[lindsaywaterman]

Ouch, you're coming at me red hot there! To be clear, I think post-viral syndromes are a common "proximal" cause of CFS. If a patient doesn't have an underlying dynamic of chronic dissociation, and doesn't already have a few other CSS syndromes, then I think it's unlikely they will develop CFS as a post-viral syndrome. Cheers.

[fatfingerd]

To me this seems suspiciously like confusing heightened awareness of a problem, or inability to treat it early, with cause.

People who seem likely to be diagnosed seem less likely to happily sleep for 12 hours a day for a few weeks after a viral infection, more likely to blame themselves for their state and more stressed by awareness that something is wrong.

Naturally, if a rich layabout has the problem anyway, then we can look to their childhood and find at least one trauma.

[whimsicalism]

> To me this seems suspiciously like confusing heightened awareness of a problem, or inability to treat it early, with cause.

Heightened awareness of a problem can be related to the cause - these are not distinct.

The comorbidities of ME/CFS make it look very similar to known psychosomatic conditions. Researchers who explore psychological-heritable causes have been forced to stop due to death threats.

[fatfingerd]

Sure but if you look at male outcomes, we are clearly ignoring a lot of real health problems that are deadly, so 66% of males ignoring a less than deadly problem that allows 8 hours of work a day seems more likely than a lot of female hypochondriacs to me.

[whimsicalism]

This argument could be applied to any condition with psychosomatic indicators.

Your suggestion that somatically-involved conditions aren't 'real' is offensive and what gives rise to the stigma that means we can't talk about this in the first place.

[fatfingerd]

There's no telling what's real once you are willing to go down that route, least of all a doctors opinion. If someone stops displaying symptoms that could just be a non blinded doctor and a placebo.

I think the offense is going there without any double blinded science and then relying on non reproducible fields of research to annoy the patient.