| Think
CFIDS/FM/ME is a recent disease, cropping up suddenly in the 1980s? Think
again. It has been described in the literature in accounts going back to
the 1700s. There have been numerous clusters and epidemics around the world,
including in the United States, this century alone.
The following descriptive
names have been compiled from the work of Dr. Gordon Parish, Dr. David
S. Bell, Dr. Henri Rubenstein, and Dr. Byron Hyde. The following represent
just a few of the names that have been given to this protean illness.
Poliomyelitis Names
"Postpolio syndrome is considered by the medical community to
be an indisputable entity. Unlike ME/CFS, there is no physician who doubts
its existence. However, postpolio syndrome symptomology is identical to
that of ME/CFS. The only difference is that, in postpolio syndrome, there
is clear evidence of paralytic poliomyelitis in the patient concerned.
Curiously, no note was ever made of postpolio syndrome except in the recent
medical literature, despite the fact that poliomyelitis has been in existence
as an epidemic disease since 1881 when the first epidemic of poliomyelitis
occured in Sweden. The rise in postpolio syndrome closely parallels the
increaing incidence of ME/CFS observed since 1979. It is our opionion
at Nightengale [Foundation, Dr. Hyde's research and information organization
in Canada] that postpolio syndrome is no more than ME/CFS (in an individual
with previous history of clinical poliomyelitis)."
atypical poliomyelitis
abortive poliomyelitis
encephalitis stimulating poliomyelitis
encephalitis resembling poliomyelitis
postpolio syndrome
posterior poliomyelitis
sensory poliomyelitis
Names Based Upon
Location
Iceland disease
Akureyi disease
Coventry disease
Tapanui flu
Otago mystery disease
Royal Free disease
Lake Tahoe mystery disease
Lyndonville chronic mononucleosis
English disease
Neuromyasthenia-related
Names
neuromyasthenia
neurasthenia
epidemic neuromyasthenia
epidemic pseudo myasthenia
sporadic postinfectious neuromyasthenia
neurocirculatory asthenia
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Names
myalgic encephalomyelitis
benign encephalomyelitis
benign myalgic encephalomyelitis
benign subactue encephalomyelitis
epidemic myalgic encephalomyelitis
epidemic encephalomyelopathy
acute infective encephalomyelitis
epidemic diencephalomyelitis
lymphoreticular encephalomyelopath
Myalgia-Type Names
The fibromyalgia names are based upon a symptom complex seen in ME, lupus,
rheumatoid arthritis, and several other non-associated illnesses.)
epidemic malaise
persistent myalgia following sore throat
Damadian's ache
myofascial syndrome
muscular rheumatism
fibromyalgia syndrome
fibromyositis
fibrositis
epidemic myositis
lymphocytic meningo encephalitis with myalgia and rash
syndrome polyalgique idiopathique diffus (SPID)
Personal Names
Da Costa's Syndrome
Beard's Disease
Symptom-based Names
chronic fatigue syndrome
(CFS)
la spasmophilie
Raggedy Ann syndrome
English sweats
effort syndrome
tetanie chronique idiopathique
Bacterial Names
chronic brucellosis
chronic Lyme disease
Combined Virus/Symptom
Names
post-viral fatigue
syndrome (PVFS)
persistent viral fatigue syndrome
Immune-based Names
chronic immune activation
syndrome (CIAS)
chronic immune dysfunction syndrome (CIDS)
low natural killer cell syndrome
multiple chemical sensitivity sydnrom
ecological disease
allergic fatigue syndrome
antibody negative lupus
antibody netabive Lyme disease
chronic activate immune dysfunction syndrome (CAIDS)
chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS)
naxalone-reversible monocyte dysfunction syndrome (NRMDS)
Epstein-Barr Virus-based
Names
(Keep in mind that EBV and mononeucleosis has now been discarded as the
cause of CFS/ME. Not only is the virus prevalent in the non-CFS/ME population,
not all CFS/ME patients show positive titres to EBV.)
chronic Epstein-Barr
virus syndrome (CEBV)
chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection (CAEBV)
chronic mononeucleosis
familial chronic mononeucleosis
chronic infectious mononeucleosis
chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection
chronic mononeucleosis-like syndrome
Hypothalamic Names
epidemic vegetative
neuritis
neurocirculatory asthenia
vasoregulatory asthenia
vasomotor instability
vasomotor neurosis
habitual chronic hyperventilation syndrome
The "Atypical"
Names
atypical multiple
sclerosis
atypical migraine
Miscellaneous Names
soldier's heart
epidemic vasculitis syndrome
Media Names
yuppie flu
yuppie plague
When I was going from
doctor to doctor, seeking to find out just what was wrong with me (fevers,
chronically feeling chilled to the point of shivering on warm Summer nights,
swollen glands in throat and armpits, fatigue, brainfog, memory problems,
head-to-toe pain, eye problems and more), I saw an infectious diseases
doctor at UCLA, referred to me by the endocrinologist I saw there. Turns
out she was a specialist in tropical diseases but agreed to do some blood
tests to see what turned up, especially given my recent background in
working with wildlife and having spent a year in Israel (albeit more than
a decade previous to that time). What I now know to be typical abnormalities
were found (weird SED rate, abnormal liver function), but what didn't
hit me until I was typing up this list was that of all the zoonotic diseases
she tested me for (including Q fever, toxoplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted
fever, etc.) the only one that came up positive was canine brucellosis.
I joked about getting "kennel cough" from my dog who caught
it when he was hospitalized for hip surgery. Now, it's not so funny...
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