This image symbolizes me moving my blog from MySpace, which I just did (mostly)! My life also feels like this picture most of the time. Not because I'm able-bodied enough to hitch up an oxbow (or, in this case, yoga strap) and pull several tons of steel, and not because I'm actually doing the preposterous maneuvers in this picture, but because of ME/CFIDS and the fact that most of the time I feel like I'm lying beneath the steel.

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Fly Away to XAND -ado, or Where Is Elaine DeFreitas ? The discovery of antibodies to the retrovirus XMRV in the blood of 95 percent of ME/ CFS patients has led to an air of celebration best expressed by these 20+ year ME/ CFS patients who partied with funny hats that read "I heart retrovirii ." It has also led to a new name for the illness: XAND or X-associated neuroimmune disease. But two questions are on everyone's minds: how do we keep the momentum going when the patient community is so frail, and where is Elaine DeFreitas ? First, let me talk about XAND and why it's so exciting . Retroviruses are rare in the general population, whereas most other viruses found in ME/ CFS patients are ubiquitous. Most viruses discovered in ME/CFS patients have been common or fairly common herpesviruses such as CMV , Epstein Barr, HHV -6. A finding of a retrovirus in 95 percent of a patient group argues very strongly for causality. This is why our ME/ CFS luminar
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