Health institute focuses on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The National Institutes of Health is putting some serious research muscle into efforts to learn more about a condition that is, to some, considered controversial.

The NIH dedicated more than $7 million to research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 2016, and the agency will fund new research centers focusing on the condition, which is also sometimes called myalgic encephalomyelitis.

While the initiative was applauded by CFS sufferers, University of Toronto medical historian Dr. Edward Shorter has sounded a skeptical and cautionary note. CFS, he claims, appears to fall into a collection of historical non-diseases that caused epidemics mainly because people believed in them.

“I realize that these words will fall unreceptively upon some ears, and I regret that some CFS patients may feel slighted by the disbelief I have expressed in this post. Yet there are larger stakes here. In the way that lives were once ruined with such toxic diagnoses as ovarian hysteria, lives today are ruined by CFS. Many sufferers cease to be productive members of the community and end up flat on their backs. If there are lessons that we may draw from the history of medicine, they may be learned here.”

CFS sufferers disagree.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about a million people are said to have CFS. Many others have conditions that are similar to chronic fatigue syndrome (or CFS).
In order to get a diagnosis of CFS, the CDC says that a person must meet three criteria.

Those criteria include the following:
1. Severe chronic fatigue persisting for at least six months that is not associated with other medical conditions.

2. Fatigue so strong that the person has trouble with work and other daily activities.

3. Concurrent suffering of at least four of the following issues:
* Tiredness after activity that lasts at least 24 hours.
* Sleep that does not leave one feeling rested.
* Significant concentration or memory issues.
* Muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, sore lymph nodes in arm and neck, recurrent sore throat.

Controversy is not new for people with this condition. In 2011, researchers released a study that reported that patients with CFS/ME experienced moderate improvements in their symptoms if they did a program of graded exercise or cognitive behavior therapy.