Researchers find chronic fatigue syndrome may originate in the gut
If you have chronic fatigue syndrome, there’s a big chance that somewhere along the line, someone told you it’s all in your head.
Some mainstream docs have actually called it the “yuppie flu” — even while countless people continue to suffer.
How callous is that?
But now, a simple test for CFS might be closer than ever before.
It’s all thanks to a group of researchers from Cornell University who may have found the key to a fast diagnosis.
And better yet — what may turn out to be an effective and easy treatment.
In the many years that I’ve been researching and writing about health, I’ve been shocked by how many illnesses can be traced back to our gut bacteria.
And now, a new study has uncovered yet another reason to take care of these trillions of gut microbes.
Cornell researchers analyzed the blood and stool of 48 confirmed CFS patients, comparing the results to healthy volunteers. And the folks with CFS had major differences in gut bacteria — the kind of differences that can cause serious and health-wrecking inflammation.
In fact, there were many similarities between the CFS sufferers and people who have Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Researchers say they can use gut bacteria to quickly diagnose CFS in about 80 percent of patients who have it.
And that’s pretty important, because right now, getting a mainstream diagnosis of CFS is like throwing darts with two hands tied behind your back… blindfolded.
First, of course, you have to find a doctor who isn’t going to tell you that it’s all in your head and you need to see a shrink.
Then, the hoops CFS sufferers are made to jump through include documenting “unexplained, persistent fatigue” for at least six months, along with at least four more symptoms that include things such as pain that jumps from one joint to another, a new “type or pattern” of headache, and enlarged lymph nodes.
And while you’re waiting for the mainstream to check off all the right boxes, you keep suffering.
The researchers hope these findings will finally help the mainstream understand that “CFS is not psychosomatic.” Senior author Maureen Hanson even said that the notion that CFS is psychological is “ridiculous.”
And believe me — there are lots of people with CFS who agree 100 percent.
Now it would be bad enough if getting properly diagnosed was all CFS patients had to suffer through. But, no, I guess you figured that drugs would enter in here somewhere — and they do.
Even though you may have to move heaven and earth to get a mainstream doctor to listen to you, they can still whip out that Rx pad in the blink of an eye. While there are no FDA-approved meds for CFS, that hasn’t stopped the mainstream from prescribing antidepressants and sleeping meds to treat it.
That’s right, sleeping pills. As if the illness will be solved by drugging yourself to sleep.
And that’s another good thing that came out of this new research — a possible treatment.
Things such as “changing diets, using prebiotics (which are basically dietary fiber) or probiotics,” said one of the authors.
And, really, there’s no reason to wait. You don’t need a prescription or even a doctor’s visit to improve your diet, or to take prebiotics or probiotics, for that matter.
Giving these simple changes a try makes a lot more sense than waiting for the mainstream to come around on CFS.
Because where mainstream medicine is concerned, good news travels slowly!
Sources:
“Chronic fatigue syndrome is in your gut, not your head” Cornell University, June 27, 2016, Science News, sciencedaily.com
