LEADING scientist Raymond Perrin believes he has proof that chronic fatigue syndrome - once dubbed yuppie flu - has a physical cause.

For years sufferers of CFS - which includes ME - have lived under the stigma of being diagnosed with a condition that many dismissed as being in the mind.

But Manchester osteopath Dr Perrin believes he has proved that the debilitating syndrome is the physical result of the way the body deals with toxins.

He believes a picture of varicose lymphatic vessels taken during a research project at Salford University shows for the first time the "backflow" of lymphatic drainage that he believes is the cause of toxin build-up.

And it is this accumulation of toxins in the central nervous system, which Dr Perrin believes is the cause of conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome and ME.

Valves

Dr Perrin, who runs clinics in Prestwich, central Manchester and London, said: "Normally these vessels are the size of the thinnest pencil line and you can't usually see them without a magnifying glass, but the fact they are swollen like this is significant. There is a backflow against the valves.

"Very rarely can you see these, but with every person I have seen in the last 16 years with chronic fatigue syndrome you can feel them under the surface. It means this person has had ME for a number of years."

Until now experts have believed that valves in the lymphatic vessels only allowed the flow of fluids in one direction. But Dr Perrin says these varicose lymphatic vessels - which resemble varicose veins but are the same colour of the skin instead of a bluish colour - are the proof that the backflow exists, when vessels are damaged, allowing toxins to concentrate in the central nervous system.

He revealed the picture at a seminar at Salford University.

He hopes to publish it in a respected medical journal later in the year.

Margaret Cannon, who had to give up work because of the condition, said: "After about three months of Raymond's treatment my concentration was restored and the symptoms improved greatly."