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Driving research of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS),
Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia and Long COVID.

Theory: Treatments for Prolonged ICU Patients May Provide New Therapeutic Avenues for ME/CFS, by Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD, Uppsala Collaboration

From the desk of Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD
Uppsala University

OMF funded paper published in Frontiers of Medicine!

Exploring new therapeutic avenues for ME/CFS

On behalf of my team at the ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at Uppsala University, I am pleased to share that we have published an overview of treatment trials for patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) whose symptoms parallel those of people with ME/CFS. This study connects well to the earlier published paper on the hypothesis of mechanisms in the same journal.

This overview explores the potential relevance of these treatments for ME/CFS.  There are significant parallels in the treatment trials for prolonged critical illness that could be relevant for ME/CFS; this is consistent with the hypothesis of an overlap in the mechanisms that prevent recovery in both conditions..

Specifically, these treatments generally target:

  • suppressed endocrine activities
  • interrupting the “vicious cycle” between inflammation and low thyroid hormone activity 

Results in these studies suggest that prolonged critical illness might share many common disease mechanisms with the development of ME/CFS.

We are honored to have our overview of treatment trials published in Frontiers of Medicine. Collaborative research projects should investigate in the lessons from treatment trials for prolonged critical illness to better understand and solve ME/CFS. We are now initiating specific studies on endocrine hormone dysregulation.

Read the paper

Jonas Bergquist wearing a lab coat, seated in a lab

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