Recommended Testing

Yearly Regular Testing

There are some common tests that every good doctor will prescribe if you exhibit ME/CFS symptoms. Some of these are the basic blood labs that we all need to check each year. Often something will be slightly off on these, but not enough to explain your symptoms and their severity. This can be extremely frustrating and invalidating. Listed below are tests that many ME/CFS patients have found helpful. This is not an exhaustive list, but definitely a start.

Basic Tests

They include but are not limited to:

• CBC (with Differential/Platelets)
• Basic Metabolic Panel
• Complete Urinalysis (with reflex to culture)
• Thyroid Panel
• Hepatic (Liver) Function Panel
• Lipid Panel (Cholesterol)
• Brain MRI (to rule out Multiple Sclerosis & tumors) – although I haven’t had one, an MRI with Neuroquant technology is supposed to be helpful in measuring brain damage due to inflammation (Google away on this one friends…)

ME/CFS Tests

Environmental Exposure

• Mold Toxicity (Urine test by Great Plains Laboratory)
• Organic Acids Test (OAT) by Great Plains Laboratory
• Heavy Metal Panel (Urine)
• Heavy Metal Evaluation (In blood – Arsenic, Lead, Mercury, Cadmium)

Viral Titers (including both IGG and IGM)

However, there is new evidence from the OMF researchers that the viral titers of ME/CFS patients are the same as the general population. Still many with ME/CFS have immune deficiencies and may find it helpful to know what viruses may be continuing to give them trouble. (The goal for all of us is to get our natural killer cells to a normal number and function in order for our bodies to fight the viruses the general population is continually exposed to.)

• Epstein-Barr Virus Antibody Panel
• HHV6 Antibodies (IGG,IGM)
• HIV 1/2 Antigen/Antibody, 1st Generation W/RFL 
• Coxsackie B (1-6) Antibodies, Serum
• Cytomegalovirus Antibodies (IGG,IGM)
• Parvovirus B19 Antibodies (IGG,IGM)

Nutrient Levels

• Ferritin (Iron)
• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
• Vitamin B3 (Nicotinamide)
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin B12
• Folate
• Vitamin D, 1,25 Dihydroxy LC/MS/MS (D, D2 & D3)

Immune and Inflammatory

Other tests related to immune disorders and chronic illness would also include:

• Antinuclear antibody test (ANA)
• C-reactive protein (CRP)
• Rheumatoid factor (RF)
• Natural Killer cell count and function test
• Cytokine Panel