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https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/898564?src=soc_fb_share#vp_1
Perspective > Medscape Internal Medicine
'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' Takes Down Doctors, Too
Miriam E. Tucker
DISCLOSURES
June 28, 2018
Perspective > Medscape Internal Medicine
'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' Takes Down Doctors, Too
Miriam E. Tucker
DISCLOSURES
June 28, 2018
A Complex and Poorly Understood Illness
Gary Solomon, MD, was performing a routine facelift in 2012 when his career-ending event occurred. "For about 10-15 seconds, I kind of spaced out and got lost. No one noticed. I came back to normal, finished the surgery, and quit that day. I realized that I was dangerous and couldn't work anymore."
Solomon, who was then chief of surgery and director of the Wound Healing Center at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in California, had been ill on and off for about a decade. It all started in 2002, when he developed brachial plexus neuritis that presented with sudden acute shoulder pain and weakness in the upper extremities.
The viral infection resolved in a few months, but he then began experiencing other distressing symptoms: a severe upper respiratory infection that persisted for months, paresthesias, dizziness, gastrointestinal symptoms, and brain fog. He took some time off, but when he returned, he could often only work half-days or needed long breaks to lie down. "It seemed like all my body functions were failing me," says Solomon.
Research on his symptoms pointed him to a complex and poorly understood illness called "chronic fatigue syndrome," now known as "myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome" (ME/CFS). But his neurologist didn't buy it. "He told me, 'We don't believe in this disease.' I thought that was weird, because I'm a pretty straight shooter, and he was somehow implying that I was crazy."
Other Patient Stories
Mark Vink, MD, was a practicing family physician in Amsterdam for 20 years—and before that, a Dutch national field hockey champion—before contracting pneumonia from a patient and then developing ME/CFS. He has been bedridden since 2005, as is 1 in 4 patients with ME/CFS.
"I don't have the muscular strength to sit, stand, or walk, and I suffer from hypersensitivity to light and sound. I spend my days in a dark and quiet room.