Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 2020, Baloh

T

Tom Kindlon

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Source: Medically Unexplained Symptoms [Book] pp 141-157

Date: December 2, 2020

URL: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-59181-6 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-59181-6_8

Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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Robert W. Baloh - Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Abstract

Fibromyalgia is generally considered a pain disorder, but most patients have additional symptoms, most commonly fatigue, insomnia and dizziness.

Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia overlap in symptoms and are associated with a variety of psychophysiological disorders, including depression, anxiety and migraine.

Patients with fibromyalgia have central sensitization to pain which can be traced to several factors including genetic variants, prior exposure to pain and stressful life events.

Although many people believe that chronic fatigue syndrome is caused by a viral infection, post-viral activation of the immune system or primary immune system dysfunction, to date there is no convincing evidence for any of these disease mechanisms.

Large outbreaks of chronic fatigue syndrome in the UK and USA had features consistent with mass psychogenic illness, including a marked female predominance and the lack of objective neurological and laboratory findings.

Keywords: Fibromyalgia, Chronic fatigue syndrome, Fibrositis, Tender points, Repetitive strain injury (RSI), Neuromyasthenia, Epstein-Barr virus, Myalgic encephalomyelitis, Chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome
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Fibromyalgia is generally considered a pain disorder, but most patients have additional symptoms, most commonly fatigue, insomnia and dizziness.
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Ah, yes, because symptoms famously only come singular. Hence why people suffering from RA have no other symptoms whatsoever. As do people with Parkinson's, no other symptoms whatsoever. Hell, it's illegal for symptoms to not come in single file so obviously this is impossible and must signify somatization!
Although many people believe that chronic fatigue syndrome is caused by a viral infection, post-viral activation of the immune system or primary immune system dysfunction, to date there is no convincing evidence for any of these disease mechanisms.
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Aging like fermented manure.

Twits.
 
rvallee said:
Aging like fermented manure.
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I think you are wrong on this @rvallee. Manure eventually turns into something really useful given enough time. Whereas this just keeps stinking.

Large outbreaks of chronic fatigue syndrome in the UK and USA had features consistent with mass psychogenic illness, including a marked female predominance and the lack of objective neurological and laboratory findings.
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It's 2020. It's hard to believe that female predominance can be used as evidence of mass psychogenic illness in a medical textbook. Where's the evidence?

Oh, all the previous cases of mass psychogenic illness where there was female predominance. And how was it known that those were mass psychogenic illnesses? It was because of the female predominance.
And why were there no objective neurological and laboratory findings? Because they were mass psychogenic illnesses - so any thorough investigation effort would have just encouraged the hysteria and be futile, because there are no objective neurological and laboratory findings in psychogenic illness.
 
Baloh is an enthusiast of 'mass psychogenic illness.' He co-wrote a paper on Havana Syndrome (the diplomats with unexplained symptoms) advocating that diagnosis.

It's worth making a comparison with the recently posted PhD paper looking at fatigue through Lacanian psychoanalytical theory. The fact is that, if you want to, you can make sense of anything by looking at it through a Lacanian 'lense', just as pretty much anything can be seen as 'consistent with mass psychogenic illness'. This is the power of pseudoscientific frameworks.
 
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DigitalDrifter said:
Haven't read it but let me guess: They have absolutely zero evidence for their bold assertions.
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I have read some of the chapters. There is very little critical insight of a scientific perspective, and no care at all given to the breadth or quality of evidence underlying the claims. The actual level of detail is fairly superficial and less than what you'd learn by reading a Wikipedia article on each of the subtopics. The overall tone is of a book written in the 1980s-1990s - there is very little that is mentioned in much detail that wasn't already well-discussed back then.
 
James Morris-Lent said:
Baloh is an enthusiast of 'mass psychogenic illness.' He co-wrote a paper on Havana Syndrome (the diplomats with unexplained symptoms) advocating that diagnosis.

It's worth making a comparison with the recently posted PhD paper looking at fatigue through Lacanian psychoanalytical theory. The fact is that, if you want to, you can make sense of anything by looking at it through a Lacanian 'lense', just as pretty much anything can be seen as 'consistent with mass psychogenic illness'. This is the power of pseudoscientific frameworks.
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Here's the latest on the Havana syndrome: (Baloh and the Lacanists will go into the dustbin of history I have no doubt.) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/ha...rowave-energy-government-study-finds-n1250094
 
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