward systemic inflammation and my own stressball personality in college, it was probably inevitable.
Validation feels good.
Reeves said the study demonstrates that people with chronic fatigue syndrome are unable to deal with everyday challenges and adversity. That could include injuries, illnesses, divorce, even stressful jobs, the researchers said.
[...]
Among their findings: Chronic fatigue patients tested with high levels of allostatic load, which is a stress measure of hormone secretions, blood pressure and other signs of wear and tear on the body. The patients were about twice as likely to have a high allostatic load index as people who did not have chornic fatigue syndrome.
The researchers also found that certain genetic sequence variations in five stress-moderating genes showed up consistently in chronic fatigue patients. And they identified at least five subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome, classified according to criteria that include their genetics and the way their symptoms unfold.
So someone finally did The Study. The implications are huge, not the least of which that it finally begins to provide a metric for diagnosis; maybe we'll be able to start training doctors away from the "it's all in your head" meme.
People always seem to ask me "So what happened to give you CFS?" I've answered that I don't know, but I just seemed to have some sort of congenital disadvantage. That explanation might have been right on the money -- this study suggests that if you are genetically susceptible, adding enough stress will create the syndrome. And heaven knows, if you combine the genetics with things like my body's tendency toward systemic inflammation and my own stressball personality in college, it was probably inevitable.
Validation feels good.
