Finally, Recognition for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

(Independent) Having recently endured more than a month of post-concussion fatigue, I can’t imagine how people with so-called chronic fatigue syndrome navigate through life with disabling fatigue that seemingly knows no end. Especially those who are erroneously told things like “It’s all in your head,” “Maybe you should see a psychiatrist,” or “You’d have a lot more energy if only you’d get more exercise.”

After years of treating the syndrome as a psychological disorder, leading health organisations now recognise that it is a serious, long-term illness possibly caused by a disruption in how the immune system responds to infection or stress. It shares many characteristics with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis but without apparent signs of tissue damage.

Accordingly, doctors now typically refer to it as myalgic encephalomyelitis, meaning brain and spinal cord inflammation with muscle pain, and in scientific papers it is often written as ME/CFS. At the same time, a major shift is underway as far as how the medical profession is being advised to approach treatment.

The long-standing advice to “exercise your way out of it” is now recognised as not only ineffective but counterproductive. It usually only makes matters worse, as even the mildest activity, like brushing your teeth, can lead to a debilitating fatigue, the core symptom of the disease. Both the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the UK are formulating revised guidelines for managing an ailment characterised by six or more months – and sometimes years – of incapacitating fatigue, joint pain, and cognitive problems.

Recommended Reading: Adrenal Compromise: The Hidden Cause of Chronic Health Conditions

This new thinking is long overdue. It is understandably difficult for doctors to appreciate that a disorder lacking obvious physical abnormalities could have a physical basis, especially when patients debilitated by a chronic disease that no one understands are likely to be depressed and anxious.

For patients struggling to get recognition that they are suffering from a serious physiological illness with real symptoms, the goal remains to have doctors take the problem seriously and prescribe an evidence-based approach to treatment that offers hope for relief.

Medical practitioners who remain disease deniers may think differently after learning about factors that can precede an attack of ME/CFS and the abnormalities now known to often accompany it. For example, one person in 10 who meets the diagnostic criteria for this syndrome reports that it followed an infection with Epstein-Barr virus, Ross River virus or Coxiella burnetii, a bacterium that causes Q fever.

The syndrome is also often accompanied by immune system disruptions, including chronically high levels of cytokines that change how the body responds to stress; poor function of natural killer cells that diminish the ability to fight infections, and abnormal activity of T-cells needed for an appropriate response to infection.

Recommended Reading: Make Your Immune System Bulletproof with These Natural Remedies

The core symptoms of the syndrome make it clear that this is not a matter of malingering. No one with an appreciation for life would pretend to be so debilitated. As the CDC put it, “People with ME/CFS have fatigue that is very different from just being tired. The fatigue of ME/CFS can be severe; is not a result of unusually difficult activity; is not relieved by sleep or rest, (and) was not a problem before becoming ill.”

Furthermore, the agency explains, symptoms of the syndrome typically get worse “after physical or mental activity that would not have caused a problem before” the illness developed. Following even minimal exertion, patients tend to “crash” or “collapse” and may require days, weeks or longer to rebound. As mundane an activity as grocery shopping, attending a school event, preparing a meal or even taking a shower may force a retreat to bed.

Patients do not feel rested even after a good night’s sleep, and sleep is often abnormal – falling asleep or staying asleep may be difficult. Brain function is often described as “foggy,” causing problems with memory, quick thinking, and attention to detail. Some patients feel lightheaded, dizzy, weak or faint when they sit or stand.

Recommended Reading: Insomnia – A Comprehensive Look with Natural Remedies

Muscle and joint pain unrelated to an injury is a common accompaniment, as well as headaches that are new or worse than before. Some people also have tender lymph nodes in the neck or armpits, a frequent sore throat, chills and night sweats, allergic sensitivities or digestive problems.

Estimates of the number of people in the United States afflicted with the syndrome range from less than 1 million to 2.5 million. The range of estimates is wide because of varying definitions of the disease and, as the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) stated in a 2015 report, the condition has not been diagnosed in 90 per cent of those affected by ME/CFS.

To arrive at an accurate diagnosis, the doctor should review the patient’s personal and family medical history, conduct a thorough physical and mental status exam, and order blood, urine or other tests. Patients should be asked about how they functioned before and after they became ill and what now makes them feel worse or better.

Correctly diagnosing ME/CFS, hard enough in adults, is even more of a challenge in children and adolescents, whose problems both within and outside of school can be misattributed to a neurological, learning or psychosocial disorder or simply laziness.

Youngsters may also get the syndrome and require a team approach with flexible educational resources and demands suited to each child’s ability to meet them.

There is currently no known cure for ME/CFS and patients should be wary of any therapy that claims otherwise. When embarking on treatment, the CDC recommends first tackling the symptom or symptoms that are causing the most problems. If it is disrupted sleep, for example, start by setting a regular bedtime routine, going to bed and waking at the same time each day, limiting naps to 30 minutes a day and removing all distractions, including television, computers, phones and electronics, from the bedroom.

If muscle or joint pain is especially debilitating, consult a pain specialist if over-the-counter remedies are not sufficiently helpful. Those with memory or concentration difficulties might benefit from drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as relying on organisers and calendars to keep track of important matters.

To minimise fatigue, find easier ways to perform essential chores, like sitting while preparing food or showering and breaking up tasks into small increments. Whenever possible, shop online and order groceries and have them delivered. To reduce the risk of a crash, avoid trying to do too much when you feel better.

The Robot That Could Revolutionise Home Care for Elderly People

The Conversation(Independent) Not all robots will take over human jobs. My colleagues and I have just unveiled a prototype care robot that we hope could take on some of the more mundane work of looking after elderly and disabled people and those with conditions such as dementia.

Recommended Reading: How to Improve Brain Health and Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s

This would leave human carers free to focus on the more personal parts of the job. The robot could also do things humans don’t have time to do now, like keeping a constant check on whether someone is safe and well, while allowing them to keep their privacy.

Our robot, named Stevie, is designed to look a bit (but not too much) like a human, with arms and a head but also wheels. This is because we need it to exist alongside people and perform tasks that may otherwise be done by a human. Giving the robot these features help people realise that they can speak to it and perhaps ask it to do things for them.

Stevie can perform some of its jobs autonomously, for example reminding users to take medication. Other tasks are designed to involve human interaction. For example, if a room sensor detects a user may have fallen over, a human operator can take control of the robot, use it to investigate the event and contact the emergency services if necessary.

Stevie can also help users stay socially connected. For example, the screens in the head can facilitate a Skype call, eliminating the challenges many users face using telephones. Stevie can also regulate room temperatures and light levels, tasks that help to keep the occupant comfortable, and reduce possible fall hazards.

None of this will mean we won’t need human carers anymore. Stevie won’t be able to wash or dress people, for example. Instead, we’re trying to develop technology that helps and complements human care. We want to combine human empathy, compassion, and decision-making with the efficiency, reliability and continuous operation of robotics.

One day, we might might be able to develop care robots that can help with more physical tasks, such as helping users out of bed. But these jobs carry much greater risks to user safety and we’ll need to do a lot more work to make this happen.

Recommended Reading: Seven Easy Exercises That are Key to Good Health

Stevie would provide benefits to carers as well as elderly or disabled users. The job of a professional care assistant is incredibly demanding, often involving long, unsocial hours in workplaces that are frequently understaffed. As a result, the industry suffers from extremely low job satisfaction. In the US, more than 35 per cent of care assistants leave their jobs every year. By taking on some of the more routine, mundane work, robots could free carers to spend more time engaging with residents.

Of course, not everyone who is getting older or has a disability may need a robot. And there is already a range of affordable smart technology that can help people by controlling appliances with voice commands or notifying caregivers in the event of a fall or accident.

Smarter than smart

But for many people, this type of technology is still extremely limited. For example, how can someone with hearing problems use a conventional smart hub such as the Amazon Echo, a device that communicates exclusively through audio signals? What happens if someone falls and they are unable to press an emergency call button on a wearable device?

Stevie overcomes these problems because it can communicate in multiple ways. It can talk, make gestures, and show facial expressions and display text on its screen. In this way, it follows the principles of universal design, because it is designed to adapt to the needs of the greatest possible number of users, not just the able majority.

We hope to have a version of Stevie ready to sell within two years. We still need to refine the design, decide on and develop new features and make sure it complies with major regulations. All this needs to be guided by extensive user testing so we are planning a range of pilots in Ireland, the UK and the US starting in summer 2018. This will help us achieve a major milestone on the road to developing robots that really do make our lives easier.

Plant-Based Diet Could Help Cut Risk of Heart Disease by 42%, Say Scientists

(Independent) Going vegan or vegetarian could help you live longer, according to a new study.

 Scientists say a plant-based diet may help to reduce the risk of deadly heart failure. According to a study of five different kinds of diet, people who eat a lot of fruit and vegetables are 42 percent less likely to develop the condition than those who consumed fewer plant-based foods.

Another team of researchers found that increasing coffee consumption by one cup per week reduced the risk of heart failure by seven percent and stroke by eight percent

 Heart failure is a potentially fatal condition that occurs when the heart is too weak to pump blood efficiently around the body.
Recommended Reading: NSAIDs Warning – These Drugs Are Not Safe (Motrin, Advil, Naproxen…)

Scientists from Icahn School of Medicine in New York recruited 15,569 participants for the diet study and monitored their health for four years.

They studied five different diet types:

  • Convenience – red meats, pastas, fried potatoes, fast foods
  • Plant-based – dark leafy vegetables, fruits, beans, fish
  • Sweets – desserts, breads, sweet breakfast foods, chocolate, candy
  • Southern – eggs, fried food, organ meats, processed meat, sugar-sweetened drinks
  • Alcohol/salads – salad dressings, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, butter, wine.

The researchers found that the participants who followed the plant-based diet had the strongest association with a lower risk of incident heart failure when adjusted for age, sex, and race of the participants and for other risk factors.

Recommended Reading: 10 Vegan-Friendly Sources Of Protein

There were no associations for the other four dietary patterns found.

The findings about coffee consumption came about after re-analysing data from the Framingham Heart Study, a long-running US investigation of heart disease risk factors involving thousands of participants.

The researchers found that each additional cup of coffee drunk per week was associated with a lower risk of heart failure and stroke compared to those who consumed no coffee.

The study was carried out using an artificially intelligent machine-learning system.

First author Laura Stevens, from the University of Colorado, US, said: “Our findings suggest that machine learning could help us identify additional factors to improve existing risk assessment models.”

Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, added: “Previous research has suggested that intakes of three to five cups of coffee a day shouldn’t affect the risk of developing heart and circulatory disease.

 But, she says, more research is needed before we can be confident about how coffee affects our heart health.

“Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, cutting down on salt, and maintaining a healthy weight are all important parts of a balanced diet that helps lower the risk of heart disease and stroke,” Taylor recommends.

“Our advice for people trying to improve their lifestyle is to focus on their whole diet, rather than the amount of individual foods or drinks they consume.”

Recommended Reading: Stop Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

Findings from both studies were presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions meeting in Anaheim, California.

Drinking Cherry Juice Could Give You An Extra 84 Minutes of Sleep Every Night, Study Finds

cold cherry juice in a glass with water drops and pitcher on wooden table with ripe berries in pottery bowl

(Independent) If counting sheep doesn’t help you drift off into a deep sleep at night, you might want to consider downing a glass of Montmorency tart cherry juice.

Recommended Reading: Cherries, the Superfood You Should Know About

The bittersweet drink was distributed to a group of insomniacs in a recent study conducted by Louisiana State University.

Published in the American Journal of Therapeutics, the study found that drinking the scarlet juice extended periods of sleep for an average of one hour and 24 minutes each night.

They found that the juice contains compounds which inhibit the production of chemicals in the brain that lead to poor sleep.

It’s also rich in procyanidins and anthocyanins – found in blueberries – which are often praised by scientists for their health benefits and have been linked to reducing inflammation.

Drinking the juice also reduced levels of kynurenine in the blood, which has been linked to sleep deprivation.

Participants were given a survey which questioned them about their sleeping habits.

They were then randomly assigned either a large glass of cherry juice or a placebo which they drank twice a day, right after they woke up and right before they went to sleep.

After two weeks, those who had been drinking the cherry juice switched to the placebo drink and vice versa.

They were then given the same survey to monitor how the drinks had affected their sleeping pattern.

Researchers concluded that those who drank the cherry juice increased their sleep time by 84 minutes and their overall sleep efficiency increased on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Recommended Reading: Insomnia – A Comprehensive Look With Natural Remedies

Insomnia affects one in three British adults, according to the NHS.

80% of Infant Formulas Contain Arsenic, Study Finds

(Independent) A large amount of baby food products contain dangerous chemicals, a new study has found.

Products were revealed to include arsenic, lead, cadmium and acrylamide in a test carried out by The Clean Label Project, a non-profit organisation that advocates consumer transparency.

They used Nielsen data to analyse 530 different snacks, cereals, formulas and drinks that had been purchased in the last five months.

Out of the products analysed, researchers found that 65 percent contained arsenic, 58 percent contained cadmium, 36 percent contained lead and 10 percent contained acrylamide.

80 per cent of infant formula samples were also found to contain arsenic, a toxin which the World Health Organisation associates with a slew of health issues such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

 While the amounts of each chemical varied with each product, some contained up to 600 parts of arsenic per billion.
 Many of these were rice-based products such as crisps and “puffs”.
Recommended Reading: How to Reduce the Arsenic in Your Rice by 80%

The study also found that baby foods today had 70 percent more acrylamide than the average French fry, a chemical which has been linked to brain damage and reproductive challenges.

The report named and shamed some major baby food retailers, including Enfamil, Plum Organics and Sprout, who they deemed as some of the worst offenders for containing harmful chemicals.

They also found that 60 percent of products with “BPA free” labels, in fact, tested positive for bisphenol A, an industrial chemical which is used to make plastic.

Clean Label Project concluded their findings by identifying the top and bottom five cereals, formulas, snacks, drinks and jar meals in terms of dangerous chemical contents.

Their full list can be seen here.