Question:
I saw a cable show (Comcast, CN8) last night and a "Dr. Podell" was on, talking
about CFS..Chronic Fatigue Syndrome .. and each and every caller who called in
and asked him questions..all sounded like they had LYME instead of CFS. Does
anybody out there know if CFS is really just Lyme Disease? This one man,
Joseph, from Califon, NJ .. he said he has severe arthraligia and fibromyalgia
and that he used to love to go deer-hunting (deer ticks!!)...and he thinks he
has CFS!! I feel so sorry for these people and wish I could help them...they
THINK they have CFS...their doctors tell them they do..but what about Lyme?
What about antibiotic treatment?
It looks like the government, insurance companies and doctors are more
accepting of this CFS than they are of Lyme
Answer:
I have no qualifications, but, my gut feeling is that:
Depression consists of much more than what doctors think it does. Many
people diagnosed with depression have what is now called fibromyalgia,
chronic fatigue syndrome and Lyme disease. Many others have physical
illnesses (possibly infectious) diagnosed as depression which are actually
separate.
Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and Lyme disease ALSO cross naming
conventions and some cases of each may fit in new catagories.
In short, I think that medicine is still in it's infancy. Whenever our
doctors think they know it all, something new comes up. AND they are very
slow to adapt to change. This is the way it has always been.
