Simon McGrath looks at theories that microglia, the brain’s immune cells, might be overactive and driving the symptoms of ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. In Part 1, he described how the body reacts to infection or wounding with a “sickness response” that partly resembles ME/CFS, and how the microglia are the last step in the physiological mechanisms that lead to sickness response.
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Simon McGrath looks at theories that microglia, the brain’s immune cells, could trigger and perpetuate the symptoms of ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. Your dog can’t tell you when she’s feeling sick, but even so, you know. She moves slowly, she doesn’t eat, she sleeps a lot, she curls up in a corner by herself. “Sickness behavior” is shared by all mammals,
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Andrew Gladman muses upon what lessons he has taken from two years of ME/CFS. If you’re aware of my previous articles here at Phoenix Rising then it’s pretty clear that I don’t generally spend my time musing upon the philosophy of the disease. I find it better to spend my time reading research and trying my best to break it
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Jody Smith continues to try to put into words the horror of the altered state that hobbles the brains of those with ME/CFS … If you’re not a fan of hallucinatory drugs you’re gonna hate ME/CFS. When I first became ill in March of 1992, the feeling of altered reality inside my head, the shaking which could not be seen
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After having lived for years with ME/CFS, Jody Smith learned there’s more to this beast of an illness than she realized, and that what might help one person may not help others … When I first got back online five years ago, I was naive in the ways of this beast we call ME/CFS. I guess I thought that whatever it
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Graham, Janelle and Bob, have once again excelled themselves with their latest take on the ‘poisoned apple’ that was the PACE Trial… Once upon a time, long, long ago a king and queen ruled over a distant land. The queen was kind and…. Whoops, sorry there! I got confused for a moment. Wrong fantasy tale… Several years ago a team
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Simon McGrath reports on the new study that indicates low-grade encephalitis in ME/CFS … A small study with just nine patients has captured the attention of patients and researchers alike after reporting direct evidence of inflammation in the brain of ME/CFS patients. The finding was one of the highlights picked out by Professor Anthony Komaroff in his IACFS/ME conference round
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Jody Smith finds that even with ME/CFS, new life as symbolized by the mighty egg, can still spring forth … The egg has been a symbol of new life since ancient times. Recently, this symbolism has struck home for me in my own life. I’ve eaten a lot of eggs in my life. Particularly in my vegetarian years,
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In a follow-up article to the recent IACFS/ME conference presentation in San Francisco, and after speaking at length with Dr. Mady Hornig, ‘searcher’ delves deeper into the impressive work being completed by the Chronic Fatigue Initiative, and focuses in on those cytokine results … Members of the Chronic Fatigue Initiative (CFI) and Scott Carlson, the executive director of the Hutchins Family
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Andrew Gladman reflects upon the recent IACFS/ME conference and the buzz surrounding a small molecule, leptin. It’s safe to say that the past couple of weeks, following the IACFS/ME 2014 conference, have been something of a whirlwind in terms of new ME/CFS research being unveiled. Now that the dust has had a chance to settle let’s take a step back
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In 2012, Maya, who had tried to cope with ME/CFS on her own for many years, attended a pain management centre in Wales, U.K., and is now able to achieve more through pacing and acceptance, than she had been able to before the course… My name is Maya, I’m 42 and live in Mid- Wales. I have had ME for
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The latest video release from the Dutch group ME/cvs Vereniging, with Dr Charles Shepherd from the UK ME Association, and announcing a live chat session to be held Thursday, April 10, 2014… ME/cvs Vereniging launched a series of broadcasts from expert clinicians and researchers in January 2013, as part of a government subsidized project called, “Science to Patients”. Each expert
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