Haworth Library of the Medical Neurobiology of Somatic Disor

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is now a recognized major and international medical concern. Neglected for many years because of its puzzling wide range of symptoms and inability to be "slotted" into any single mainstream medical discipline, CFS has gained government, academic, and public attention. In this innovative book, Dr. Jay Goldstein provides a medical narrative of an "evolving theory" of how the symptoms of CFS may develop through dysfunction of numerous physiological pathways. He describes the biologic basis of these assumptions, and, based on an analysis of basic medical principles, leads the reader to logical conclusions. In addition, Dr. Goldstein reveals a wealth of clinical experience by describing successes and failures of various therapies and discusses the reasons for the outcomes. Dr. Goldstein's private practice is devoted to patients who fit the profile of a CFS sufferer. As a result, his extensive clinical experience has given him a unique hands-on perspective not readily available to most researchers.Chronic Fatigue Syndromes: The Limbic Hypothesis carefully reviews the extant research literature in each chapter. Although Dr. Goldstein cautions that this model should be viewed only as a PROMISING FOUNDATION for future research, no less than six peer reviewers, all leading researchers and clinicians in the CFS field, have endorsed the direction of Dr. Goldstein's bold proposition. The breadth and scope of this book is perhaps best summarized by Paul Cheney, MD, PhD, a national leader in the field: "Despite its long history, the medical establishment with its great advances in biotechnology has been largely unable to crack the basic pathophysiology of the chronic fatigue syndrome. . . . Dr. Goldstein's new book takes us to a place few people know well, and describes a plausible mechanism of injury to the deep brain which could explain every symptom seen in patients with] chronic fatigue syndrome. . . . It is the unifying power of his hypothesis, together with emerging scientific support for this view, that makes this book an important one to read for both the patient with CFS, as well as the practitioner and medical scientist who attempt to understand it."