The thread about ME causing nightmares or weird dreams triggered this idea. I think ME's core dysfunction is in the brain, and many of the symptoms people experience are downstream effects of dysfunction in the brain, and the variety of responses to various environmental factors are upstream of that core dysfunction.
When a fetus develops, it's not directly following a detailed blueprint. Just how and when each cell develops depends on its chemical environment. How many AA transporters develop in the membrane, how many mitochondria or extracellular vesicles it produces in response to some stimulus: these depend on what the mother ate for breakfast, what her mood (hormones, etc) was, what activities she did, etc. Those variations are in addition to the individual DNA of the person. These developmental variations could be part of what makes us likely to develop ME, and how our ME responds to various factors and what symptoms we develop. On top of that are epignetic factors post-birth and other variations such as toxin exposure, allergen exposure, stress, trauma, etc.
These various developmental factors determine brain cell responses to stimuli, capillary function (and how far each cell is from the blood supply), etc. Thus one person will have their ME affect the part of the brain involved in dreaming (with further variations in the effects on the 'happy dream' or 'vivid weird dream' cells vs the 'nightmare' cells), while another person gets double-vision, and a third gets sound sensitivity. Other variations might affect gut function or the muscle control system or the pain processing system.
I suppose this hypothesis isn't of much use, but it does reduce the worth of genetic testing. The existence or non-existence of a specific gene is not the only factor that determines how your body is now.
When a fetus develops, it's not directly following a detailed blueprint. Just how and when each cell develops depends on its chemical environment. How many AA transporters develop in the membrane, how many mitochondria or extracellular vesicles it produces in response to some stimulus: these depend on what the mother ate for breakfast, what her mood (hormones, etc) was, what activities she did, etc. Those variations are in addition to the individual DNA of the person. These developmental variations could be part of what makes us likely to develop ME, and how our ME responds to various factors and what symptoms we develop. On top of that are epignetic factors post-birth and other variations such as toxin exposure, allergen exposure, stress, trauma, etc.
These various developmental factors determine brain cell responses to stimuli, capillary function (and how far each cell is from the blood supply), etc. Thus one person will have their ME affect the part of the brain involved in dreaming (with further variations in the effects on the 'happy dream' or 'vivid weird dream' cells vs the 'nightmare' cells), while another person gets double-vision, and a third gets sound sensitivity. Other variations might affect gut function or the muscle control system or the pain processing system.
I suppose this hypothesis isn't of much use, but it does reduce the worth of genetic testing. The existence or non-existence of a specific gene is not the only factor that determines how your body is now.
