Barley,

This is very interesting. I have been getting B 12 shots for several
years now after a specialist discovered I was low. Now my B12 levels
are back to normal but my GP agrees to keep giving it to me (once a
month) as I feel so much better after I get them and notice fatigue and
other symptoms when it has been four weeks since my last shot.
Therefore, this research explains it. I am MCS big time and probably
the B 12 shot helps to detox my blood etc.,

Shirl.

BarleySinger wrote:

>Red Blood Cells and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
>
>ImmuneSupport.com
>
>01-15-2003
>
>By Jule Klotter
>(Townsend Letter, issue: November 2001)
>
>According to an article by Maryann Spurgin, Ph.D., New Zealand researcher
>Dr. L.O. Simpson has theorized that myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also
>known as Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome (CFIDS), results from
>"insufficient oxygen availability due to impaired capillary blood flow."
>
>Simpson attributes the impaired capillary blood flow to smaller-than-usual
>capillaries and to the presence of abnormal red blood cells (nondiscocytes).
>
>In healthy people, most red blood cells are smooth-surfaced and
>concave-shaped with a donut-like appearance. These discocytes have extra
>membranes in the concave area that give them the flexibility needed to move
>through capillary beds, delivering oxygen, nutrients, and chemical
>messengers to tissue and removing metabolic waste, such as carbon dioxide
>and lactic acid.
>
>Abnormal red blood cells lack flexibility that allow them to enter tiny
>capillaries. These nondiscocytes are characterized by a variety of
>irregularities, including surface bumps or ridges, a cup or basin shape,
>and altered margins instead of the round shape found in discocytes.
>
>When people become ill or physically stressed, a higher percentage of
>discocytes transform into the less flexible nondiscocytes. Simpson says
>that the blood samples of marathon runners show a higher percentage of
>cup-shaped nondiscocytes (somatocytes) after a race. This higher percentage
>soon reverts to pre-race, normally-low levels of abnormally-shaped cells.
>Similarly, researchers found that the percentage of nondiscocytes in people
>with a viral head cold peaked on the fifth day and declined by the tenth day.
>
>Simpson found that people with ME/CFIDS have higher percentages of
>nondiscocytes than people with other chronic illnesses, such as Lupus,
>multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, malaria, and diabetes. In
>addition, the percentages of cup-shaped somatocytes in ME/CFIDS patients
>can remain high for months, inhibiting blood flow.
>
>Simpson believes that, in ME/CFIDS, either the mechanism whereby red blood
>cells revert to the discocyte form is hampered for some reason or that
>whatever triggered the red blood cells to transform into nondiscocytes
>remains in effect, albeit unidentified. Ms. Spurgin notes that red blood
>cell morphology is also affected by toxic chemicals, providing a possible
>link between ME/CFIDS, environmental illness and multiple chemical
>sensitivity, and Gulf War Syndrome.
>
>Simpson found that vitamin B12 injections reduced nondiscocyte levels in
>some ME patients. These patients also experienced symptomatic improvement.
>Patients whose nondiscocyte levels remain unaffected by the B12 injections
>noticed no improvement. Research with diabetic patients found that omega-3
>fatty acids can also reduce nondiscocyte levels and improve capillary flow;
>and omega-6, in the form of evening primrose oil, has improved blood
>filterability in cigarette smokers.
>
>"The Role of Red Blood Cell Morphology in the Pathogenesis of ME/CFIDS" by
>Maryann Spurgin, Ph.D., The CFIDS Chronicle, Summer 1995 discocytes have
>extra membranes in the concave area that give them the flexibility needed
>to move through capillary, beds, delivering oxygen, nutrients, and chemical
>messengers to tissue and removing metabolic waste, such as carbon dioxide
>and lactic acid. Abnormal red blood cells lack flexibility that allow them
>to enter tiny capillaries. These nondiscocytes are characterized by a
>variety of irregularities, including surface bumps or ridges, a cup or
>basin shape, and altered margins instead of the round shape found in
>discocytes.
>
>When people become ill or physically stressed, a higher percentage of
>discocytes transform into the less flexible nondiscocytes. Simpson says
>that the blood samples of marathon runners show a higher percentage of
>cup-shaped nondiscocytes (somatocytes) after a race. This higher percentage
>soon reverts to pre-race, normally-low levels 'of abnormally-shaped cells.
>Similarly, researchers found that the percentage of nondiscocytes in people
>with a viral head cold' peaked on the fifth day and declined by the tenth day.
>
>Simpson found that people with ME/CFIDS have higher percentages of
>nondiscocytes than people' with other chronic illnesses, such as Lupus,
>multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, malaria, and diabetes. In
>addition, the percentages of cup-shaped somatocytes in ME/CFIDS patients
>can remain high for months, inhibiting blood flow.
>
>Simpson believes that, in ME/CFIDS, either the mechanism whereby red blood
>cells revert to the discocyte form is hampered for some reason or that
>whatever triggered the red blood cells to transform into nondiscocytes
>remains in effect, albeit unidentified. Ms. Spurgin notes that red blood
>cell morphology is also affected by toxic chemicals, providing a possible
>link between ME/CFIDS, environmental illness and multiple chemical
>sensitivity, and Gulf War Syndrome.
>
>Simpson found that vitamin B12 injections reduced nondiscocyte levels in
>some ME patients. These patients also experienced symptomatic improvement.
>Patients whose nondiscocyte levels remain unaffected by' the B12 injections
>noticed no improvement. Research with diabetic patients found that omega-3
>fatty acids can also reduce nondiscocyte levels and improve capillary flow;
>and omega-6, in the form of evening primrose oil, has improved blood
>filterability in cigarette smokers.
>
>Reference: "The Role of Red Blood Cell Morphology in the Pathogenesis of
>ME/CFIDS" by Maryann Spurgin, PhD, The CFIDS Chronicle, Summer 1995
>
>
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