Comments on: How XMRV Retrovirus Findings May Fit With The Amygdala Hyperarousal Model for ME/CFS

By: earthwalker

earthwalker — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:42:33 +0000

I totally agree with you TruthinHealth. One should not abandon viral and other approaches for brain retraining. It really is a tool to use along with everything else we do to support health and vitality – diet, lifestyle, personal growth, etc. However, I’m not sure if it is accurate to compare it with the AIDS virus – as far as I know the damage from HIV is to the immune system, not to the limbic system. Amygdala retraining addresses limbic system dysfunction. It’s also important to remember that there are so many factors contributing to ill health, and ALL of us have multiple toxic injuries and unique biochemistry and histories. Most likely, there will never be a “one-size-fits-all” cure-all for this or any illness – there are just too many variables involved.

By: truthinhealth

truthinhealth — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:18:54 +0000

While I like to stay open to possiblilties, it is true we are leaving the “stress induced illness” theory on the shelves for now as more viruses, retroviruses are found to cause disease along with genetic predisposition. If there are those who are helped with the amygdala retraining that is great, but to focus on that and not the science behind the cause is down right dangerous. We must take the xmrv cause seriously, as the the other 2 retroviruses are deadly so this one probably is too. No they may not cause disease directly, but they lead to opportunistic infections or cancer that lead to death. What if Drs in the “80′s had insisted on amygdala retraining for AIDs patients?

While there is no treatment yet for real CFS/ME, sure try anything that does no harm and that your pocket book can afford, but let us keep up the science in the direction that offers the most promise. By far.

By: shewolf

shewolf — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:46:15 +0000

I quit reading at “This is probably why many patients do recover from ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia yet have not taken any anti-viral medication.” Not many people recover.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:05:06 +0000

“Amygdala retraing” is a fancy medical term! Let’s see if I Change the name to “Hippocampus retraining” or ” hypothalamu retraining’, or oblangata retraining”.. and practice yoga, relaxation, positive thinking and positive affirmation and many techniques of CBT & DBT…described under Gupta’s retraining..
What would be the outcome!
Same……or more …. or less…………..
That would be an interesting study that any research university can promote… and fund .. with money back garantee…

By: CN

CN — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:48:55 +0000

Thanks for spreading the B.S. After Emory, Mayo Clinic has been Dr. Reeve’s closest partner in his “CFS” studies. It remains in the interest of the CDC and insurance companies to keep belittling the organic facets of the disease and suggest stress came first, not any virus. Lets see how many kids with “CFS” who can’t attend grade school get signed up for this program of a non-doctor who supposedly cured himself. Money-back guarantee?

Even Bernie Siegel admits there’s only so much mind-body stuff, prayer, attitude, etc. can do. That’s why people need doctors. This crap is why anyone stuck with the “CFS” label can’t get a doctor even if they’re half-dead.

By: keir

keir — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:57:59 +0000

I would urge the author to look at glutamate/NMDA excitotoxicity (a form of brain damage common to most diseases that affect the brain including Traumatic Brain Injury) and the resulting effects this has on the brain. Years ago I read an interview with an EEG researcher who found that all ME patients had a form of microseizure which makes a great deal of sense when one thinks about how this would affect brain function. When the brain “resets” for a tenth of a second every few seconds, it would result in problems with attention, focus, sleep (via alpha/delta wave anomaly) startle reflex (known to be dysfunctional with ME,) memory, and especially, the central sensitization of hyperalgesia, etc. These are the exact things found with ME. As well, DeMeileir has mentioned the finding that ME patients have a form of “light epilepsy” that disturbs sleep. No wonder I literally didn’t reach deep sleep for 10 years (until getting prescribed long acting opiate pain meds that continued to work into the sleep period.)
The use of GABA agonists is based on this premise since it is the major inhibitory system to glutamatergic excess; another major inhibitory system is the endorphin system and it may vary in patients which system is needing to be bolstered to produce the “anti-seizure” affect needed to reduce symptoms. My own experience with opiates has convinced me of this hypothesis; I have had no narcotic effects and have only improved since my pain meds have increased. Basically, opiate pain medications work as a form of endorphin replacement therapy in those whose endorphins systems are faulty. These ideas are further bolstered by findings of elevated glutamate in FMS patients and insufficient beta endorphin in ME patients.
Gupta is forgetting that a major component of this illness is the cardiomyopathy (infection of heart nerves in one of the heart valves by viruses such as herpes causing circulatory dysfunction) and this leads to a form of bacterial toxemia via low oxygen state which explains the “lock jaw light” muscle rigidity that we experience and poor exercise response (this is likely to be an endogenous process in most although those with “pure pain only” FM–and no poor exercise response–may have true, acute ciguatera poisoning or other toxemia such milder organophosphate poisoning causing the effect since they don’t have the viral cardiomyopathy.) It’s highly likely (based on my own suspicion) that this toxemia is also related to the NO/ONOO dysfunction and it is known that the NO/ONOO cycle also contributes to glutamatergic excitotoxicity and could also be a source of the hyperalgesic effect and cognitive complaints for all ME and FM patients (probably primary in FM and secondary in ME.) In my own case, the illness did not start in earnest until after the initial 2 month long virus (which was like no flu in the world; having serious cognitive aspects to it) and a light recovery ensued for about a month and then worsened as I tried to exercise (I was an endurance athlete) and started having episodes that I now know were heart arrhythmias (my heart felt like it stopped and my vision and hearing were affected with a tunnel vision-like effect and muffled hearing; classic arrhythmia.) I believe that as the cardiomyopathy worsened and the toxemia developed, my pain and “lock jaw light” got worse and worse (especially since I kept trying to exercise) along with the other symptoms typical of this illness.
Although the brain is a major component of this illness (both in direct affect on the CNS and peripheral effect on the CNS caused by the toxemia) there are other systems of the body that are affected directly (not just in a “top down” manner via the CNS affect on the body) such as the heart and it it likely that the illness doesn’t really begin until the heart is affected by viruses.
If XMRV pans out, I would be willing to lay odds that it works in the manner described by hypothesis number 2. This is like the case of AIDS in which the pathogens that kill the person are other pathogens and not HIV which just allows the immune system to be damaged and allows other pathogens to do the dirty work.

By: CJ

CJ — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:32:21 +0000

It is sad that lack of understanding and validation of CFS by family members and doctors has created such a need in us to prove it is physical and not psychological. I have studied neuroscience, physiology and psychology and I have come to believe that these distinctions are arbitrary and man-made. Emotions and psychology do not exist as such without the brain and body, and vice versa. We are complex beings and should realize that everything affects everything else. I tend to say that my illness started with an infection, but I was also under psychological stress (who isn’t). Does that mean it is a psychological illness? I say NO! For others, maybe it starts with a severe psychological trauma. Does that mean it is not a physical illness? Again, I say NO! I don’t think their is anyone who can deny that the body affects the mind and the mind affects the body. The relaxation response (a physiologic response mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system) is the body’s natural state for healing. Through techniques such as biofeedback and meditation people can learn to control previously unconscious body processes with their conscious mind and facilitate healing. I have heard that adept yogis have been able to completely control inflammatory processes when injected with an irritant substance. When we learn to play a new instrument we “re-wire” our brain. So why then, if this illness has injured my brain, might there not be techniques designed to “re-wire” it and help regain some of my lost capacity. It seems obvious to me that my body and brain are stuck in an overactive fight-or-flight response all the way down to the level of cellular immunity (yes, they are connected) that has left me completely flattened. While I know nothing of Gupta’s work or suggestions, I think the concept is very plausible. There is a saying, “Happiness is an inner state, influenced by external conditions but not dependent on them.” I propose the same can be said about health. If I had spent the last 6 years practicing to be a buddhist monk instead of taking all the boxes full of western medicines, maybe I would have been better off. And yet here I am, struggling to decide which medicine or supplement to try next. I hope each and everyone of us finds the fastest road back to health.

By: valentinelynx

valentinelynx — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:22:05 +0000

I would like to make an observation. Many people with an investment in a theory or theories of the etiology of CFS appear to be now feeling defensive in light of the findings of the WPI re: XMRV & CFS. One of the most popular responses is to postulate that XMRV is an opportunistic infection, like many other viruses that have been considered to be possibly the causal pathogens. According to this theory, XMRV, like EBV, CMV, etc., would be acquired or reactivated when the immune system is suppressed by some other insult(s), such as sympathetic overactivity, toxic overload, emotional/sexual abuse, etc. This is indeed a theory that must be ruled out before establishing XMRV as the cause of CFS.However, if XMRV were another such opportunist, it should be found in equal (or at least significantly elevated) frequency in other conditions characterized by immunosuppression, such as HIV, severe stress, diabetes, chemotherapy, etc. etc. This is something to keep in mind when evaluating the potential of XMRV as the cause of CFS.

By: 22 years and counting....

22 years and counting.... — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:17:16 +0000

I pity those of you that are perhaps in the earlier stages of this illness and cant see further than the mantra “It’s a virus”. It’s no virus. It perhaps once was but not anymore. It’s undoubtedly a ‘brain’ problem caused by the initial virus and short of brain surgery you’ll never get better until you open your mind up to all the possible treatments. Mind/body BS? Whats that all about? Some of you so ignorant that you think that that mass of brain in your skull doesn’t have anything to do with how your body works???

By: gupta promotions sickens me

gupta promotions sickens me — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:05:14 +0000

This self promotion is something else. Psuedo science and bullshit all to make a couple of quid for this joker at the expense of the sick and disabled.

Disgusting!