myalgic encephalomyelitis

Most of you folks reading are mere “kids” when it comes to the history of chronic fatigue syndrome. Many “experts” writing today and selling their “knowledge” have only been on the block a few years and have no idea what a struggle we pioneers had to establish that there even was such a condition. It started being reported in the late 60s and then more so in the 1970s. We called it “tension-fatigue” syndrome back then, since that’s what we were seeing in the patient. By the early 80s, we leaders had noticed that it often followed a viral disease and started using the term “post-viral fatigue syndrome”. Coxsackie B virus (“Bornholm disease”) was a chief suspect in the early 80s; it can cause shattering fatigue and all over aches and pains. But I worked with the local hospital and lab and had a series of blood samples from my patients tested for coxsackie and nothing significant came up. It was never published because the chief pathologist and I were convinced it was a waste of time.

Most of you folks reading are mere “kids” when it comes to the history of chronic fatigue syndrome. Many “experts” writing today and selling their “knowledge” have only been on the block a few years and have no idea what a struggle we pioneers had to establish that there even was such a condition. It started being reported in the late 60s and then more so in the 1970s. We called it “tension-fatigue” syndrome back then, since that’s what we were seeing in the patient. By the early 80s, we leaders had noticed that it often followed a viral disease and started using the term “post-viral fatigue syndrome”. Coxsackie B virus (“Bornholm disease”) was a chief suspect in the early 80s; it can cause shattering fatigue and all over aches and pains. But I worked with the local hospital and lab and had a series of blood samples from my patients tested for coxsackie and nothing significant came up. It was never published because the chief pathologist and I were convinced it was a waste of time.