Thread by @FizeekBio

"Physicians like disease & injury to be visible, if they are going to accept it as real."

I'm going to start w/ a focus on #MECFS, and then round out this tweet-thread w/ a segway onto why all this matters for #longcovid, too. This chronology is poetically fitting, at any rate.

We know by now that #MECFS brains are generally replete w/ neuroinflammation. PET & MRSt scans demonstrate this readily and consistently.

We know by now that metabolites, like lactate, choline-containing compounds, myo-inositol, & N-acetylaspartate, are considerably altered in #MECFS brains, and this is readily demonstrated via MRS scanning.

We've known for decades now that #MECFS brains have ubiquitous blood-flow abnormalities, marked by hypoperfusion, w/ the brainstem (which controls autonomic functions) standing out according to SPECT scanning.

So we have PET, MRS, MRSt, and SPECT scans that all have the potential to identify differences between a MECFS brain and healthy controls.

"Physicians like disease & injury to be visible, if they are going to accept it as real."

But for the most part, the medical community tends to rely on CT/MRI scans, w/ which "diffuse cellular and microvascular injuries are [generally] invisible."

Indeed, patients themselves tend to request CT/MRI's all-the-same, but if we don't perform the most appropriate scan, we're not going to get results that a medical professional can "see to believe."

MECFS brains are defined by neuroinflammation, as well as metabolite & blood-flow irregularities (hypoperfusion).

The research overwhelmingly delineates that we should probably expect the same for #COVID19/#longcovid brains, as well.

Shit, 86-100% of deceased #COVID19 brains demonstrate immune profiles that denote damage/injury has occurred.

Plenty of #longhaulers have had CT/MRI's done w/ nothing of substance to note, despite the slew of neurological syndromes the grand majority exhibit. It's the same song & dance, and what MECFS dealt with for decades, #COVID19 longhaulers are dealing with now.

The medical community can't drag its feet anymore. The longhauler community will, naturally, push & pull frantically in all sorts of often redundant directions. But the medical community has no excuse. You're capable of understanding what's going on, and w/ efficiency.

SPECT, PET, MRSt. The technology has improved. Let's now make the technology more pervasively distributed & readily accessible, and let's get more medical professionals informed on how/when to apply & utilize them.

I speak for #pwME when I say that the wait should be over.