Hi Folks:
I have CFIDS but I also had a muscle biopsy which is the gold standard (at this point) for a mitochondrial disease diagnosis. I can answer a few basic questions about mito. There are a number of very bad mitochondrial diseases that kids are born with and which can greatly shorten and disrupt their lives. These are genetic diseases, mostly inherited from the mother as mitochondrial disease always comes from the mom (the mitochondria in the Dad are in the tail of the sperm and the tail drops off when an egg is fertilized). Those genetic diseases are fairly well known under an assortment of names and usually are extremely severe. They also involve exercise intolerance (a hallmark of CFIDS).
Some cases of CFIDS are what are often referred to as "acquired" mitochondrial disease. You had a healthy person and then after an infectious, environmental or chemical trigger a mitochondrial disease develops. The trigger "unmasks" a genetic defect that was already there but might have not been a problem without the "insult" that unmasked it. While the genetic diseases are fairly well understood the "acquired" ones can be very variable. This is because when mitochondria convert food into energy it takes about 200 steps. If some of those steps are screwed up by the unmasking of a genetic problem than it causes disease.
In my case my muscle biopsy showed very rare problems in complex II. The 200 steps are organized into five sequential "complexes". Most of the activity occurs within the mitochondria but in complex II the activity involves a conversation between the many mitochondria (and their dna) within the cell and the nuclear dna within the nucleus of the cell. The nuclear dna comes equally from both parents.
There is a fantastic researcher now in Boston, Vamsi Mootha, who is developing a simple blood test that will involve one single drop of patient blood to check all 200 chemical steps. That will revolutionize mitochondrial disease diagnosis as a muscle biopsy will no longer be needed. Most neurological conditions probably impact mitochondria so to say one has a mito disease will be kind of like saying you have a virus. The question is where specifically is the problem? For instance diabetes involves a mitochondrial problem. So probably does Parkinson's. The great thing about the mito research is that usually its natural supplements that are helpful instead of drugs. So the treatments are safer but they don't fix things, its more like supplying the enzyme that isn't being made. Any time a disease involves a problem of energy metabolism and exercise intolerance it is pretty clear the mitochondria are involved! Hope this is helpful!
Also, for those of you who, like me, do a bit better on CoQ10, which is one of the common mito supplements, you can join the United Mitochondrial Foundation and get very good discounts on the Vitaline product, which is one of the very best. Best wishes ~FernRhizome