I have as much of a problem with the characterisation of ME patients as having been high achievers as I do with the Ester Crawley type comment that we are poor, criminal drug takers. This illness affects high-level sports people at the peak of their fitness as well as the asthmatic nerds.
There just are not enough good epidemiological studies to make well founded statements.
It's highly likely that the ME patients that Naviaux sees are well educated, well resourced people who have the drive to try to understand their illness and get better. It's highly likely that the young poor woman who left school at 15 and is trying to deal with several children under 5 with little family support and then gets ME just doesn't cope, sinks into depression and maybe takes drugs to escape from a horrible reality. That woman is probably not going to be diagnosed with ME, much less be turning up to take part in a clinical trial.
The problem with characterising people with ME on the basis of their character and even intelligence (inevitably with the inference of perfectionism) is that it's then easy to blame the patient and to suggest that it's those morally inferior people over there that get sick.
If people are going to make statements about the personal characteristics of people with an illness, I think it is reasonable for them to back that up with rock-solid epidemiology. I haven't seen any such studies for ME yet. Probably it isn't possible until we can characterise patients with unequivocal biomarkers.
Ah, thank you for setting me straight on that, I certainly didn't intend to characterize an entire group of patients, and I hope no one thought I was saying every (or even most patients) are extraordinarily intelligent, nerdy, or non-athletic.
You are correct, my wording wasn't clear on that, and I apologize if I offended anyone. It was simply a personal observation of the interactions I've had in person, and reading the incredibly insightful comments and information from others on this site. I have belonged to, and moderated, other disease patient support sites, and there was less scientific discussion on those sites.
I will be sure to refrain from making personal characterizations in the future
