IMHO it's doubtful she had ME/CFS. What complicates matters is that she was clearly hypothyroid. It amazes me that thyroxine (T4) and/or Cytomel (T3) weren't part of her treatment plan. Any TSH above a 3.0 is suspect and hers was 15.02. At that level, no one is allowed to drive.
Test Results
- The blood test showed hypothyroid function – low thyroid hormone output production. Her TSH score was 15.02 far above the laboratory “normal” reference range and her Free T4 (thyroxine) test was abnormally low.
The Standard Process Thytrophin she was given (among other things) contained Magnesium citrate and bovine thyroid PMG™ extract (processed to substantially remove its thyroxine).
Yet, some people develop CFS after having a viral or bacterial infection, such as the flu, some after a trauma, such as a sports or car accident (Dellwo, 2013; Eck, 2014) but there is no evidence to prove either link in this case.
The symptoms the patient had (according to the article) were:
On the adapted Visual Analysis Scale (VAS) used (Eustice, 2009) for fatigue and modified for this investigation, the patient said, “it would be a 9 or 10 most of the time, even upon getting up in the mornings I do not feel rested.”
The athlete reported having a training ‘incident’ but not a real accident a few years prior. She hurt her lower back that restricted her workouts for about 6-8 weeks but nothing requiring imaging, radiographs, scans, or a special visit with the family doctor. The CFS symptoms however, did begin a few months after the incident but she never made the connection.
I've not heard of anyone coming down with ME/CFS months after a low back injury. I doubt if there is a connection here.
The way this is worded it's hard to say if the following symptoms were attributed to the patient of if they were just part of a general discussion of ME/CFS:
Symptoms of the syndrome
Extreme tiredness and extreme fatigue was the main symptom:
- Exhausted all or much of the time.
- Problems sleeping; wake up feeling tired and not rested.
- Hard to think clearly, to concentrate, and to remember things.
- Headaches, muscle and joint pain, and tender glands in the neck and armpits.
- Symptoms flare-up after mental, emotional, or physical activity that used to be no problem to cope with.
- Depression common and seems to make other symptoms worse.
A lot of her symptoms could have been due to hypothyroidism.
I've been hypothyroid and it feels like ME/CFS times 10, with severe morning fatigue and cognitive problems, so it's not surprising she rated her fatigue as 9 or 10.
