MEDICAL MATTERS

  • Medical Matters features questions asked by Members of the ME Association on health-related topics.
  • Dr Charles Shepherd and the ME Association's other advisers answer these questions by sharing their expert knowledge.
  • Medical Matters is based on the popular ‘Ask the Doctor’ series in ME Essential magazine.
  • It is a free resource that supplements the detailed information contained in the full range of literature that can be found in the website shop.

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Questions in the Category: Neuroinflammation

Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Encephalopathy, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Long Covid

ME Essential Winter 2022

Please can you define what PVFS, ME/CFS, and Long Covid mean. I am having difficulty determining if they are the same disease or different. Thank you!

Aetiology: Immune System

ME Essential Summer 2020

I keep seeing references to ‘low level immune system activation’ being an important research finding in ME/CFS. But what does this mean in language that I can understand?

Nomenclature: ME/CFS

ME Essential Autumn 2018

Is there a simple reason why the ME Association also uses the term myalgic encephalopathy instead of myalgic encephalomyelitis?

Neuroinflammation

ME Essential Spring 2017

I keep reading about what is called ‘neuroinflammation' in relation to research into ME/CFS. I assume this means inflammation in the nervous system. But is this the same as encephalomyelitis (the E in ME)? I know that encephalomyelitis is largely dismissed by many doctors and is the reason why some doctors refuse to even use the name ME/ myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Charles Shepherd

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