ME/CFS as a biological information processing problem

It would be great if we all of a sudden became biologically fascinating.

 

Is this linked to the «cell memory» thing that was discussed a while ago?

 

How about Phair's itaconate-shunt, which he suggets (Janet Dafoe video #1) “burns” (inside glia mitochondria) your neurotransmitters?

 

It's an interesting theory but we don't have any specific evidence for it.

 

Does lack of "specific evidence" suggest:

a) if his theory were true we should have seen evidence of it by now; or
b) we should avoid weaving his theory into any hypotheses until such time as it is evidenced?

 

Not necessarily (a) but discussion on another thread has pointed out that we have negative evidence in the sense that nobody has picked up any sign of ammonia being increased or the expected signs of its presence. Also I think the alpha interferon study failed to pick up a signal.

I don't see any particular reason to weave the theory into any other. There are dozens of theories about ME/CFS. A number of groups have found some evidence for shifts in cell metabolism, although not all have and the shifts don't necessarily fit with Phair's proposal. Moreover, it does not seem very likely that these shifts are actually the cause of symptoms.

My main point would be that we do not have any good reason at present to think that microglia are a problem. The suggestion that they are mostly seems to go back to the mistaken idea that ME/CFS is the same thing as 'ME" - a disease supposedly with neurological signs.

 

a) could the hypothalamus be the "brain stem centre"?
b) or are there more likely candidates?
c) what other inputs (perhaps IFN1s ?) might also contribute to such a signal-integration glitch?

 

Oh no, my hypothalamus is defective! It's been way longer than four days since I ate greens--longer than four months in fact--and my hypothalamus remains silent. Is whichever part of the brain actually listens to the hypothalamus wearing earplugs?

Do typical people really crave greens every four days?

 

If they do, I reckon we've found the smoking gun in ME/CFS. Mine has never demanded anything except crisps and KitKats.

 

Many of my family members say so, and I will also occasionally crave a fruit or vegetable. But I also sometimes crave capers straight out of the jar, so my hypothalamus is doing some funky things anyways

 

oh come off it... mine instructs me to give it greens very regularly... green aero, fry's chocolate cream, chocolate limes,bendicks, viscount biscuits... a wide selection of greens actually

 

Mine does definitely crave veg or fruit. Tho crisps when I’m ill is what I can get instead by the time I’m starting to get any function back I’m waiting for the day I can get the more healthy stuff. Sometimes quite specific ones (strangely when I wasn’t as ill and had a hang over corn on the cob used to jump out at me in supermarkets but that one at other times too. a really common one for me too is Swede or something similarly bitter if not like cabbage/brussel sprouts - I’d have days at work I’d crave that all day and do now so have microwaveable versions. I’d crave tomatoes if I didn’t already just take that as normal and slurped a bowl of cooked down in olive oil ones last night but then felt and still do I was missing ‘something green’ but had no packs of those as they came in my order today. I these days eat a large bowl of peas+butter a lot whether with a meal or on its own) I tend to crave more savoury ones like veg or salad but the easy bits to have to hand is fruit next to bed

 

If you're ever faced with someone who doesn't quite believe how ill you are, just tell them that.

 

For a moment I thought we had tracked down the cause of ME/CFS to people not eating their greens, but this hypothesis now appears to be disproven.

 

I wouldn’t give up hope, this is the perfect level of evidence for typical BPS practitioner. You could still make an entire career off the vegetable theory

 

I've been craving sardines and salmon since ME onset. My omega 3's were below range when I was tested 22 years ago.

I don't crave greens.

 

Absolutely. If I point out that I do eat my greens, you can tell me I don't eat enough, or they're the wrong greens, or I eat them with altogether the wrong attitude.

Then your Wellness mate will pipe up and offer to sell me the extract of a plant that only grows in the mountains of central Asia and is gathered by Kazakh goatherds.

 

I was characterized as a enthusiastic juicer in the 90s when it was the big rave. This has since turned me off of greens and beets- ugh. This has traumatized me so that I can only eat broccoli, asparagus and kale now.