With the repetitive onslaught of COVID in our post 2020 world along with its subsequent Post-COVID syndrome in a large percentage of sufferers, many have asked if myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has increased with COVID. This study was aimed at determining whether the SarsCoV2 virus was guilty of causing more ME/CFS than other viruses. According to the resulting estimate, the rate of ME/CFS is approximately the same as for other acute illnesses, but I have questions about their study, as well as concerns about the implications.
Researchers from UCLA ran a multi-site study (meaning they looked at more than just their hospital system) to determine the rates by which ME/CFS develop in the 12 months after an acute respiratory illness which prompted a COVID test. Their results found that regardless of the outcome of the COVID test, in the following 12 months after the illness, 3-4% of patients were diagnosed with ME/CFS.
To be clear, ME/CFS is a mysterious disease to the conventional world with a list of criteria but without a clear explanation of why it happens. Conventional medicine rules out a list of possible causes like hypothyroid, cancer, kidney disease, adrenal disease, and others as well as requiring a specific duration and set of symptoms. From there, once that diagnosis has been attached to a patient, they are treated symptomatically, but not for any root causes.
Functional medicine looks beyond these “rule-out” other causes for issues that conventional medicine denies like mold toxicity, Lyme disease, and other toxic/infectious/inflammatory/hormonal/metabolic conditions.
While I appreciate that the researchers acknowledged that 3-4% ME/CFS rate after COVID infection adds up to a lot of people, I think they are missing a few important points.
- I don’t know that I can trust the COVID test to know if they are dividing the groups correctly.
- Other studies show that 10-30% of COVID sufferers experience some type of post COVID ongoing symptom. There is still something different about COVID.
- They admitted that the COVID-negative group had a higher rate of subsequent COVID positive infection in the following 12 months. That would skew the percentages.
In functional medicine, we have been long aware of post-viral syndromes with patients suffering from not only ME/CFS, but other conditions like irritable bowel, recurrent infections, new headaches, food intolerances, and more. With these years of experience, I believe most of us in the functional world would agree that COVID has amped up the post viral symptomatology. While conventional medicine may grow a little complacent in their approach to COVID based on this study, functional medicine providers will keep treating our patients for these post viral syndromes.
Helping our patients restore healthier more abundant lives requires keeping these open eyes and questioning the research which conventional medicine sometimes presents a little too simplistically.
Original Article:
Elizabeth R. Unger, Jin-Mann S. Lin, Lauren E. Wisk, Huihui Yu, Michelle L’Hommedieu, Helen Lavretsky, Juan Carlos C. Montoy, Michael A. Gottlieb, Kristin L. Rising, Nicole L. Gentile, Michelle Santangelo, Arjun K. Venkatesh, Robert M. Rodriguez, Mandy J. Hill, Rachel E. Geyer, Efrat R. Kean, Sharon Saydah, Samuel A. McDonald, Ryan Huebinger, Ahamed H. Idris, Jocelyn Dorney, Bala Hota, Erica S. Spatz, Kari A. Stephens, Robert A. Weinstein, Joann G. Elmore, Katherine Koo, Antonia Derden, Kristyn Gatling, Diego Guzman, Geoffrey Yang, Amro (Marshall) Kaadan, Minna Hassaballa, Ryan Jerger, Zohaib Ahmed, Michael Choi, Ariana Pavlopoulos, Avinash Kesari, Caitlin A Gaylord, Chloe Gomez, Elizabeth Lomas, Phouthavang (Jimmie) Boliboun, Krisna Patel, Caitlin Malicki, Zhenqiu Lin, Shu-Xia Li, Imtiaz Ebna Mannan, Zimo Yang, Mengni Liu, Andrew Ulrich, Jeremiah Kinsman, Senyte Pierce, Xavier Puente, Wafa Salah, Graham Nichol, Jill Anderson, Mary Schiffgens, Dana Morse, Karen Adams, Tracy Stober, Zenoura Maat, Kelli N. O’Laughlin, Michael Willis, Zihan Zhang, Gary Chang, Victoria Lyon, Robin E. Klabbers, Luis Ruiz, Kerry Malone, Jasmine Park, Nicole Renzi, Phillip Watts, Morgan Kelly, Kevin Schaeffer, Dylan Grau, David Cheng, Carly Shutty, Alex Charlton, Lindsey Shughart, Hailey Shughart, Grace Amadio, Jessica Miao, Paavali Hannikainen, Chris Chandler, Kate Diaz Roldan, Megan Eguchi, Raul Moreno, Ralph C. Wang, Robin Kemball, Virginia Chan, Cecilia Lara Chavez, Angela Wong, Mireya Arreguin, Arun Kane, Peter Nikonowicz, Sarah Sapp, David Gallegos, Katherine R. Martin, Ian D. Plumb, Aron J. Hall, Melissa Briggs-Hagen. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome After SARS-CoV-2 Infection. JAMA Network Open, 2024; 7 (7): e2423555 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.23555
Thanks to Science Daily:
University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences. “Research finds no difference in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome prevalence caused by COVID-19 and other acute illnesses.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 July 2024. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/07/240724123010.htm>. Accessed July 31, 2024
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
