Chronic Fatigue & Visual Contrast Sensitivity
Many people are chronically ill due to the presence of biotoxins in their system that they are unable to naturally eliminate. Chronic, biotoxin-induced illness is only now beginning to be recognized by the medical community. Many patients have previous diagnoses that do not recognize the underlying cause of illness in these individuals.
These diagnoses includes Chronic- or Post-Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, sick building syndrome, depression, multiple chemical sensitivity, multiple sclerosis, Bell’s palsy, sensory-neural deafness, irritable bowel syndrome, low vision, chronic soft tissue injury, learning disability and endometriosis. Other diagnoses such as chronic Ciguatera seafood poisoning, Possible Estuary Associated Syndrome, poisonous spider bites, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (endogenous toxin) and mycotoxicosis were thought to involve biotoxins, but there was no known effective treatment.
Standard medical diagnostic tests are usually normal in patients who have these biotoxin-induced illnesses, which makes it difficult to diagnose and treat. There is now however a simple tool tool that assists in diagnosis by showing evidence of a neurological deficit. That screening tool is the visual contrast sensitivity test (VCS). A positive VCS test, in the presence of biotoxin expo
sure potential, and a symptom complex involving multiple systems, and in the absence of other historical, medical or treatment conditions that likely explain the symptoms, provide a basis for making a diagnosis of Probable Biotoxin-Mediated Illness.
The visual system includes a complex neurological network that involves the retina, optic nerve, brain nuclei and the visual cortex. One of the main outputs of the visual system is pattern vision. The VCS tests is an indicator of ability to detect visual patterns. The test measures the least amount of contrast between light and dark bars (sinusoidal grating) that is needed for the viewer to detect the bars. VCS is measured at five different bar sizes (spatial frequencies) because perception of different bar sizes is mediated by different physiological components, and these components are differentially susceptible to effects from different toxic substances (10-17). The largest effects of biotoxins are at the mid-size bars (1-8). To measure VCS, viewers are presented a series of bar patterns at each of the five bar sizes. Viewers respond by indicating that the bars are tilted to the left, tilted to the right, are straight up and down, or that they cannot see any bars. The pattern with the lowest contrast that is correctly identified is the measure of VCS for that bar size. Upon completing the VCS test, viewers receive a message indicating that biotoxins are (positive) or are not (negative) likely to be involved in their illness. The criteria for getting a “positive” VCS result is set high to avoid false positive results. This occasionally results in a false negative result; some cases of chronic-biotoxin induced illness may pass the VCS test some times. VCS can be measured during treatment to monitor recovery.
The reality is that if you’ve been diagnosed with any of the above-mentioned diseases you may actually have a Biotoxin-Mediated Illness. For more information on Chronich, biotoxin-induced illnesses and the VCS test please visit www.chronicneurotoxins.com
If you have any questions you are welcome to visit www.ordmiracles.org and e-amail me personally.
Please subscribe to the Ordinary Miracles blog by email or RSS.