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Famous Athlete with possible CFS/ME

PokerPlayer

Guest
Messages
125
Location
Seattle, Washington
A sick Jeremy Maclin still not practicing - CBSSports.com http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/31089937

WR for the Philadelphia Eagles Jeremy Maclin is said to still be ailing from a bad case of mono that has not gone away. Rumors are that he has been diagnosed with cfs/me.....

this could be interesting if a famous athlete in the prime of their career has this diagnosis ...... A news story that should definitely have an eye kept on.

What would the implications of this be if this is career ending?
 

mellster

Marco
Messages
805
Location
San Francisco
I think these are all somewhat fluid definition and quite a few cases start out as post-viral fatigue and then progress to chronic CFS or ME or not. He definitely has better doctors access but if it is really PVF, he could easily lapse into CFS/ME if the exercise burden put on him will prove too much. Tough decision if this is your job - I hope he will be fine.
 

PokerPlayer

Guest
Messages
125
Location
Seattle, Washington
Yeah, I hope he is fine too.

One thing is weird to me though is why have no athletes come down with cfs/me? I have the symptoms since I was 22 and in great shape so it just makes me wonder that its going to eventually strike someone famous.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
its a pitty that the average person who gets cfs is seen by the general public as a winer or to lazy and just needs to exercise and be positive but an athlete with cfs is seen has pushing himself beyond his limits. Although i sympathize with them for getting cfs and dreams have come tumbling down, having them as advocates doesnt seem to help the majority of cfsers. Many average joe's with cfs lose their dreams, just that our dreams arent as spectacular. Dont get me wrong i do feel very sorry for them but the public cant or doesnt compare our loses as the same as athletes.

cfs is just crap for everyone and doesnt discriminate.

cheers!!!
 

kaffiend

Senior Member
Messages
167
Location
California
Said Maclin at the time: It was off and on. I went for a week where I felt good, and then all of a sudden the feeling would be back.

It's eerie to read that quote and know exactly what he's referring to with regard to "the feeling." Not that it still isn't, but the first weeks and months of this illness were quite confusing. I kept thinking, what the hell is happening to me? I felt like I was being poisoned.

I can almost see all the doctors scratching their heads. I'm wondering if the lack of famous people with this disease comes about by having the financial means to take some serious time off at the beginning. I know I kept trying to push full throttle for several months.
 

ahimsa

ahimsa_pdx on twitter
Messages
1,921
One thing is weird to me though is why have no athletes come down with cfs/me?

Michelle Akers is one of the famous athletes who has been diagnosed with CFS. One reason I remember her was because, like me, she also has NMH (neurally mediated hypotension). She was able to get saline IVs to help her practice and play. She retired from football (soccer in the USA) in 2000.

She was in the film I Remember Me (http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=irememberme - also available on amazon). There are also lots of articles online about her. Here's an old one from the CFIDS Assocation web site: http://www.cfids.org/archives/1998/pre-1999-article03.asp

Edited to use the "correct word for the sport" according to my husband. :D
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
i could have been a great athlete, just didnt have any skill, co-ordination, stamina or strength, thats my excuse, lol.

Oh, sounds like you were close to being a pro!;)

I hope this guy doesn't get sick like us, but perhaps he will not because he has lots of "specialists" around him.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Yeah, I hope he is fine too.

One thing is weird to me though is why have no athletes come down with cfs/me? I have the symptoms since I was 22 and in great shape so it just makes me wonder that its going to eventually strike someone famous.

Maybe cause of the so many myths out there that we are lazy etc. It is harder for athletes to get diagnosed with this. My cousin was an athlete who had a scholourship at the Western Australia Institute of Sport (hope i have the name of it right), she was hoping to compete in the olympics and her sister a few years older did get picked for the team, she would of ended up going too.

She thou developed same symptoms as I do (clearly ME) and ended up on disability at the age of 17 or 18yrs old. She's on disability with an "unknown illness" and as she dont believe in ME/CFS and neither did the Institute of Sports doctors believe she could have it ... well she still remains without our label. One of our top up and coming athletes, wiped out by ME.

When I tried to get throu to her about what her unknown disability is.. she said the doctors said that is a psychological illness so it cant be what is wrong with her.
(the myth that goes on is stopping serious ME cases from being diagnosed.. making it more likely for those who do have psych issues to get a diagnoses)

So if it happened to her with the Institute of Sports doctors here who are in charge of famous athletes.. it must happen to other athletes there too... so dont expect to hear of any Aussie Athletes with ME esp from Western Australia. (I think they were even lacking a WA ME/CFS society over there at the time too, they thou may have one there now)
 

Daffodil

Senior Member
Messages
5,875
there has to be a lot more people out there with this illness. its seemingly so easily transmitted (or activated or w/e)....i think people figure its gotta be contagious so they dont want to advertise it?
 

Battery Muncher

Senior Member
Messages
620
Maybe cause of the so many myths out there that we are lazy etc. It is harder for athletes to get diagnosed with this. My cousin was an athlete who had a scholourship at the Western Australia Institute of Sport (hope i have the name of it right), she was hoping to compete in the olympics and her sister a few years older did get picked for the team, she would of ended up going too.

She thou developed same symptoms as I do (clearly ME) and ended up on disability at the age of 17 or 18yrs old. She's on disability with an "unknown illness" and as she dont believe in ME/CFS and neither did the Institute of Sports doctors believe she could have it ... well she still remains without our label. One of our top up and coming athletes, wiped out by ME.

When I tried to get throu to her about what her unknown disability is.. she said the doctors said that is a psychological illness so it cant be what is wrong with her.
(the myth that goes on is stopping serious ME cases from being diagnosed.. making it more likely for those who do have psych issues to get a diagnoses)

So if it happened to her with the Institute of Sports doctors here who are in charge of famous athletes.. it must happen to other athletes there too... so dont expect to hear of any Aussie Athletes with ME esp from Western Australia. (I think they were even lacking a WA ME/CFS society over there at the time too, they thou may have one there now)

Good post taniaaust1. I too was heavily involved in sport, but contracted me/cfs when was 15 or so (developed slowly).
 

richvank

Senior Member
Messages
2,732
Hi, all.

There is a disorder recognized in sports medicine called "Overtraining Syndrome." After reading descriptions of the symptoms, I think it is really the same as ME/CFS. In my hypothesis, anything that depletes glutathione enough in a genetically susceptible person will cause the onset of ME/CFS. Severe exercise generates a lot of reactive oxygen species just because the metabolism has to run faster. Glutathione is at the basis of the antioxidant system. If it can't keep up with the oxidative stress, it will become depleted, and ME/CFS onset will follow.

Best regards,

Rich
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
i think it can sometimes be easier for the average gym junkie/fitness fanatic to over train. Many try to train like a full time athlete while working full time and juggling family stuff etc and if susceptable to cfs, bang! just like rich mentioned. plus there are us who dont realise they have cfs for a while and push through the fatigue and PEM etc and probably made our cfs worse, the 'old' push/crash thing we all seem to go through.

cheers!!!
 

Battery Muncher

Senior Member
Messages
620
Hi, all.

There is a disorder recognized in sports medicine called "Overtraining Syndrome." After reading descriptions of the symptoms, I think it is really the same as ME/CFS. In my hypothesis, anything that depletes glutathione enough in a genetically susceptible person will cause the onset of ME/CFS. Severe exercise generates a lot of reactive oxygen species just because the metabolism has to run faster. Glutathione is at the basis of the antioxidant system. If it can't keep up with the oxidative stress, it will become depleted, and ME/CFS onset will follow.

Best regards,

Rich

Interesting. In the early days, I often thought I had 'Overtraining syndrome'...

I find the glutathione thesis interesting as well, although I don't understand why it isn't reversible. I accept that this is probably due to my ignorance, though.
 
Messages
15,786
I find the glutathione thesis interesting as well, although I don't understand why it isn't reversible. I accept that this is probably due to my ignorance, though.

Theoretically it is reversible, though there hasn't been much research in the area. And most of us here haven't had sufficient testing to see exactly where/if the processes are failing, which makes it a bit of guessing game to treat it. It's also somewhat likely that something is perpetuating the problem ... maybe a virus, or leaky gut, or fungus, etc.
 

richvank

Senior Member
Messages
2,732
Interesting. In the early days, I often thought I had 'Overtraining syndrome'...

I find the glutathione thesis interesting as well, although I don't understand why it isn't reversible. I accept that this is probably due to my ignorance, though.

Hi, Battery Muncher.

It has been reversed, but in a pretty small number of cases so far. In most cases, there has been significant improvement, but not total reversal, on methylation treatment. It looks as though the difficulties are caused by the things that were present initially that brought down glutathione, and/or things that piled on later, as a result of the defenses against pathogens, toxins and oxidative stress being down, in the absence of sufficient glutathione, and in the absence of the ability to make new cells as needed, because of the folate draining from the cells. The methylation cycle block likely causes changes in gene expression as well, and these may not be easily changed back.

The problems that this vicious circle mechanism causes are so fundamental to the basic metabolism of the cells that it is difficult to reverse all the things that happen. I do think that lifting the partial methylation cycle block and thus restoring glutathione and folate levels is a necessary part of the overall protocol to bring a person to recovery from ME/CFS, though. I think the other, complicating issues need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, because they do not appear to be the same for all cases.

Rich