In many ways, this week’s episode on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a companion piece to last week’s episode on Long Covid. The two share many similarities: a wide range of debilitating symptoms lingering long after infection, an illness which can transform from day to day or week to week, dismissal and downplaying by the medical community, a big question mark under “pathophysiological cause”, and so many others. These parallels can tell us a great deal about our concepts of disease and how we deal with uncertainty in science and medicine. But the differences between these two can be equally revealing. In this episode, we dig into what we know and what we hypothesize about the biological underpinnings of ME/CFS before tracing the twisty history of this disease, as popular perception switched back and forth and back again from “real” to “imagined” disease. We wrap up the episode with a look at some of the current research and promising treatments for ME/CFS. Both ME/CFS and Long Covid demonstrate the power of patients and patient advocates in raising awareness about poorly understood diseases and the impact that sharing personal stories can have. You can find more incredible work by Katie Walters, the provider of one of our firsthands for this episode, by clicking on this link.
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Ep 111 RSV: What’s syncytial anyway?
Ep 110 Influenza, Take 2: Fowl Play
Ep 109 Chikungunya: Not dengue (or is it?)
Ep 108 Gout: Toetally fascinating
Ep 107 Sepsis: It's a mess
Ep 106 Turner Syndrome: Let's talk about X
Ep 105 Down in the Mumps
Ep 104 The Bends: Industrial Revolution, baby
Ep 103 Leptospirosis: Don't blame the rats
Ep 102 Arsenic: Paris Green with Envy
Ep 101 Immortality: This Podcast Won't Kill You
Ep 100 Monkeypox: Here we go again?
Ep 99 Salmonella: A hard egg to crack
Ep 98 Folate: Marmite, anyone?
Special Episode: Snake Venom Evolution
Ep 97 Snake Venom: Collateral Damage
Special Episode: Coprolites!
Ep 96 Tapeworm: We encyst you listen
Special Episode: On the Origin of Epidemiology
Ep 95 Tetanus: An inhuman calamity!
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