Top Document: FAQ: CFS FAQ Previous Document: 2.036 Article references Next Document: 2.05 What research is currently going on? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Preliminary research suggests that CFS may involve a brain disorder -- spec= ifically, HPA dysfunction (see question 2.16) -- which affects the stress response sy= stem in our bodies. CFS patients are standardly observed to be hypersensitive to stress= =2E Stress does not merely mean unpleasant experiences, but rather any biological stre= ssors, physical or emotional, which prompt a protective reaction in the body and w= hich may alter the physiologic equilibrium known as "homeostasis". Stress in this ph= ysiological sense may be subtle and may not necessarily be noticed. Merely hearing loud= sounds or seeing bright lights may be stressful in this context. High-stress events sometimes seem to "trigger" the first appearance of the = illness (see question 2.06), and they will usually worsen the symptoms if the illness ha= s already developed. Because stress is often mistakenly thought of as a purely emotio= nal phenomenon with no physical aspect, the correlation of CFS with stress make= s some people imagine that CFS must a non-physical "psychological illness". Medica= l studies show that stress plays an important role in several immune-mediated illness= es, and in fact a new field of research called psychoneuroimmunology has been created = to study just this phenomenon. HPA and neurotransmitter dysfunction may make CFS patients excessively irri= table, and may prompt panic attacks. These behaviors might be misinterpreted, ther= eby reinforcing a misconception that CFS is merely a psychological condition. See also question 2.11 which discusses depression, and the questions under = Part 3 of this document, "Life problems created by CFS". User Contributions:Top Document: FAQ: CFS FAQ Previous Document: 2.036 Article references Next Document: 2.05 What research is currently going on? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: CFS-L-REQUEST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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