Journal of IiME Volume 9 Issue 1 Abstract: People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) report a number of vision-related symptoms associated with their condition. These include difficulties with depth perception and focussing on objects, hypersensitivity to light, eyestrain, painful, itchy or dry eyes, problems with visual attention and vision-related headaches. Despite these vision-related complaints, there has been very little research systematically examining their characteristics and causes. We have shown that the severity of vision problems in ME/CFS is correlated with their impact on patients’ everyday lives and have provided experimental evidence to support the results of questionnaire studies. Here, I will discuss this work examining visual markers of ME/CFS. I will present a snapshot of our experimental evidence and discuss how particular visual deficits can be mapped onto different stages of the visual processing pathway. Finally, I will discuss the utility of our work for people with ME/CFS and those treating them with particular reference to how our findings: (1) may be useful in clinical diagnosis and (2) provide insight into the origin (e.g. the eye, the cortical visual pathways, cognitive control of visual processing) of vision-related problems in ME/CFS. Professor Betsy Keller Activity guidelines to avoid symptom flares Department of Exercise & Sport Sciences, Ithaca College Ithaca, NY, USA May 2015 Professor Keller is Professor Ithaca College, Dept. of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Ithaca, NY. Since 2003 Professor Keller has tested persons ill with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) for purposes of research and/or to provide an objective assessment of functional capacity and ability to perform and recover from physical work. Often, these individuals seek an objective indication of illness status to apply for disability benefits. A two-day exercise test protocol has shown to be instrumental in delineating abnormal responses to and recovery from exercise in ME/CFS patients. Her report of test results and interpretation has been successful in many cases to support an argument for disability coverage. There are only a few researchers in the USA who have performed and interpreted the twoday exercise test protocol on ME/CFS patients, and therefore have observed first-hand the anomalous multisystem responses of these patients 24 hours post-exercise. Professor Keller continues to expand the small body of peer-reviewed evidence of the abnormal recovery response to physical activity in ME/CFS so that most, if not all clinicians, researchers, health insurers and patient family members also understand the deleterious impact of this illness. To that end, she has collaborated on an NIH R21 grant with PI, Maureen Hanson, from Cornell University to study the effects of exercise in ME/CFS on parameters of Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) www.investinme.org Page 51 of 57
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