CFIDS - "low immunity functioning" Or "chronically activated immunity" ?

[SunMoonsStars]

I was also wondering do most of CFIDS have "low immunity functioning" Or "chronically activated immunity" ?
I know the question is more complex but overall I have read it can be both but there must be sub categories.

People with chronic activated immunity must have some different symptoms or ways to diagnose and treat?
I have not found too much information on this subject in detail besides an article ironically on same site for CFS Treatment Guidelines where I found the work by Dr. Goldsteins work on EBV treatment and of course his many other methods of treating various symptoms of CFIDS


Any insight or direction to articles or research appreciated ! Thank you!

 

[dannybex]

It's my understanding that in ME/CFS (or CFIDS or SEID) the immune system becomes dysfunctional or imbalanced towards the th2 and away from th1, but others will probably know more than myself.

For example, here's one study showing the tilt towards th2:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1808936/

 

[heapsreal]

Dysfunctional is my opinion. My scenario is some low immune tests eg neutropenia as well as low nk function. Then I have elevated cd T cell lymphocytes and high total lymphocytes when off antivirals. So a mixture of certain immune functions are high and low, dysfunctional.

 

[alex3619]

Definitely dysfunctional. However its not a case of an exclusive either/or. Bits are suppressed, bits are more active, and those bits may vary from person to person or over time. Hornig's work on cytokines over time show a shifted pattern at about the three year mark. Before that its more overactive, after that its more underactive. Nobody knows what happens in the transition, the suspicion is its some kind of immune exhaustion.

 

[snowathlete]

I've had this disease at least 7 years now and in my opinion the root disease process is immune over-activation. But as others have said, that doesn't mean all the immune system is over activated. It seems to me that some part of the immune system is in high gear all the time, and that takes up a lot of resources; our bodies are not designed for it, and that means there are less resources for other biological functions, including other elements in the immune system. Lipkin/Hornig's research suggests that this high gear may also burn itself out after a while, so it may well end up being the case that all of us end up with a low running immune system in the end.

I kind of see it a bit like trying to drive a car up a hill, but the hill never levels off and ends. All you can do is keep going, but it puts a strain on the engine, and things break down. Eventually you surely run out of fuel? Do we have the luxury of a handbrake to stop us falling off the hill when the car is trashed? I don't know for sure, but it seems some people fall and others manage to stop or slow the decline. Personally, I feel like my body is still driving forward up the hill, at the moment, but more and more things are showing signs of serious wear.

 

[halcyon]

Lipkin/Hornig's research suggests that this high gear may also burn itself out after a while, so it may well end up being the case that all of us end up with a low running immune system in the end.

Either that or it's a purposeful downregulation as a protective mechanism. I know Hornig has been presenting it as immune exhaustion when she talks to the media, but I think we should be careful about calling it that until we have some proof that that's what's really happening.

 

[SunMoonsStars]

Great responses.
I think its all true and seems different for each person too.
I am so interested after my response to Cimetidine and seeing differences in blood work during that time I am pretty convinced that my immune markers have been stimulated just as some studies indicate and has really got me wondering more and more about immune modulation and why there is not much more and many more doctors helping patients to fine tune this or to work with this during times of higher need.
Not only CFIDS/ME but so many autoimmunity and other diseases and disorders and cancers etc.