Hi Dolphin RE It is not clear that Dr. Mirza wouldn't include people with a diagnosis of ME when talking about the "myth of chronic fatigue syndrome". He doesn't mention ME as something separate.
From my reading it seems that Dr Mirza is only talking about CFS as defined by the likes of the CDC and NICE and that he is firmly of the opinion that it is a garbage diagnosis and that a proper investigation of these patients using up to date information will almost always find the real diagnosis.
I would imagine that Dr Mirza wouldnt be including ME patients in this for the simple reason that ME patients according to NICE and CDC cant possibly get a CFS diagnosis, because if they are properly investigated they will be found to have things like POTS, failed Romberg tests, failed MRIs, SPECT, low ESR, subnormal temperature etc, plus a large assortment of other symptoms which arent included in the criteria, which makes them ineligible for a CFS diagnosis because they dont fit the CDC and NICE guidelines, if doctors are actually going to follow what these criteria say. He seems to be only talking about CFS and Im not sure what his opinions on ME are and if he has had much experience with ME patients, true ME as opposed to CFS has always been a rare condition and it is quite possible that he hasnt seen many of them.
RE I'm afraid I tend to be sceptical of individual doctors in private practice, whether they're Dr. Mirza, Dr. Hyde, or whoever. They can hype aspects about their practice and what they do. To convince me and more importantly convince the medical professional in general, they need to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals (e-letters don't count).
Then everything can be transparent.
Whether there were lots of other cases of vitamin D (or indeed Vitamin B12) in this cohort who wouldn't be classed has having CFS or ME if they got it treated has not been proven it seems to me.
If people like Dr. Hyde published more, it would be easier for people to push for testing. When dealing with medical authorities, they tend to look for papers in peer reviewed journals.
Your entitled to be as skeptical as you wish, but there is absolutely no need for Dr Mirza to publish anything regarding wrong reference ranges for the likes of Vitamin D, B12, Glucose and TSH, because the work showing that they are wrong has been published by others often including estimates of how many millions of people are having their diagnoses missed because of the use of out of date reference ranges, all the other conditions that he says should be ruled out and are not being included in the likes of the CDC and NICE guide lines are also proven published medical and scientific facts. All he has done is to keep up to date with modern research and illnesses that cause symptoms like those attributed to CFS, and then used this knowledge to find out what is wrong with his patients. It is a great shame that the likes of the CDC, NICE and are large amount of the doctors who are claiming to be experts in CFS are incapable of doing the same. He doesnt need to convince the medical profession, or publish anything, the medical profession needs to keep up to date with modern science and do their jobs properly.
RE whether they're Dr. Mirza, Dr. Hyde, or whoever. They can hype aspects about their practice and what they do.
If Dr Mirza was trying to hype his practice do you really think he would chose to put articles in the replies section of the BMJ where hardly anybody would see it except doctors. His practice is in the states, so why hype in a UK journal? Saying that he is hyping his practice seems to imply that you think he is exaggerating? Do you really believe he is risking his medical license by doing that in the BMJ?
RE Whether there were lots of other cases of vitamin D (or indeed Vitamin B12) in this cohort who wouldn't be classed has having CFS or ME if they got it treated has not been proven it seems to me.
And it more than likely wont be proven because nobody will do the tests, but if 1 in six UK citizens have severe vitamin D deficiency, and yet they only found four case out of all those people, well Id be putting my money on them having missed quite a few.
2. RE If people like Dr. Hyde published more, it would be easier for people to push for testing. When dealing with medical authorities, they tend to look for papers in peer reviewed journals.
Its not that easy to get things published and is expensive, but once again everything that Dr Hyde says should be done to rule out other diseases that causes similar symptoms to ME and CFS has been published often hundreds of times, all he does is to make sure he does all of them so he doesnt miss anything. Its just basic medicine done properly. So the idea that medical authorities look in peer reviewed journals for their information is unfortunately untrue, if they did the likes of the CDC would include the likes of Celiac and Vitamin D deficiency in their lists of conditions to rule out, the fact is that the lists complied by the likes of the CDC and NICE of other conditions to rule out are woefully incomplete often contain factual errors and have obviously not been written by people who are, one expert diagnosticians, and two people who have spent a reasonable amount of time going through peer reviewed journals looking for the latests information on fatigue causing illnesses. And until these lists are updated along the lines that the likes of Dr Mirza suggests then millions of people are going to continue to be misdiagnosed and become part of the mixed cohorts that are causing all the trouble in research.
The statements that both Mirza and Hyde are making on how to rule out other conditions are all based on published medical knowledge, and the reality is that there is nothing amazing about what their saying, its just a matter of staying up to date and ruling out all possible conditions, which is exactly what is not happening for the average patient or what the CDC and NICE are advocating, which is why so many people get misdiagnosed. Despite the fact that it is supposed to be a disease that can only be diagnosed by excluding all others!
All the best
From my reading it seems that Dr Mirza is only talking about CFS as defined by the likes of the CDC and NICE and that he is firmly of the opinion that it is a garbage diagnosis and that a proper investigation of these patients using up to date information will almost always find the real diagnosis.
I would imagine that Dr Mirza wouldnt be including ME patients in this for the simple reason that ME patients according to NICE and CDC cant possibly get a CFS diagnosis, because if they are properly investigated they will be found to have things like POTS, failed Romberg tests, failed MRIs, SPECT, low ESR, subnormal temperature etc, plus a large assortment of other symptoms which arent included in the criteria, which makes them ineligible for a CFS diagnosis because they dont fit the CDC and NICE guidelines, if doctors are actually going to follow what these criteria say. He seems to be only talking about CFS and Im not sure what his opinions on ME are and if he has had much experience with ME patients, true ME as opposed to CFS has always been a rare condition and it is quite possible that he hasnt seen many of them.
RE I'm afraid I tend to be sceptical of individual doctors in private practice, whether they're Dr. Mirza, Dr. Hyde, or whoever. They can hype aspects about their practice and what they do. To convince me and more importantly convince the medical professional in general, they need to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals (e-letters don't count).
Then everything can be transparent.
Whether there were lots of other cases of vitamin D (or indeed Vitamin B12) in this cohort who wouldn't be classed has having CFS or ME if they got it treated has not been proven it seems to me.
If people like Dr. Hyde published more, it would be easier for people to push for testing. When dealing with medical authorities, they tend to look for papers in peer reviewed journals.
Your entitled to be as skeptical as you wish, but there is absolutely no need for Dr Mirza to publish anything regarding wrong reference ranges for the likes of Vitamin D, B12, Glucose and TSH, because the work showing that they are wrong has been published by others often including estimates of how many millions of people are having their diagnoses missed because of the use of out of date reference ranges, all the other conditions that he says should be ruled out and are not being included in the likes of the CDC and NICE guide lines are also proven published medical and scientific facts. All he has done is to keep up to date with modern research and illnesses that cause symptoms like those attributed to CFS, and then used this knowledge to find out what is wrong with his patients. It is a great shame that the likes of the CDC, NICE and are large amount of the doctors who are claiming to be experts in CFS are incapable of doing the same. He doesnt need to convince the medical profession, or publish anything, the medical profession needs to keep up to date with modern science and do their jobs properly.
RE whether they're Dr. Mirza, Dr. Hyde, or whoever. They can hype aspects about their practice and what they do.
If Dr Mirza was trying to hype his practice do you really think he would chose to put articles in the replies section of the BMJ where hardly anybody would see it except doctors. His practice is in the states, so why hype in a UK journal? Saying that he is hyping his practice seems to imply that you think he is exaggerating? Do you really believe he is risking his medical license by doing that in the BMJ?
RE Whether there were lots of other cases of vitamin D (or indeed Vitamin B12) in this cohort who wouldn't be classed has having CFS or ME if they got it treated has not been proven it seems to me.
And it more than likely wont be proven because nobody will do the tests, but if 1 in six UK citizens have severe vitamin D deficiency, and yet they only found four case out of all those people, well Id be putting my money on them having missed quite a few.
2. RE If people like Dr. Hyde published more, it would be easier for people to push for testing. When dealing with medical authorities, they tend to look for papers in peer reviewed journals.
Its not that easy to get things published and is expensive, but once again everything that Dr Hyde says should be done to rule out other diseases that causes similar symptoms to ME and CFS has been published often hundreds of times, all he does is to make sure he does all of them so he doesnt miss anything. Its just basic medicine done properly. So the idea that medical authorities look in peer reviewed journals for their information is unfortunately untrue, if they did the likes of the CDC would include the likes of Celiac and Vitamin D deficiency in their lists of conditions to rule out, the fact is that the lists complied by the likes of the CDC and NICE of other conditions to rule out are woefully incomplete often contain factual errors and have obviously not been written by people who are, one expert diagnosticians, and two people who have spent a reasonable amount of time going through peer reviewed journals looking for the latests information on fatigue causing illnesses. And until these lists are updated along the lines that the likes of Dr Mirza suggests then millions of people are going to continue to be misdiagnosed and become part of the mixed cohorts that are causing all the trouble in research.
The statements that both Mirza and Hyde are making on how to rule out other conditions are all based on published medical knowledge, and the reality is that there is nothing amazing about what their saying, its just a matter of staying up to date and ruling out all possible conditions, which is exactly what is not happening for the average patient or what the CDC and NICE are advocating, which is why so many people get misdiagnosed. Despite the fact that it is supposed to be a disease that can only be diagnosed by excluding all others!
All the best