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“What Is #LongCOVID—and How Are We Going to Solve It? This potentially life-altering post-viral syndrome may have affected as many as 23 million Americans (and counting)”
“We’re starting to gain more understanding of what’s driving #longCOVID & who is most at risk, & the more we understand, the more it will help us get a grip on similar chronic illnesses, like #MECFS, that have been largely ignored for far too long” - @VirusesImmunity
3/ “In those who felt ill from #postCOVID19 syndrome for at least six months, the most common symptoms were fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, & post-exertional malaise (a triad that besets many people with #MECFS), according to the study” of 3762 patients by @patientled
“researchers now suspect that it [EBV] plays a role in ME/#CFS in a subset of genetically susceptible people. If #EBV is also causing some cases of #longCOVID, doctors could try antivirals in combination with other medications that are being studied for EBV-associated #MECFS”
5/ People with #PostCovid can participate in
“@YouMeRegistry: ‘We launched this in June 2020 for people with #MECFS, but when we realized that #longCOVID causes similar symptoms, we included an additional path for those patients to participate,’ says Amitay of @PlzSolveCFS” #PwLC
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@YouMeRegistry “includes patient-reported data, a symptom-tracking app, and bio- samples to be used in research looking at causes, treatments, and potential cures”
7/ “These patient activists are fighting for change:When actress Lili Lim heard stories of people with #longCOVID in late 2020, she was angry. Lili, 27, has had #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis/#chronicfatiguesyndrome (#MECFS), which can also be triggered by a virus, for 5 years”(contd)
8/ “We’ve known for decades viruses can cause long-term health problems,so why do we not understand how it happens or what to do about it?” she asks. Now active in the @Long_COVID_All,a network of patient- advocates & scientists,Lili helps raise awareness of post-viral illnesses”
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“Those of us in the ME/#CFS world know how medicine disregards people with unexplained illnesses,” says Oved Amitay, CEO of @PlzSolveCFS, which is part of the Alliance. “We wanted to spare #COVIDlonghaulers that suffering”
“Researchers too are sharing information about similarities between #MEcfs & #PostCovid, says Lily Chu MD…e.g. studies of ME/#CFS patients have shown irregularities in the body’s ability to generate energy—a finding we need to investigate in #longCOVID patients”
11/ “ME/CFS advocates are advising COVID groups on coping with a hallmark of both illnesses:post-exertional malaise.”This isn’t just tiredness after exercise. It’s feeling exhausted & ill,like you’re coming down with the flu,for hours or days—even after mild exertion eg a shower”
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“Doctors often suggest gradually upping exercise—this is dangerous, Dr. Chu adds, as even low- intensity exercise can exacerbate symptoms” [for those with #post-exertional malaise like those with #MEcfs and some with #LongCovid]
“Histamine-producing gut bacteria can trigger chronic abdominal pain. The discovery has been named Klebsiella aerogenes, the McMaster-Queen (MQ) strain”
“The culprit is what has now been named Klebsiella aerogenes, the McMaster-Queen (MQ) strain, identified in up to 25 per cent of gut microbiota samples from patients with #IBS. Researchers examined stool microbiota samples from both Canadian and American patient cohorts”
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“Researchers from McMaster University and Queen's University have discovered a gut bacterial 'super-producer' of histamine that can cause pain flare-ups in some patients with #irritablebowelsyndrome (#IBS).”
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“Israeli finding may make hard-to-diagnose #fibromyalgia easy to confirm:The chronic pain condition can be detected based on analysis of gut microbiome,scientists say in peer-reviewed research,potentially paving way for objective diagnosis,treatment” timesofisrael.com/israeli-findin…
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“Many medical professionals have been eager for an objective diagnostic method [for #Fibromyalgia], both for practical reasons and also to rebuff those who doubt the genuineness of the condition”
3/ “researchers…say they have found biological markers. They report in the peer-reviewed journal Pain that they have identified patterns in the gut that could form the basis of an objective method to diagnose #fibromyalgia”
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Some extracts from “The politics underpinning the neglect of people with ME/#CFS” which summarises her paper “Towards a critical psychology of #chronicfatiguesyndrome: #biopsychosocial narratives & UK welfare reform” by @JoElizaHunt
2/ “The [#biopsychosocial] model has been used as psychosocial model, to re-frame chronic health conditions (particularly those surrounded by medical controversy or uncertainty) into psychosocial entities, allegedly amenable to psychosocial healthcare interventions (contd)”
3/ “(Contd) and thus to ‘recovery’ and re-entry into the labour market. Such health conditions could thus be largely exempted from welfare provision, private disability insurance protection & on-going biomedical care, reducing state expenditure in these areas (contd)” #MEcfs#CFS
“New research provides insight into Long COVID and ME: Researchers have uncovered how post-viral fatigue syndromes, including #LongCOVID, become life-changing diseases & why patients suffer frequent relapses”
“Arising commonly from a viral infection, #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis/#ChronicFatigueSyndrome (#ME/#CFS), is known to cause brain-centered symptoms of neuroinflammation, loss of homeostasis, brain
fog, lack of refreshing sleep, & poor response to even small stresses”
“#LongCOVID has similar effects on people and is believed to also be
caused by neuroinflammation.
Lead author Emeritus Professor Warren Tate, of the University of Otago's Department of Biochemistry, says how these debilitating brain effects develop is poorly understood”
“In December 2021, the Scottish Government commissioned Blake Stevenson Ltd to engage with stakeholders…to gather
their views on the NICE guideline on #ME/#CFS”
“For this independent stakeholder review, a total of 37 stakeholders contributed. This consisted of 14 clinicians, 10 third sector #ME/#CFS organisations/academics & 13 people with lived experience of #MECFS,
(contd.)”
“and a further 93 people responded following an online survey [on the 2021 NICE #MECFS guidelines] that was
distributed to a wider stakeholder group. The response from the majority
of stakeholders was overwhelmingly positive”
2/ “most frequent symptoms in #ME/#CFS patients were general fatigue & post-exertional malaise (89.4% of patients), headache (34.0%), insomnia (23.4%), dysosmia (21.3%) & dysgeusia (19.1%). Dizziness, chest pain, insomnia & headache were characteristic symptoms related to #MECFS”
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“The male to female ratio in #ME/#CFS patients was equal in the present study [48.9% vs 51.1%] although #MECFS was generally more common in women in previous studies”