Long COVID and ME/CFS – the Brainstem / Dysautonomia Connection
Anyone who's been around the scientific literature on chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) knows that dysautonomia - a dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system - is common. Two different kinds of orthostatic intolerance - postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome...
Montreal Study Links Inflammation with PEM in Severely Ill ME/CFS Patients
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a fascinating potential factor for ME/CFS because they are malleable; i.e they can change over time, and they affect gene expression. That gives them the power to biologically rewrite who we are. While they can't change our underlying DNA...
Low Dose Hydrocortisone: Flare Buster for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
Cortisol, our body's main stress hormone, has an amazing reach. Given the effects it has on our metabolism, inflammation, blood pressure, blood sugar, energy production and even the sleep-wake cycle, it's no surprise that researchers early on latched onto signs of...
Could ME/CFS be a Chronic, Ongoing Brain and Spinal Cord Injury – That is Exacerbated by Exertion?
(Jeff Wood’s remarkable recovery following spinal surgery to correct craniocervical instability (CCI) and tethered cord shocked the ME/CFS community. It’s safe to say that almost no one saw that coming. In this piece Jeff – the former ME/CFS patient who started all...
Cognition II: Cortisol, Fibromyalgia, ME/CFS … and Functional Cognition Disorder (?)
Right on the heels of a study showing that people with fibromyalgia have trouble focusing or paying attention comes another study linking cognitive problems to a balky stress response....
Say What? Attention Deficits Highlight Why Fibromyalgia (and ME/CFS) Are Such Different Diseases
How fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and allied diseases are so different from diseases like rheumatoid arthritis Fibro-fog, brain-fog, chemo-fog… It can get pretty dim out there if you have fibromyalgia (FM), chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and environmental...
Explaining Paul Garner’s Long COVID Recovery Story (???) Plus What Does It Mean?
Paul Garner's recovery story from long COVID has met with almost universal dismay and anger from the chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) community. Garner, after all, was something of a champion for long COVID and ME/CFS. An infectious diseases specialist who had...
The Coronavirus Vaccine Side Effects Poll for ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia
The vaccine rollout has been slower than expected. Thus far, 6 1/2% of the people in the U.S. have received their first shot of the vaccine and 1.3% have received two shots. That may not seem like a lot, but in a country of the U.S.'s size, that's still 26 million...
Avindra Nath on “A Neurologic Crisis” Plus Leaky Brains in Long COVID, ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia?
"The story is always the same. When a pandemic happens, people always focus on the primary organ, but they forget about the brain." Avindra Nath, MD Most researchers, when they focus on post-infectious illnesses, go straight to the body to figure out what's...
