Gingergrrl
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Even in their very first paper, they didn't say CFS is an autoimmune disease, but said it might be "a variant of an autoimmune disease." (for me that's a difference, but maybe for physicians/scientists, it's the same - I don't know)
It sounds like a difference to me too, but then again, what do I know?
In one lecture which I linked to elsewhere, Dr Fluge was also sceptical of Dr Naviaux's hypothesis that CFS is a dysfunctional metabolic state akin to a state known as dauer in nematods.
I never really resonated with the whole Dauer state hypothesis but maybe b/c it is just not how my own illness presents. I do not lack energy but I am limited in what I can do standing/walking to the point that I still use wheelchair when I go out. I go out daily, but with the wheelchair, I really have no limits now. And once I reach my destination, I often do not need the wheelchair which is a vast difference to pre-treatment when I needed it 24/7 inside of my apt. I also have a vast improvement in muscle strength and breathing (but it never felt like a lack of energy to me).
He said he thinks it's immunological, maybe caused by an antibody (I checked, he explicitly said "antibody" and not "autoantibody").
My own illness is autoimmune/immunological for sure and it started off viral and flipped into autoimmunity. I was very high IgM+ for EBV for 3-4 yrs post-Mono which I had in 2012. What antibody was he referring to? Antibody tests are no longer considered accurate for me after 1.5 yrs of IVIG (vs. PCR tests are still accurate).