Welcome to Phoenix Rising!
Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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I will let someone else highlight the important points. I am suffering today so my brain is not up to it.
=teejkay;48967]Thank you Countrygirl for doing such a great job explaining why we use emoticons. I've been around the web for a long time now and I've noticed that message board users always post emoticons if the board has them readily available. That goes for the most intellectual sites out there on other serious subjects such as Physics, Math, Philosophy and Biological Sciences as well as Law, Medicine, and Art.
I've never seen an issue of someone not being taken seriously here or on any other forum. :Retro tongue:
Great news from the retrovirologists on a forum about scientific matters for adults.
Gerwyn, Dr. Yes, George, Kurt.............are you all in bed???? Your community needs you!
Jackofit - what Countrygirl said. I'm in my 11th year of this beast, have lost family, friends, career, etc. - as many of us on this forum have. In fact, you'll find that my experience is mild compared to those veritable soldiers among us who have lost 20, 30, and more years of their lives to ME/CFS. But I am reminded of that late career, where I regularly keynoted global medical directors of Fortune 500 companies. Dry presentation of science is so yesterday, and indeed part of my success in my earlier life was because I was able to blend humor and real-life anecdotes with complicated medical/business concepts. That makes things both palatable, and memorable. If ever there was a place to use humor, a forum for people affected by, and studying a devastating neuroimmune disease would be it! Connection is what keeps many of us going, and emoticons are a great way of quickly expressing what would be clumsy in words. Stick around here, and you'll find many bright people, brimming with humanity, humor, and yes - irreverence. I hear what you're saying about content, and if all we ever did was use smileys back and forth, things would get a little vacuous. But dig a little deeper, and you'll see many, many top-notch scientific posts and analysis that far outrival much of the drivel that is propagated in the media. And yes, we cheer each other on with
If it's any consolation Jackofit, I was an emoticon-virgin before I came onto this forum. You might even try asking the administrators if it is possible to disable the emoticons. Either way, welcome to the forum, and we look forward to your contributions.
Chronic infection, though, appeared largely limited to CD4+ T cells in lymphoid organs -- spleen, lymph nodes, and GI tract -- as well as in reproductive organs, including prostate, testes, ovaries, vagina, and cervix.
Yes determined I've also had enlarged lymph nodes. They got much smaller after having the Perrin Technique treatments. Maybe here is a reason why this Technique has helped some people. I don't know if you have it in USA. But Dr. Perrin is an osteopath and developed a therapy that he claims can heal people with CFS/ME. http://www.theperrinclinic.com/about.aspI had one in my neck and many (they felt like frozen peas) in my groin area. Has anyone else had enlarged lymph nodes?
One of my earliest symptoms in childhood was enlarged, but painless lymph nodes. I had one in my neck and many (they felt like frozen peas) in my groin area. Has anyone else had enlarged lymph nodes? Puzzling though, since I have four siblings and none of them have CFS.
I know how grim this illness has been so I like to have a good laugh or just try wherever I can but wheres the smartass comments about the psyche lot, the brainfog gaffes, a bit of teasing each other all in good fun? We are all sick and brainfogged and so tired of not having a life but it doesn't mean we are incapable of joking around and having a laugh, some of the funniest things come from the most unlikely people or situations.
Keep up the great posts on the science I think you all have far more intelligence than you realise and I would be far more interested in your humorous take on things, that would mean a whole lot more than some manufactured kiddie icon. Don't be afraid to express your own humour, don't ever sell yourself short! I know everyone of you is capable of some pithy comment or similar. I mean well in saying this, and hope you all understand what I am getting at?
Chronic infection, though, appeared largely limited to CD4+ T cells in lymphoid organs -- spleen, lymph nodes, and GI tract -- as well as in reproductive organs, including prostate, testes, ovaries, vagina, and cervix.
Aside from all of its other functions, the gastrointestinal tract is a lymphoid organ, and the lymphoid tissue within it is collectively referred to as the gut-associated lymphoid tissue or GALT. The number of lymphocytes in the GALT is roughly equivalent to those in the spleen, and, based on location, these cells are distributed in three basic populations: