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With his son terribly ill, a top scientist takes on chronic fatigue syndrome
Washington Post ^ | October 5, 2015 | Miriam E. Tucker

Posted on 10/07/2015 12:59:44 PM PDT by Seizethecarp

Before he got sick, Whitney Dafoe was an award-winning photographer and a world traveler. But now, at 31, Whitney lies in bed in a darkened room in his parents’ home, unable to talk, walk or eat. This isn’t the picture that people imagine when they hear “chronic fatigue syndrome,” which is often viewed by the public and the health-care community as a trivial or primarily psychological complaint.In a February report, the Institute of Medicine gave the illness a new name — systemic exertion intolerance disease. Many patients have long criticized the name “chronic fatigue syndrome” for not reflecting the seriousness of the illness. The new name, some say, is not much of an improvement. Some patients call it by an older name, “myalgic encephalomyelitis.” Most official documents refer to it with a compromise term, “myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome,” or ME/CFS.

The IOM report notes that doctors often lack understanding of the condition and are often skeptical that it is a true medical condition, believing instead that it’s partially or wholly psychological.

Some may therefore be surprised that the illness is now a major research focus for one of the world’s leading biomedical scientists.

That scientist, Ronald W. Davis, is Whitney Dafoe’s father.

Davis heads the Genome Technology Center at Stanford University. In the 1970s, he developed techniques for gene mapping that were later used in the Human Genome Project, for which he was a co-investigator. In 2013, the Atlantic magazine named him one of “Today’s Greatest Inventors, ” along with such people as Vint Cerf, sometimes called “the father of the Internet,” and Elon Musk, one of the founders of electric-car company Tesla Motors.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: chronicfatigue; mecfs; nih; stanford
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1 posted on 10/07/2015 12:59:44 PM PDT by Seizethecarp
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To: Seizethecarp

Thank you.


2 posted on 10/07/2015 1:02:39 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
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To: Seizethecarp

Lyme disease??


3 posted on 10/07/2015 1:08:33 PM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: Seizethecarp
Seize the Carp kind of reminds me of Carpe Diem. Anyway, whatever crackpot name they want to come up with, my heart goes out for the guy.It must be h3ll on Earth for him.
4 posted on 10/07/2015 1:11:32 PM PDT by lbryce (OBAMA:Misbegotten, GodForsaken, Bastard offspring of Satan and Medusa)
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To: Seizethecarp

Tuckeredoutosis


5 posted on 10/07/2015 1:12:21 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Seizethecarp

This is a real illness, but doctors always go back to saying you’re depressed. I would LOVE for someone to figure out how to test for CFS.


6 posted on 10/07/2015 1:15:05 PM PDT by PastorBooks
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To: CGASMIA68

That’s what I was thinking lymes is nasty stuff


7 posted on 10/07/2015 1:15:09 PM PDT by riverrunner
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To: Seizethecarp

I suspect gut bacteria. But doctors know so little about nutrition they’ll never figure it out.


8 posted on 10/07/2015 1:20:59 PM PDT by aimhigh (1 John 3:21)
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To: riverrunner

If not caught on the 1st go round and or eradicated it comes back much later and raises hell.
Most Dr say no way..I say treat for it,whats to loose.


9 posted on 10/07/2015 1:28:21 PM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: HiTech RedNeck

He’s lazy?


10 posted on 10/07/2015 1:40:12 PM PDT by refermech
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To: Monkey Face

Ping.


11 posted on 10/07/2015 1:40:28 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("There will be no conservative issue islands left to stand on if the red tide comes in."~S. Knish)
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To: CGASMIA68

Can he click a mouse?


12 posted on 10/07/2015 1:40:55 PM PDT by refermech
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To: Seizethecarp

Thank you for posting this. I have been battling exhaustion for two years now. Thought it was lymes. Was treated. It has turned my life upside down. It used to be I would sleep 5 hours a night and was good to go- any more and I got headaches. Sleeping in and taking naps were never a part of my life.... now they are. Since I am so tired and foggy I am now all of a sudden clumsy and have taken quite a number of very, very bad falls and sustained very bad injuries which require more down time to heal. Now, I sleep 12 hours a day and still am exhausted. Nothing seems to help.


13 posted on 10/07/2015 1:56:02 PM PDT by Faith65 (Isaiah 40:31)
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To: lbryce; Seizethecarp; Tax-chick

Some of us (PWCs)[Persons With CFS] have learned to deal with the numerous symptoms, but life is a constant series of choosing which battle to fight which day. Some days, the malaise is just too strong to deal with much more than just getting out of bed.

I’m grateful that someone is now taking an interest in the long-ignored disease.

Thank you for posting this.

‘Face


14 posted on 10/07/2015 1:58:39 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Obama voters are the reason we have to put directions on shampoo bottles.)
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To: CGASMIA68

Worse than Lyme disease by years...


15 posted on 10/07/2015 1:59:49 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Obama voters are the reason we have to put directions on shampoo bottles.)
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To: Tax-chick

Thanks!


16 posted on 10/07/2015 2:00:18 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Obama voters are the reason we have to put directions on shampoo bottles.)
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To: Seizethecarp

Maybe processed food with MSG and High fructose syrup. Doctors I have had in the past would go hrumpf when I mentioned I could not have any. Some even said that vitamins would not help yet when I stopped eating foods with that stuff in it and took more then the recommended vitamin D and Iron then I was not tired but as soon as I eat anything with that MSG and High fructose syrup in it I get tired. The kind of tired that you do not want to do anything, even sleep.


17 posted on 10/07/2015 2:04:30 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: Seizethecarp

Mycoplasma?


18 posted on 10/07/2015 2:09:01 PM PDT by polymuser ( Enough is enough)
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To: aimhigh

Candidiasis?


19 posted on 10/07/2015 2:11:15 PM PDT by polymuser ( Enough is enough)
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To: Faith65

Faith, google B-12 with zinc patches. Patches work much better than pills. They’ve made a HUGE difference in my life.


20 posted on 10/07/2015 2:15:27 PM PDT by ryderann
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