Testing
<p>Fom: 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, A Roadmap for Testing and Treatment' <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/cfstestingandtreatmentroadmap/home">https://sites.google.com/site/cfstestingandtreatmentroadmap/home</a>
Note that <strong>hypopituitarism</strong> will occur in up to 30% of people who sustain a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), and can sometimes occur even in mild TBI cases. Hypopituitarism can have symptoms very close to those of ME/CFS.<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2631263/How-doctors-failing-spot-brain-injury-30-000-cases-chronic-fatigue.html#ixzz322IbpZZe" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">1</a> Thus there is a real danger of misdiagnosing such symptoms ME/CFS when the true cause is hypopituitarism.
If a traumatic brain injury is involved, and ME/CFS-like symptoms ensue, testing for hypopituitarism would be advised. The <strong>short synacthen test</strong> (also called the ACTH stimulation test) is a standard test for hypopituitarism, but this test is not very accurate, and in fact misses 40% of hypopituitarism cases. A more accurate but more complex and risky test for hypopituitarism is the <strong>insulin tolerance test</strong>.
A trauma to the spine can sometimes cause a <strong>syringomyelia</strong> to later form in the spinal cord, which may result in ME/CFS-like symptoms. Syringomyelia can be treated surgically.
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