Interesting thread. I have a large family that might give some insights about CFS gender issues. I got sick first, and yes, went through the years of male denial, re-framed the illness several times to be certain I did NOT have ME/CFS/CFIDS. But eventually about five years ago it became undeniable. I was totally disabled finally, and this was not 'burn-out', not 'Lyme Disease' and certainly not just 'Candidiasis'. Thinking back I really do have some of those conditions, but they are not the major problem, I could probably have treated any of those successfully, what made this CFS was the dopey mitochondria, the inability to exercise and the continual immune activation.
OK, so here is the data for us, I have a large family, six children, three boys and three girls. And here is how this has played out over the last 14 years that I have been sick. I was first, had both sudden and gradual onsets, and partly recovered once and went back to work full-time, back to my regular over-scheduled career (probably 60 hrs/week avg). Of course that did not last. About year 4 I really crashed and the recovery was finished and I got worse than ever. At that time my oldest daughter began the slide into CFS, at one point she became sicker than I was, she did not leave the house for several years (a little improved now, but still totally disabled). Then my wife started to have some CF, but never CFS. She still has some PEM problems and has to rest after being out and about all day, and sleeps an extra 4 hours many days, but still can do physical work, no apparent mitochondria problems. It is a partial CFS case perhaps. She has a lot of mood issues that started around the time I had my relapse in year four and those have never stopped.
My second daughter is healthier like my wife, a little CF after a lot of exertion but no loss of endurance, still runs half marathons, she is a very busy college student now. The third daugher is pre-CFS, a teenager, we are watching her. Maybe we can prevent CFS in her, we have trained her to listen to her energy level, and get extra rest when she needs it. So far things are alright but she does take a long time to heal from colds, etc.
Now the three sons, basically no CFS, no CF, they are high-energy. The oldest is a college student who likes to climb mountains. The second son (secondary school) occasionally gets tired and listless but he just goes to bed and a few extra hours of sleep works. One son seems to have lower than normal energy when he is sick, but he really does not have any CF/CFS symtpoms. The boys run circles around us.
So how does this fit the theories? The male gets CFS first, then one of three daughers gets severe CFS, another daugher is pre-CFS and being watched carefully, another daughter and the wife have some CF but no signs of real CFS, and three sons with no CFS or CF.
I have wondered if this male/female thing is real, it appears to me that in my family at least the females are more vulnerable. Maybe I had some type of neurological injury or gene mutations that the others do not have that created a susceptibility in myself. One things that is odd is to see the different immune responses between the males and females in my family. When the males get sick they just seem to get through it faster. The females all seem to take longer to recover from anything. I am somewhere inbetween the two groups.
So, for us the final score, in a family with 4 males and 4 females, and shared genetics:
CFS:
1 Male
3 Females (one with CFS, 2 with CF or pre-CFS)
HEALTHY:
3 Males
1 Female
OK, so here is the data for us, I have a large family, six children, three boys and three girls. And here is how this has played out over the last 14 years that I have been sick. I was first, had both sudden and gradual onsets, and partly recovered once and went back to work full-time, back to my regular over-scheduled career (probably 60 hrs/week avg). Of course that did not last. About year 4 I really crashed and the recovery was finished and I got worse than ever. At that time my oldest daughter began the slide into CFS, at one point she became sicker than I was, she did not leave the house for several years (a little improved now, but still totally disabled). Then my wife started to have some CF, but never CFS. She still has some PEM problems and has to rest after being out and about all day, and sleeps an extra 4 hours many days, but still can do physical work, no apparent mitochondria problems. It is a partial CFS case perhaps. She has a lot of mood issues that started around the time I had my relapse in year four and those have never stopped.
My second daughter is healthier like my wife, a little CF after a lot of exertion but no loss of endurance, still runs half marathons, she is a very busy college student now. The third daugher is pre-CFS, a teenager, we are watching her. Maybe we can prevent CFS in her, we have trained her to listen to her energy level, and get extra rest when she needs it. So far things are alright but she does take a long time to heal from colds, etc.
Now the three sons, basically no CFS, no CF, they are high-energy. The oldest is a college student who likes to climb mountains. The second son (secondary school) occasionally gets tired and listless but he just goes to bed and a few extra hours of sleep works. One son seems to have lower than normal energy when he is sick, but he really does not have any CF/CFS symtpoms. The boys run circles around us.
So how does this fit the theories? The male gets CFS first, then one of three daughers gets severe CFS, another daugher is pre-CFS and being watched carefully, another daughter and the wife have some CF but no signs of real CFS, and three sons with no CFS or CF.
I have wondered if this male/female thing is real, it appears to me that in my family at least the females are more vulnerable. Maybe I had some type of neurological injury or gene mutations that the others do not have that created a susceptibility in myself. One things that is odd is to see the different immune responses between the males and females in my family. When the males get sick they just seem to get through it faster. The females all seem to take longer to recover from anything. I am somewhere inbetween the two groups.
So, for us the final score, in a family with 4 males and 4 females, and shared genetics:
CFS:
1 Male
3 Females (one with CFS, 2 with CF or pre-CFS)
HEALTHY:
3 Males
1 Female