Extemporaneous Notes From IIMEC8
Severe ME
The situation of severely ill bedbound ME patients was also discussed by some of the presenters at the 2013 IiME conference.
Dr Peterson said that the healthcare system is not geared for these types of patients. In the past these patients would have been cared for in hospitals with alimentary treatments but now the cost is prohibitive.
Dr Staines said the situation is bizarre as normally the most severe patients in any illness get most attention and are hospitalized but in ME the situation seems to be reverse.
The Australian Marshall-Gradisnik research group has included severe ME patients in their studies but have not found any differences in the immune system parameters in groups rated according to severity.
Dr Staines pointed out that ME is however a multisystem illness and the immune system is only one part of it.
The Griffiths University, where the Marshall-Gradisnik group is located, also has beds for patients so that they can include severely ill patients in their studies as well as monitor patients for 24 hours or more.
This is something that should be possible elsewhere too.
Doctors simply do not know what to do with these patients so there is an urgent need for education.
After the conference Dr Bansal added the following especially for Invest in ME for a forthcoming news article (which subsequently was not used), explaining severe ME in the following way -
“While it is presently very difficult for modern medicine to fully explain all severe ME symptoms, disordered neural function within the brain and spinal cord would come close.
How this occurs is unknown but there are counterparts in certain newly described autoimmune conditions and viral infections of the nervous system.
In addition to a direct stimulation of neurones in different parts of the brain and spinal cord there is also an impaired filtering function of the brain stem and a reduced threshold for neurones to fire off.
This allows external stimuli such as movement, light, sounds, touch and sometimes even worrying thoughts to produce widespread neuronal activation with ultimate excitotoxic damage to these cells.
The consequence is impaired activity of the brain generally but particularly the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex leading to fatigue, disordered sleep, impaired memory, attention, faintness, palpitations, disordered respiration, temperature dysregulation etc.
Outwardly many patients appear well and routine blood and other investigations are normal.
Internally there are severe symptoms which, if unchecked, escalate leading ultimately to immobility and increasing pain and spasms in a proportion of patients.
Clearly a greater understanding of this highly disabling condition is required with a greater focus on disrupted immune and neural pathways and not just psychosocial factors as has previously been the case.”
