Stress links CFS and CPPS

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For years we've known that men with CP/CPPS (pelvic myoneuropathy) are far more likely to suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) than normal people, but we don't know why. A new study may have uncovered the link, and that link is probably stress. Stress is a big trigger for CPPS symptoms and now seems likely to be a trigger for CFS as well.

Chronic fatigue traced to mothers - US study

Mothers of teenagers with chronic fatigue syndrome are also more likely to have the mysterious ailment, or display psychological stresses that may play a role in the child's illness, a study said on Monday.

In the study that included 36 children averaging 16 years old diagnosed with chronic fatigue, their mothers were likely to share their symptoms, while fathers showed no connection, the study found.

"Our study revealed a shared symptom complex of fatigue, fatigue-associated symptoms, and psychological distress between adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome and their mothers," the study said.

Between 500,000 and one million Americans have chronic fatigue syndrome.

Study author Elise M. van de Putte of Wilhelmina Children's Hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands, suggested the link was the "result of an interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors." [webslave comment: same as CP/CPPS]

"It may point to a gene-environment interaction in which the child not only inherits the genetic characteristics of the mother, but these maternal characteristics also function as environmental factors for the child," she wrote in the June issue of "Pediatrics," the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The illness can persist for years and often leaves victims listless, with symptoms such as pain, headaches, swollen lymph nodes, and problems with memory and concentration.

Increasingly, research into chronic fatigue syndrome has pointed to genetic causes, though it was once dismissed by some medical experts as being all in the mind.

In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said genetic studies on more than 200 patients showed there likely was a biological basis for the illness, related to how parts of the brain respond to stress. Last year, British researchers reported finding genetic abnormalities in sufferers' white blood cells, which direct the body's immune response.

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Another angle:

Report links genetics and chronic fatigue syndrome

By Associated Press
May 2, 2006

ATLANTA - Chronic fatigue syndrome appears to result from something in people's genetic makeup that reduces their ability to deal with physical and psychological stress, researchers report in the latest issue of the Pharmacogenomics Journal.

The research is being called some of the first credible scientific evidence that genetics, when combined with stress, can bring on chronic fatigue syndrome.

Researchers said the findings could help lead to better means of diagnosing and treating chronic fatigue syndrome and predicting those who are likely to develop the disorder, which is characterized by extreme, persistent exhaustion.

William Reeves of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the study demonstrates that people with chronic fatigue syndrome are unable to deal with everyday challenges and adversity. That could include injuries, illnesses, divorce, even stressful jobs, the researchers said.

The CDC estimates more than 1 million Americans have the condition, with women suffering at four times the rate among men.

Among the report's findings: Chronic fatigue patients tested with high levels of allostatic load, which is a stress measure of hormone secretions, blood pressure and other signs of wear and tear on the body. The patients were about twice as likely to have a high allostatic load index as people who did not have chronic fatigue syndrome.

The researchers also found certain genetic-sequence variations in five stress-moderating genes showed up consistently in chronic fatigue patients. And they identified at least five subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome, classified according to criteria that include their genetics and the way their symptoms unfold.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a complex illness characterized by at least six months of severe fatigue that is not helped by bed rest. Patients also report such symptoms as muscle pain and impaired memory.

The cause has never been identified, and there are no specific tests for it. It was first identified in the 1980s.

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Video: http://www.bsn.org.uk/view_all.php?id=11707