Is M.E. MS Light?

[akrasia]

http://www.x-rx.net/blog/

Jamie Deckoff Jones' reflects on her current self treatment strategies, the Wahl diet, ongoing retroviral questions raised by Sidney Grossberg and others' research, lyme disease and antibiotics, and her working hypothesis that m.e. is m.s. light.

In a comment, Gerwyn fleshes out the comparison.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

I didn't realize anyone was taking antiretrovirals for this, and she seems to be claiming it has helped her and her daughter. interesting, thanks.

 

[lastgasp]

I think the main difference is that ME directly involves a wider range of bodily systems while MS is more concentrated, Dr Hyde said something to this effect that makes ME more diffuse but MS more fulminant. MS expert Dr Poser has looked at MRIs of both and said he can tell the difference from the lesions' distribution, if I recall.

I'm not too sure I'd agree that ME is "lite" either by itself or in comparison.

The average life expectancy is 30 years from onset, being 5 to 10 years lower than that of unaffected people.[1] Almost 40% of people with MS reach the seventh decade of life.[86]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_sclerosis]

That's not ME, it's MS, slightly worse or slightly better depending on which ME survival rates you go by (eg. Jason's having a decreased life expectancy of up to 20 years[?]). I think deaths due to ME are underreported while the life expectancy of MS will be slowly rising over the years, but pwME has more chronicly severe disability in a large subgroup.