This is and should be regarded and recieved as a very important study in the field of ME/Cfs!
As some PR's members have posted above me, neurocognitive symptoms such as anomia paired with lack of concentration, short term memory problems and an overall slowing down of mental processes have been the central part of my ME manifestations from the very start.
Our intelligence per se is spared, but the mental working capacity and endurance is at times gravely incapacitated. In parallel people with MS can tell you about similar experiences.
The CNS dysfunction is certainly a manifestation of inflammation. The fact that some of us who had brain imaging studies (MRI) were found to have subcortical white matter hyperintensities means something. It should be looked for and should be accounted as a very anomalous and important finding of organic brain damage.
" ME is a measurable, diffuse, post-encephalitic illness, the illness is charaterized by:
1. Acute onset
2. Diffuse, persisting non-focal nature of the encephalopathy, and
3. The cronichity of the resulting symptoms.
These symptoms consists of the rapid exhaustion or loss of stamina of motor, sensory, intellectual and cognitive abilities.
M.E. is of infectious/autoimmune origin and less commonly of toxic/AI origin.
M.E. occurs in epidemics and sporadic cases."
- Dr. Baron Hyde
IMO what we've seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg, imaging techniques that we have at our disposition aren't still routinely used on PWME (with the exception of some ME specialists, Dr. Dan Peterson for example), but should be and should also be correlated to the specific clinical picture.
All this also makes me wonder about what we still don't see or don't look for, the NEDA Non Evident Disease Activity (to mutuate a term from the MS research field), which is very important too.
When I first came down with Infectious Mono as a teenager I went from being a straight A student to one who couldn't read a single sentence and make any sense of it in any of the languages that I spoke and still speak.
I struggled and suffered without understanding what was going on with me, through many many ups and downs I managed to finish high school, but had to repeat junior high school year. Back then there was no home schooling support in Italy and I wonder if nowadays doctors and teachers are more aware of what is the best treatment for young people with IM and/or ME: rest, rest, rest and more rest!
I managed to go to law school and graduate, it was also a brutal and grueling experience, as many of you unfortunately know and can imagine I had to follow the waxing and waning of all the physical and neurological symptoms. It was like living through pure hell!
This study fresh out of Stanford adds another very important piece to the puzzle.