Of Syndromes and Spectrums (crossposted to the sister blog, Another Invisible Illness)

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: CFS and neuromyotonia are not BFS. Part of the problem lies in the medical literature; even Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology describes CFS as both "probably a variant" of BFS and as "a mild form of neuromyotonia."

To understand how these syndromes can be the same and yet so different, it's important to know what a syndrome is. A syndrome is simply a collection of medical commonalities.

As a collection of commonalities, BFS, CFS, and neuromyotonia are essentially the same syndrome with drastically differing levels of severity.

But this does not mean that they have the same cause.

Indeed, a singular cause for all three has not been established. What is known is that both CFS and neuromyotonia can be acquired, hereditary, or paraneoplastic. A few patients with CFS, and more, but not all, with neuromyotonia, demonstrate elevated voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC) antibody levels through blood serum tests.

Though researchers think there may be many catalysts for the development of these disorders, they are in complete agreement that the symptoms of CFS and neuromyotonia are caused by physical processes.

In contrast, patients with BFS never show elevated VGKC antibody levels. Some researchers theorize that BFS is indeed caused by the same physical processes that occur in those with CFS or neuromyotonia. This is quite possible in many cases, since the sensitivity of the antibodies tests are questioned. Other researchers theorize that the symptoms of BFS are a physical manifestation of stress. It could be that there are several causes for the twitching known as BFS.

My point is not that those with BFS are stressed or unbalanced. Some may be, and some clearly are not. My point is that there is unanimous agreement among researchers that CFS and neuromyotonia are not caused by stress; they are physical disorders with physical causes.