4 ms·

It's really hard to tell just from symptoms whether it is mental or physical. And from your explanation, it sounds like you're saying it was from stress (i.e. m

It's really hard to tell just from symptoms whether it is mental or physical. And from your explanation, it sounds like you're saying it was from stress (i.e. mental), but caused physical effects (reduced cortisol, etc). It's well known that stress causes these effects. I'm not sure it's helpful calling it either physical or mental. Psychosomatic is the correct term, but it is widely misunderstood (most people think it means "imaginary"). Perhaps functional is the best term to use. As for treatment: what exactly is compacted thyroid, and how would it help with cortisol? The low cortisol in chronic stress is central in nature (due to changes in the brain), so how would any of your treatments change your brain? Bear in mind that psychiatric interventions and have been proven to treat low cortisol, so it could just be the lifestyle changes you made that resulted in improvement.

mattmol 11y ago
I think you're right, psychosomatic is a better way to think about it. They are intrinsically linked. I also think microbiota plays a big part, which would be physical. Although apparently some research suggests the brain does have an effect on microbiota. I think from a treatment point of view the physical is often discounted far too much. I went through 6 years of lifestyle changes and before trying the thyroid meds.
- cpncrunch 11y ago
  There are a few ways the brain has been proven to affect the gut: stress causes increase in gut motility, and changes in bacteria. I don't think there's much evidence of the gut bacteria affecting the brain, except in the case of an ongoing infection. I'm curious which lifestyle changes you made. The changes that seem to help with CFS and low cortisol involve increasing activity, not just reducing stress.
DanBC 11y ago
> Psychosomatic Somatoform or somatic symptom disorder is newer and preferred, because of the stigma perpetuated by people saying things like "it's not all in my head". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_symptom_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_symptom_disorder > exactly is compacted thyroid There's a bunch of people who don't meet the clinical threshold for inactive thyroid, but who think that thyroid medication would help them. They either take thyroxine, or they take thyroid extract. In England there are a couple of quack doctors who make their living selling nutrient supplements and thyroid extracts to private patients. (EG Dr Sarah Myhill, who was ordered by the GMC to fix her website)
- cpncrunch 11y ago
  >Somatoform or somatic symptom disorder is newer and preferred I'm not sure if that really helps though, as there is still a large stigma (as you'll see in all the CFS patient forums to terms such as FSS).

mattmol 11y ago

I think you're right, psychosomatic is a better way to think about it. They are intrinsically linked. I also think microbiota plays a big part, which would be physical. Although apparently some research suggests the brain does have an effect on microbiota. I think from a treatment point of view the physical is often discounted far too much. I went through 6 years of lifestyle changes and before trying the thyroid meds.

cpncrunch 11y ago
There are a few ways the brain has been proven to affect the gut: stress causes increase in gut motility, and changes in bacteria. I don't think there's much evidence of the gut bacteria affecting the brain, except in the case of an ongoing infection. I'm curious which lifestyle changes you made. The changes that seem to help with CFS and low cortisol involve increasing activity, not just reducing stress.

DanBC 11y ago

> Psychosomatic Somatoform or somatic symptom disorder is newer and preferred, because of the stigma perpetuated by people saying things like "it's not all in my head". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_symptom_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_symptom_disorder > exactly is compacted thyroid There's a bunch of people who don't meet the clinical threshold for inactive thyroid, but who think that thyroid medication would help them. They either take thyroxine, or they take thyroid extract. In England there are a couple of quack doctors who make their living selling nutrient supplements and thyroid extracts to private patients. (EG Dr Sarah Myhill, who was ordered by the GMC to fix her website)

cpncrunch 11y ago
>Somatoform or somatic symptom disorder is newer and preferred I'm not sure if that really helps though, as there is still a large stigma (as you'll see in all the CFS patient forums to terms such as FSS).