Ah, I see.
I was wondering whether
@mermaid has Hashimoto's
instead of ME. Yes, many of the symptoms are similar, but that is true with many illnesses mistaken for ME. Shoving all illnesses with some symptoms generally similar to ME under the ME umbrella is a major problem in the research, treatment, and political arenas.
Most patients (here at PR, at least) and experienced researchers and clinicians consider the CCC and the ICC the most accurate definitions of the illness. Both require PEM/PENE for an ME diagnosis. So a patients could have ME
and Hashimoto's if they have the symptoms of both including PEM/PENE. However, Hashimoto's symptoms without PEM/PENE seems to be singularly Hashimoto's and not a form of ME.
However, if Hashimoto's patients also experience PEM/PENE (which is
not exercise intolerance) then it would indeed be difficult to distinguish between Hashimoto's and ME, so it could be, as
@Jonathan Edwards suggests,
So the question remains for the membership at large -- does anyone know if Hashimoto's, or other autoimmune illnesses have PEM/PENE (as opposed to exercise intolerance) as part of their symptom set?
If so, we might want to consider joining with these groups as "types of ME" for advocacy and research purposes. They have better funding and better public perception. If they are "types of ME" and we can make that argument based on scientific facts, we are in a much better position politically. No one is arguing that Hashimoto's or lupus or other autoimmune diseases exist.
Imagine being able to say, "I have ME" and when friends/family/doctors ask what it is, you can say, "Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, lupus, (and so on) are all types of ME". It would give us SO much more credibility.