Patient's Plan to Educate Doctors on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A young man is taking on the medical establishment with a plan to educate medical students about the devastating disease Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, that is little or not understood at all by most doctors. Ryan Prior, 24, has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which affects about 1 million Americans and 17 million people around the world.

Prior, accompanied by infectious disease researcher Dr. Andreas Kogelnik, will discuss his plan to tackle the lack of understanding about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome among doctors by embedding medical school students for 10 weeks with specialists. They will also discuss the pioneering work being done on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at Kogelnik's Open Medicine Institute in Mountain View, CA.

When: January 24, 2014, 9 a.m.

Where: The National Press Club, 529 14^th St., NW, Washington, DC  20045

Speakers: Dr. Andreas Kogelnik, director, the Open Medicine Institute, Mountain View, CA, expert on molecular medicine and chronic disease, and supporter of the medical internship program for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Ryan Prior, patient and creator of the Blue Ribbon Foundation, based in Atlanta, GA, which will manage and coordinate the medical intern program.

Facilitator: Llewellyn King, executive producer and host,"White House Chronicle" on PBS and columnist, Hearst-New York Times Syndicate

Background: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has no cure, succumbs to no drug, and is hard to diagnose because there are no biological markers in blood or urine. About twice as many women as men are stricken with the disease, and they tend to be more severely incapacitated.

Victims suffer a variety of awful symptoms including severe declines in cognitive function, fatigue that is not abated by sleep, joint pain, and the inability to undertake any physical activity without collapsing afterwards. Many victims are often bedridden in tomb-like rooms – even in bedroom closets -- because of sensitivity to sound and light.

For most sufferers, it is a disease that dictates bare existence for the rest of life.

Even among physicians, there is a critical lack of knowledge about the disease, according to Kogelnik. "The parallels of the current state of CFS to the early days of misunderstanding around HIV are incredible," he said.

Contact: For more information, call Llewellyn King at (202) 441-2702. To arrange a broadcast interview with either Ryan Prior or Dr. Andreas Kogelnik, e-mail Llewellyn King at [email protected]

SOURCE Open Medicine Foundation

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