Information on research into visul problems in ME/CFS - this is a conference report
Dr Claire Hutchinson, School of Psychology, University of Leicester
Visual processing and ME
Dr Hutchinson gave an interesting presentation covering the sort of visual problems that people with ME/CFS commonly report. She also described the way in which she has been investigating these symptoms in a group of 63 people with ME/CFS to see if they can be confirmed by objective measures of visual performance.
Visual symptoms are quite commonly reported in a range of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Some of these symptoms may be related to what is termed cortical hyperexcitability - in other words, parts of the brain involved with visual messages become over sensitive. There is currently very little information in the medical literature about visual symptoms in ME/CFS but these problems are frequently discussed on social media and may have a significant impact on the quality of everyday life. Some people, for instance, stop driving as a result.
Visual symptoms that people with ME/CFS often report include:
•increased awareness or sensitivity to bright light
•visual or reading fatigue
•difficulty with focussing on images and following moving images
•vision related headaches after reading
•pain in or around the eye
•dry and/or itchy eyes - dry eye syndrome
From a research point of view, Dr Hutchinson has been carrying out a number of tests to see if these symptoms can be objectively measured and confirmed.
Using a group of people with ME/CFS, along with a control group, Dr Hutchinson described some of the investigations she has been carrying out to measure:
•cortical excitability
•visual attention and the ability to ignore irrelevant background information
•eye movement and the ability to track/follow objects
The results so far, some of which have been published, indicate that basic eye movements to simple static targets are less accurate in people with ME/CFS and that moving eyes for even short periods of time induces eye-movement fatigue. This type of opthalmological testing has helped to confirm that people with ME/CFS have a range of problems related to visual attention that are consistent with their self-reported symptoms.
•More information on this research can be found here:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/psychology/ppl/ch190/CFS_ME
Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, MEA