Update here (22 Feb 2018): https://solvecfs.org/2016-ramsay-research-team-1-update/ Includes this (broken up for readability]:
This study sounds really interesting and potentially valuable. I don't know quite what to make of the diagnostic process used, as Younger describes it here: I find it odd that he makes no mention of PEM as a way of distinguishing ME/CFS patients from other 'fatigued' patients. I hope this is just because he is trying to be brief. I don't know what definition he uses. He says: I'm unsure what he means by this. Does he mean that the symptom fatigue is a result of brain inflammation, and that he is hypothesising that this is the full explanation for ME/CFS? Or does he mean that other symptoms, such as muscle fatiguability and pain and PEM might have different causes, and the brain inflammation only affects fatigue (and presumably brain fog)?
It sounds interesting. Perhaps he doesn't mention PEM because, like 'fatigue', 'malaise' is generally a meaningless term. Arguably, illnesses like MS also have their own kind of PEM, which isn't the same as ours (people with MS get worsened fatigue after exertion, but they don't get all the immune flare-ups and other defining features we get). PENE is a better term, in general.
Although I do believe Younger knows very well what ME is, he usually mentions 'fatigue' as the subject of his studies. His lab is called Neuroinflammation, Pain and Fatigue Laboratory. Is that why he is using Fukuda? And does that mean that higher brain temperature causes 'fatigue' not related to a specific illness?
Well this is interesting, no less in part since I've had many practitioners exclaim at the heat or 'energy' coming off my head. Once I had ice packs on my lumbar spine and cervical spine left for about 15 minutes, upon removing the lumbar one it was a bit slushy, but the doctor lifting the bag off the cervical spine stopped and exclaimed "It's not only melted, it's Hot!" I was about to say to him, 'Doc, that is the least of the weirdness we experience in this disease and rarely ever mention to our doctors, because like you seem right now, if you didn't see it yourself, you're not going to believe it, and that doesn't help us to mention it.'
Actually, one great thing about Jarred Younger is that he understands that there are different ME subgroups... and he tries to get representation from the groups, so that he can better explain similarites/differences. https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2017/07/15/immune-subsets-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-younger/ So, I'd definitely expect/ hope that he includes the autoimmune subset, and continues on this route. Although not all people with auto-immune diseases contract ME, those of us who do... get nearly the same immune flare-ups... from the same exertion triggers... after the same 24+ hour delay. From that perspective... were almost identical to post-infection ME sufferers. There's surprisingly few differences... other than we have gradual onset (instead of sudden), and apparently our immune reaction signature seems to be slightly different. I guess they'll be more on that as more research comes out.
