Considering how similar Gulf War Syndrome is to CFS, it leads me to postulate that time will reveal they are the same illness - different identity. How do I come up with this hypothesis - a large number of soldiers who served in Iraq during Desert Storm have been diagnosed and treated for Leishmaniasis - a sandfly borne disease. The tagline in the movie Casablanca reads "Round Up The Usual Suspects" - Mosquitoes and Ticks are not endemic in the desert - so what is left - Sandflies! Maybe even Leishmania is a vector for XMRV?
Battle fatigued soldiers are often immunocompromised from stress - and then a bite from an infected sandfly - you've got the perfect storm to set XMRV related disease in motion. Out the window goes the hypothesis of spent uranium, exposure to toxins, and prophylactic use of Pyridostigmine Bromide as an antidote. Most chemical warfare agents are Organophosphates, which also include common pesticides such as Diazinon, Malathion, Guthion - the effects of poisoning which do not resemble CFS symptoms at all, and Pyridostigmine Bromide is used as a treatment for Myastenia Gravis and to treat orthostatic hypertension - a complaint of CFS patients!
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ReplyDeleteI hail from New Zealand and have had cfs for 34 years. Old age is approaching and might be the prime of my life if XMRV turns out to be the cause of my illness and is treatable.
Several things occurred around the time I got sick and I cant put the timing on them exactly but one incident involved a sandfly bite with a very swollen leg. I also found a tick attached to me as I lived on a dairy farm and helped with milking.
Around the same time I developed a large swollen lymph node in my neck.
I was not completgely well but OK. My cfds symptoms started when I was poisoned by mercury vapour. We used to buy a lot of town milk to drink as pasturised farm milk never tasted very good so to try and get the temperature right and a better taste I used a large mercury thermometer. At 15 I really didnt have much sense ( still a bit deficient ) anyway I left it unattended when the milk was really hot. The themometer broke in the hot milk and the start of my illness came 4 hours later with a wierd flue like illness.
I tried not to breath the vapour and opened the windows then put the saucepan outside with the lid on so i didnt think the mercury was enough but It could have acted as a trigger activating a virus I had already caught. So who knows I'll have to wait to be tested. My mercury levels are not high so I think the mercury just triggered the CFS. My blood showed lymphocytosis for several years and I had mild fevers for about 15 years. I always felt like I had an infection. Antifungals have helped more than any other thing. After the mercury vapour I developed bad acne and was put on tetracycline for 5 years.
This site has the best coverage of XMRV I've seen. Thankyou Dr Luckett
Well, I am not glad that above reader/writer suffered for 34 years. Having had it myself now for 26 years, I am encouraged that at least one will stay alive, even though with illness. I am scared most about the idea that death could come early. I mean, in my 50ies for example.
ReplyDeleteHope you feel better and thanks for sharing!