Santa Rosa doctor’s study offers new insight into chronic fatigue syndrome
Brittany Harrison of Santa Rosa was an A-student, valedictorian of her eighth-grade class and a promising ballerina when the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome set in at age 13.
By 17, she was bedridden all day in a dark room, unable to stand or walk and in constant pain from a severe migraine.
Unable to eat anything but soft food and occasionally fruit, she lost weight and stopped going to school. An associated symptom known as “brain fog” prohibited her from reading, doing school work and even having conversations because she couldn’t understand what she was reading or what someone was saying to her.
“I could crawl to the bathroom,” she said.
Harrison, now 21, is one of an estimated 1 to 2 million Americans with chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating illness that can transform hardworking, type-A personalities, into patients who, in some cases, cannot work and can barely take care of themselves.
“It destroys your life,” said Dr. Eric Gordon, a Santa Rosa physician whose practice specializes in treatment of chronic disorders, such as Lyme disease, arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome. “You can’t function.”
The illness is often dismissed as a psychological condition, another misconception that sufferers such as Harrison must wage in their daily fight against the illness.
For years, researchers and physicians have sought medical clues that would confirm the illness is a physical disorder and which could help in diagnosis and treatment.
A new study initiated by Gordon and including Harrison as one of the subjects could provide that breakthrough.
