Amyloid Proteins And Brain Stem Disregulation In Cfs

[ramakentesh]

http://aboutmecfs.org/News/BrainProteomeMar10.aspx

Interesting stuff!!

[ramakentesh]

Focus on the Brainstem - In particular he?s focused on the gating mechanisms in the lower part of the brain that filter the amount of information that the upper part of the brain receives. He believes that the neural circuits running from the spinal cord to the brainstem are not working properly and that the system that should close and latch those gates is dysfunctional. These gates filter out unnecessary information and protect the brain from being flooded with too much information. He believes they?ve been left wide open in chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The most critical neural circuit appears to be the Papez Circuit which ties together the anterior cingulate, amygdala and hippocampus. It?s associated with heightened awareness and anxiety and effects autonomic nervous system functioning.

Interestingly studies have shown that the gating mechanisms involving pain are wide open in fibromyalgia patients. (FM patients display over activation of the pain producing and under activation of the pain inhibiting circuits in the brain. Dr. Baraniuk believes ME/CFS, FM, GWS, etc. are all subsets of each other.) Which problem is accentuated in each person may depend on where small ruptures in the blood vessels occur.

'Arousal' and CFS. My experiences with feeling wired/tired, muscle tension, rushing thoughts, an inability to settle down and the positive results some people have seen from mindfulness programs like Ashok Gupta?s Amygdala Retraining program ? which are intended to tamp down the stress response - lead me to ask him straight out what he thought about 'system arousal' in ME/CFS.

Dr. Baraniuk repeatedly stated that he does not believe CFS is a ?psychiatric condition?; he believes it is a neurological condition possibly caused by the damage reflected in the proteome signature. He strongly believes, though, that the brain confusion just described creates anxiety-like components in this disease and that the medical profession took a 20 year tramp down the wrong rabbit hole when they focused on depression. The heightened sensory awareness seen most prominently in fibromyalgia but also to some extent in ME/CFS is associated with increased not depressed brain activity. (The only disease the Isreali researchers Naschitz was unable to differentiate from chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) using measures of autonomic nervous system functioning was anxiety.)

The inherent plasticity of the brain allows people, however, as he put it to ?purposefully introduce conscious actions to block that abnormal circuit? by doing behavioral therapies such as meditation, Amygdala Retraining program, cognitive behavioral therapy, etc. and he?s all for them. Another way to slow down the overactivity of the brain is to use Klonopin ? which numerous physicians have described as the most helpful drug for ME/CFS patients.Focus on Klonopin ? Klonopin (Clonzepam) is a benzodiazepine that calms down the brain by reducing the ?set point? at which it?s neurons are activated. It does this by increasing the production of GABA, a chemical that reduces neuronal activity. Klonopin has primarily been used to treat panic and seizure disorders. For more on Klonopin

A Key Gene? Dr. Baraniuk is focusing on a particular gene ? CNDP1 - that has a long and short form. His evidence suggests that GWS (and ME/CFS) patients tend to have the longer version. This form of the gene, interestingly enough, given all the evidence of increased oxidative stress in this disease, appears to impair the ability of the brain to protect itself from free radical attack.

I can relate to this...

[futurehope]

I haven't read this all yet, but wanted to chime in. I found Klonopin, by far, the most helpful of any medicine I've tried for POTS.

[ramakentesh]

I often hear this. thanks.

[rach73]

Thanks for this. My sister suffers with ME and I have emailed her the link.

[miranda]

does this drug effect blood pressure ?

[ramakentesh]

They are discussing elevated cerebral lactate levels as a biomarker for CFS - lactate builds up in the brain when glucose metabolism is impaired. However, lactate builds up in the brain when there is hypoxia - that is reduced blood flow to the brain orthostatically = CFS is a state of chronic inflammation AND orthostatic intolerance and it is almost indistinguishable from POTS/OI

[lieze]

I can relate to this too.

I can tell I'm getting overstimulated when driving and when going into places like grocery stores. There is too much visual input and I get overwhelmed and usually feel some type of anxiety symptoms. Also fluorescent lighting.

Sometimes when I'm feeling really bad just closing my eyes for 20-30 minutes totally takes the symptoms away.

And xanax makes me almost functional. Xanax also increases GABA in the brain I remember reading that.

So my question has been if Xanax takes away my symptoms are they real? Is it a real deficit I have or perceived or a mixture?

I also notice reading on the anxiety forums people get fixated on their hearts just as I did. Now my heart has calmed way down but part of it was me talking to myself and realizing my heart only did certain things when I got really worked up. The other part is I do think my nervous system is calming down and not overreacting so much. For the most part I don't jerk out of my sleep any more in a startle and gasp for breath.

So now I've moved from the fixation on my heart feeling as if it was just going to stop-which is a common phobia of anxiety sufferers and I really do believe we are getting a sensation.

To my breathing and I mess my breathing up all the time and have to do breathing exercises to prevent from hyperventilating and my chest tightens up on me. These are also things people with anxiety experience.

I maybe way off track here I don't know. I just notice around the constant noise of my children I can get triggered into feeling some odd symptoms very easily.

My mind also feels like it's functioning on a couple different levels, I was wondering about that today because I am always feeling so scattered and it's fatiguing but like right now we have tv on, my kids are on the couch, so I am taking mental note of them, and husband is rummaging in the kitchen and I am attempting to type. How would I feel in a room alone with silence?

I don't know sometimes I feel like I'm losing my mind and maybe my mind is just too busy is the only problem.

I realize there are people at this site that this doesn't apply to.

My intention isn't trying to imply that this is psychological.

I believe in my body the psychological stress if you would call it that just from being a functioning being the stress on my body is manifesting in physical symptoms.

I am fearful now of driving down the road, walking into groceries, and going through the recyclers. There is something about that place that sets me off? Too much activity? There are multiple things going on at once and icky smells. Maybe it is zapping me. Guys driving fork lifts, conveyer belts moving, I try to be so aware of other cars moving in and out that I don't get hit, and then the person helping me starts asking me questions. I can't take it I go into sensory overload!

Just my thoughts on this let me know if I am just out of my tree.

lieze

[futurehope]

I don't mean to sound stupid, but....

I suppose a lactate buildup in the brain (if orthostatically intolerant like me), can cause symptoms? I must say, I am very aware of symptoms when my body is not adjusting to gravity, one of which is a specific type of headache. I've been known to ignore this initial headache, to my detriment. I will go into a full-blown migraine because of my stubborness and refusing to recline.

Increased lactate in the brain. What do you suppose the symptoms would be because of the build-up? Rhetorical question, as I'm sure no one knows.

[potsgirl]

I read this same article and printed it out so I could take it in to my doctor. He found it interesting, but too early in the studies to really rely on the info yet. However, he does believe that I have amyloidosis and that is behind my OI/CFS. I'm getting a fat aspirate study done next week to check for amyloid, and seeing a neurological specialist because they have found a moderate amount of brain atrophy via a recent CT scan. I also find Klonopin to be the best drug for me.

Cheers,

Jana

[Chaos]

They are discussing elevated cerebral lactate levels as a biomarker for CFS - lactate builds up in the brain when glucose metabolism is impaired. However, lactate builds up in the brain when there is hypoxia - that is reduced blood flow to the brain orthostatically = CFS is a state of chronic inflammation AND orthostatic intolerance and it is almost indistinguishable from POTS/OI

I'm curious about how quickly that would occur. Since I crashed last summer, I've noticed a DIRECT correlation with fatigue and weakness very quickly if I eat any kind of simple carbohydrates or sweets.

With CFS being a state of chronic inflammation is a CRP always elevated on blood testing?