A urine neurotransmitter panel 18 months ago showed low norepinephrine. A blood platelet catecholamine panel six months later also showed even lower norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is involved in regulating blood pressure, and blood pressure dysfunction can cause many OI symptoms.
Increasing norepinephrine directly (without also increasing dopamine and/or epinephrine) isn't really feasible currently, so trying a norepinephrine reputake inhibitore (NRI) made sense. They are all prescription drugs though. My ND from Seattle was willing to prescribe one (Strattera/atomoxetine) for me, based on those test results and the anecdotal experience of another ME patient, and it worked wonderfully, so we decided it makes sense for me to keep using it.
Neither of the norepinephrine tests were suggested or paid for by my Dutch insurance. And when a cardiologist referred me to a neurologist to look into getting Strattera prescribed here in the Netherlands, the neurologist assured me that drugs cannot help me, only GET. This was AFTER I showed him my norepinephrine lab results and described the symptoms that the drug was successfully treating. Then he printed out the entire PACE trial to, err, prove his point.
Researching the neurologist on the internet showed that he was a big proponent of "medically unexplained symptoms", with the usual view about (not) providing actual medical treatment for patients that have them. It's hard to say whether Simon Wessely's work specifically influenced his attitude, but the BPS and/or psychosomatic schools of thought certainly did. And the result was that he would entirely discount all evidence of a physiological abnormality being successfully treated by something other than an anti-depressant.
Fortunately my GP seems to believe ME is a physiological issue, not a mental health problem, so she's trying to get me a referral to a neuroendicrinologist. So far she doesn't want to prescribe it herself though, since she isn't a specialist in an area that would involve the use of an NRI. But if that doesn't work out, I can still get it prescribed by my US doctor and emailed to me - just costs a ton that way.
If your doctor doesn't want to prescribe it for OI, the primary use of Strattera is for ADHD, and it's also commonly used for anxiety. So if you and/or you doctor think you have either of those problems, that might be an alternate way to obtain it. But I definitely advocate testing neurotransmitters first, to see where the actual problem is, especially since different ME patients seem to have different problems.
Valentijn, Thanks for posting this information. It's certainly given me a lot to think about. I'll give a full reply when I've had a chance to do some background reading.