To: xray who wrote (764 ) 9/19/1998 6:41:00 PM From: The Street Respond to of 1637
All I know is that if you go to CFS newsgroups they have people taking the drug and doing well. A lot of Europeans involved in the studies post there. In Europe it is called M.E. Going to zero is ludicrous. The FDA is fast tracking it so there has to be some merit. WARNING-- soap box ahead! re: CFIDS I was diagnosed with CFIDS almost 4 years ago. IT was pure hell to say the least. Then I got a "possible" MS diagnosis. Then I started researching and found that it was POSSIBLE it could be bacterial. I had every test in the book. All negative. I had travelled quite a lot and had grown in the woods camping, hunting (I don't hunt anymore), and just being a kid. I probably pulled 50 ticks off myself and 100's off my dog. So Lyme came into the picture. My symptoms, as well as those of 50% of CFIDS and MS patients, were exactly like Lyme. My Lyme test was "negative" even though a spyrochete was detected. Then I heard about mycoplasma's-- a kinda cross between virus and bacteria-- it goes intercellular like a virus but is in fact alive like a bacteria. (Viruses are not considered "alive".) Anyhoo, I have taken antibiotics for 3 years and am now healthy again. I do have some nonserious nerve damage that you just get used too. So, IMHO, half of all CFIDS/MS people have a bacteria. (The guy who convinced me to try antibiotics had MS and gone from an invalid to running marathons again.) The other half have a virus. (New research in MS is pointing to viral cause-- just like a few cancers. HHV6.) Also, as a side note, but an important one-- they think the a Chlamydia genre (non-sexual) COULD ACCOUNT FOR 80% OF HEART DISEASE. (Just like ulcers were found to be caused by a bacteria.) ALSO, 17/19 Alziemers brain tissue in one study found the same bacteria. It is also being reported in CFIDS and GWS. Sorry for the babbling-- I just want people to know medicine is not that hard to learn-- and you need to learn and take the lead in recovery. Most doctors are egotistical people who think they are sooo smart. Funny, when I had a college class with some of my MD's I was number one in the class-- but they let me know that Med School made them gods...