Chronic Fatigue Syndrome recorded as a cause of death

drjohngreensmith@mefreeforall.org

Letters to the editor - Sydney Morning Herald.

The "indisputable evidence of inflammation and cell death" observed under the
microscope, in the case of Sophia Mirza, reported to be the first person in
Britain to have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome officially recorded as a cause of
death (Victims give clues to the answers, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 April
2007), restores Myalgic Encephalomyelitis to its rightful diagnostic place.

There never was a good reason for CFS to displace M.E. Whatever M.E. is, it
certainly isn't fatigue.

Nor was there ever a good reason for M.E to be considered the province of
psychiatrists. There is no evidence of greater incidence of psychiatric
history amongst M.E. sufferers than in the general population and, while
people with M.E. may have understandable concomitant psychological problems,
the one is not a prerequisite for the other.

M.E. sufferers and researchers have been clamouring for decades that CFS has
been holding back research and that, if you don't look for, you're not going
to find the neurological evidence, it was Myalgic Encephalomyelitis all along.
Then we can get down to the business of seeking treatments towards a cure.

You don't have to be much of a specialist of any sort to reckon that it would
be better for all concerned to spend money on neurological testing while M.E.
sufferers are still alive.

Yours sincerely
drjohngreensmith@mefreeforall.org
Dr John H Greensmith
ME Free For All.org

Article

The development of an autopsy protocol may help unlock some of the mysteries of chronic fatigue syndrome, writes Julie Robotham.

UNDER the microscope, it could not have been clearer. Sophia Mirza's brain and spinal fluid showed indisputable evidence of inflammation and cell death...