Frieri, Marianne · Allergy and asthma proceedings · 2003
This article discusses how several autoimmune and rheumatologic diseases can look like allergies or other conditions, making them easy to miss in a doctor's office. The author reviews nine conditions—including ME/CFS and fibromyalgia—that are often confused with other illnesses and explains how doctors can use blood tests and other tools to correctly identify them.
ME/CFS is often misdiagnosed or overlooked because its symptoms overlap with allergic disease and other conditions. This article emphasizes the importance of recognizing ME/CFS as a distinct condition requiring proper diagnostic consideration, which is crucial for patients seeking accurate diagnosis and appropriate management.
This editorial does not present new clinical data, original research findings, or evidence from a study population. It cannot establish the prevalence of misdiagnosis, the accuracy of any specific diagnostic test, or causal relationships between symptoms and disease mechanisms.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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