Author' opening note: The goal of this entire series of articles has been to find an effective means of alleviating the major secondary symptoms of the Neuropathies of the Peripheral Nervous system. Well - it seems that perhaps the major underlying symptom - that of restricted blood flow to the extremities - has been linked to a very probable etiology. While we are still dealing with a secondary symptom and not the root cause - the quest is not yet complete - but it is a major step in the right direction. This major underlying symptom - the curtailment or restriction of blood flow in the micro-vascular system.
INTRODUCTION
Red Blood Cell (RBC) Morphology is described in several papers and speeches that have been presented by the progenitor of research into this topic. The URLs for these papers and speeches are shown at the end of this article. The principal researcher of this topic - the Morphology of red blood cells, Dr. Les Simpson, is a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) researcher in New Zealand who has presented lectures and papers about his theories on the abnormalities of red blood cells in CFS patients. CFS is one of the Neuropathies of the Peripheral Nervous system. Dr. Simpson has found that the shape of the patient's red blood cells affects their passage through the narrow capillaries of the micro-vascular system by making these cells flexible so that they are able to fit through a capillary with a diameter smaller than that of the red blood cells.
HISTORY OF THE STUDY
Dr. Simpson's involvement with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) began in 1984 when he suggested that the plethora of symptoms and the variability of presentation, could be due to some unexplained impairment in blood-flow. This was investigated by means of a blood filtration technique. In a 1986 publication he presented the first record of blood flow problems in ME. As MS is also associated with tiredness and easy exhaustibility on exertion, the same techniques were employed to show that blood from a patient with MS was also poorly filterable. This information was published in 1987. This led to the use of scanning electron microscopy of immediately fixed red blood cells to ascertain if there was some visible explanation for poor blood filterability. The results of that initial study were published in 1989 and led to the technique of red blood cell shape (morphology) analysis.
