Dr. Natelson Close to CFS Cause and Diagnosis

Dr. Benjamin Natelson at the
MassCIFIDS Spring 2012 Educational Forum

Dr. Gudrun Lange, Ph.D.

In April I attended the Massachusetts CFIDS/ME & FM Association (MassCFIDS) Spring 2012 educational forum, co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Health, featuring Dr. Benjamin Natelson, Director of the Pain and Fatigue Center at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, as the keynote speaker. In a surprise double-header, Dr. Natelson's wife, Dr. Gudrun Lange, Ph.D., a Neuropsychologist and a professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, spoke about how neuropsychological testing is used in CFS and FM patients. Dr. Natelson's lecture was titled "CFS Diagnosis: Are You a Lumper or a Splitter" and asked the question whether it is more beneficial to lump all conditions in which severe fatigue is a significant symptom - from CFS to FM to MS - into one group or to split patients into subgroups. Dr. Natleson was clearly in the "splitter's" camp. His 20 plus years of research proved that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and post-Lyme disease are separate medical conditions and should be treated as such. Dr. Natelson went a step further and divided CFS patients into subgroups as well, such as CFS patients with and without psychological disorders (usually depression). Dr. Natelson's approach of splitting patients into subgroups, depending on symptoms and related conditions, aligns with his theory that there are most likely several causes for CFS, and the subgroups help to narrow the pool of patients in order to determine specific causes.

HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS: By using advanced techniques in medical science, Dr. Natelson is close to finding biomarkers to diagnose CFS! His research indicates the likelihood of a brain disorder as the cause for a specific subset of CFS patients. Dr. Natelson was recently awarded a federally funded grant from NIH to continue with his findings and he is looking for patients – both with CFS and healthy controls – to participate in his study. For more information, go to www.painandfatigue.com or call (212) 844-6747.

Dr. Lange discussed the process for neuropsychological testing for CFS patients. Without the identification of the type of biomarkers that Dr. Natelson is currently researching, neuropsychological testing is presently the accepted standard to qualify for Social Security disability for CFS patients. Dr. Lange stressed that not all neuropsychologists are trained to test for the types of deficits common in CFS and that patients should seek out professionals who have experience in testing for CFS.

As a volunteer for MassCFIDS, I offered to write up both presentations for their website. I was holding off on posting this information until we got approval of the article from Dr. Natelson. The article is now up on the MassCFIDS website, so for a more detailed summary, please go to: 

Dr. Benjamin Natelson is keynote speaker at Mass CFIDS/ME & FM Association 

Dr. Gudrun Lange Reviews Neuropsychological Testing for CFS and FM 

 

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Lumper or Splitter: Dr. Natelson to Lecture on CFS

For those in the New England area, Dr. Benjamin Natelson will be speaking about his "splitter" approach to research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome on Sat. April 28 in a lecture co-sponsored by the Massachusetts CFIDS/ME and FM Association. If you're not close by, I will be covering the event for Mass CFIDS and will post my article on their website. I'll be sure to post a link to the article on my blog as well. Let me know if you'll be attending so we can meet face-to-face!

Here is the information from the Mass CFIDS e-newsletter:

  Massachusetts CFIDS/ME & FM Association

Education, Support and Advocacy since 1985

  EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR PATIENTS AND HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONERS Saturday April 28, 2012

 Registration - 12:30 P.M. - 1:00 P.M

Conference - 1:00 P.M. - 3:30 P M.

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Keynote speaker: Benjamin H. Natelson, MD

Director, Pain & Fatigue Study Center, Beth Israel Medical Center, NY

Professor of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY

"CFS Diagnosis: Lumper or Splitter"

Dr. Natelson is a neurologist, with a long history of research expertise in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. He is specifically looking at the brain as one of the causes of these illnesses and will challenge the practice of frequently "lumping" these patients into one illness category due to psychological factors. He will present over a decade of research proving that CFS and FM are likely separate and discrete illnesses. In contrast to the "lumpers," he takes the "splitters" approach to identify patient subgroups each with its own discrete cause. Based on studies of the brain, he is working to identify a subgroup of CFS patients with brain dysfunction as the cause of their illness.
Dr. Natelson has recently won a federally funded grant from NIH to move this work ahead. Come hear Dr. Natelson speak about these findings and future plans for collaborative research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. There will be an expanded Q & A session.

This lecture will NOT be videotaped.

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Lecture co-sponsored by the Massachusetts CFIDS/ME & FM Association and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health 

Register now at www.masscfids.org
Become a member! Members enter free! 
$10 donation for non-members requested 

Location: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
U. Mass. Hinton State Laboratory Institute Auditorium
305 South Street, Jamaica Plain/Boston, MA 02130 

Free parking/accessible by MBTA.
For directions visit www.mass.gov 
Please have a government issued picture ID for entrance to the building.

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Related articles

• News Burst [CFIDS] - Issue of Variability in CFS Research Highlighted (doylestown-fms-cfs.org)
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Biopsychosocial Intervention Strategies (eitheory.com)
• Study Linking Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to Virus Now Retracted (livescience.com)
• Science retracts controversial Chronic Fatigue Syndrome study without the consent of its authors [Science Scandal] (io9.com)