My Brain is Controlled by Aliens

A snippet taken from a report of the IACFS/ME conference in Reno, Day 4, March 15, written by Kim McCleary, President & CEO, The CFIDS Association of America, posted on the Life as we know it blog (http://cfs-facts.blogspot.com/).

"A short but interesting session on the brain and cognitive function followed. A most intriguing study from Harvard showed that rigorously selected CFS patients were clearly distinguishable from depressed and healthy controls using spectral coherence EEG data. Presenter Frank Duffy, MD, concluded, "These data are in accord with much previously reported data indicating that CFS is a condition that causes objective, measurable perturbations in central nervous system function." He suggested that if replicated, these EEG data in combination with other brain imaging techniques might be diagnostic for CFS. A study of adult cognitive performance by Elke Van Hoof of Brussels showed slow processing speed, as has been reported by several other groups, lower performance on tasks which require complex processing, and CFS subjects' need for more time to complete reaction-time related tasks."

This may not mean much to most of you, but for me it is highly meaningful. I know there's something going on with my brain - I am not functioning like I used to, but trying to explain this to others is close to impossible. The nearest I get is to say that my head is full of cotton wool, or I feel like I have a bad hangover - without the benefit of having enjoyed the alcohol - and drinking a good cup of coffee only makes it worse. It would be great to be able to hold up the results of a scan and show that 'here is a normal brain - and here's what's going on in my brain'.