I attended that conference and found it very depressing to hear, one after the other, the scientists saying, "Don't try this at home." It was infuriating.
The scientists don't have all the answers yet. They are reading the data, playing hunches, and running experiments. They are doing the very best they can, with the resources they have. And, the pace has been accelerating in the past 5 years, and they are coordinsting with each other. It is truly amazing, and they will crack this.
Tragically, it will be too late for some of us. Some of us are in our 50s, 60s, and 70s, and are running out of time. Others are younger, but will succumb to this disease, to cancer, etc.
We can't sit idly by, waiting in our beds to bring us perfect answers. Because we are each unique, with different genetics, environmental factors, and comorbidities, what works for one, or for the perfect patient, wont work for all of us, even after the long wait.
The more we learn about ourselves in this era of
p4 medicine will help us each in our quest to get well.
It's not just one theory chosen from amongst competing theories, but using systems biology to weave together compatible theories into a body of knowledge that provides a roadmap of diagnostics and treatments to bring us back to health.
No, and we wont for many years. If we think of an analogy to cancer, if you take 50 patients all with X cancer, they will benefit from a toolbox of diagnostics and treatments that can be applied to each patient's unique situation. Treating people like widgets can be catastrophic. We need to individualize for each of us.
Unfortunately, there have been very few findings that are clinically applicable to all of us.
There was a recent interview with Susan Levine, who characterized ME/CFS like cancer - she thinks well find its a group of diseases with some key similarities but differences between them. Jarred Younger has found different subgroups, Stanford is looking at different subgroups, ...
This is incredibly complex. But, my doctors and I have learned a lot, and the treatments I've had, built upon some of these theories, that we've chosen when my test results seem to match theories, have been paying off, one by one. And, I, for one, have experienced huge benefits from translating and harnessing theories of Maes and Morris, Fluge and Mella, Younger, Armstrong and McGregor, Hanson and Levine, and many others. It is possible to make headway now, with thoughtful choices, and access to doctors, tests, and treatments.
There will be mistakes, but given that there's little alternative today, it's worth trying.
That's why it's good to know what tests exist to examine some of these ideas, so one is not just making educated, and not foolhardy guesses. Because, as I learned un the cancer world, there are some choices one cannot reverse. Being prudent is wise.