Thyroid issues and ME/CFS should be relatively difficult for a doctor to get mixed up, especially since the ME/CFS diagnosis should exclude primary thyroid issues. But in addition to that there's the matter of Post-Exertional Malaise - getting very sick 24 hours after exertion. Do thyroid patients get swollen lymph nodes after exertion? Do they usually get orthostatic intolerance? Do thyroid patients perform worse on the 2nd day of a 2-day CPET?
ME/CFS exists, and it is distinct from thyroid disorders. What doesn't exist in any meaningful manner is the Oxford-defined CFS. That is not ME/CFS - it's everything anyone wants it to be, and as such is nothing in particular. But the use of that ridiculous criteria in the UK does not mean that ME/CFS does not exist. CCC and ICC defined ME/CFS describe a distinct disease which rather accurately and specifically describes our symptoms.
I'd be amazed if someone read the real criteria and came away still believing either that ME/CFS = thyroid dysfunction, or that ME/CFS doesn't exist as a distinct entity. Hence I can only assume that people on the thyroid forum making their claims are 1) badly misled by bad ME/CFS definitions, 2) completely ignorant of the proper ME/CFS definitions, and 3) not interested in becoming less ignorant about a disease before making sweeping and dismissive claims about it.
ME/CFS exists, and it is distinct from thyroid disorders. What doesn't exist in any meaningful manner is the Oxford-defined CFS. That is not ME/CFS - it's everything anyone wants it to be, and as such is nothing in particular. But the use of that ridiculous criteria in the UK does not mean that ME/CFS does not exist. CCC and ICC defined ME/CFS describe a distinct disease which rather accurately and specifically describes our symptoms.
I'd be amazed if someone read the real criteria and came away still believing either that ME/CFS = thyroid dysfunction, or that ME/CFS doesn't exist as a distinct entity. Hence I can only assume that people on the thyroid forum making their claims are 1) badly misled by bad ME/CFS definitions, 2) completely ignorant of the proper ME/CFS definitions, and 3) not interested in becoming less ignorant about a disease before making sweeping and dismissive claims about it.
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