Yes, the Times article does state that the controls were sedentary, which is of course a very important issue in this particular study. I think this may well be a very significant milestone, politically at least. Is this the first ever government/MRC-funded study to demonstrate biological abnormalities in ME/CFS? Excess lactic acid in ME/CFS patients is not really news, I think, but demonstrating it in vitro is new to me.
It has really got me thinking about where it fits as a link in the chain of symptoms, because it seems to me that it may fit in quite a clear way. Excess lactic acid production will obviously cause much greater pain and fatigue, but I'm interested in how this might fit in with sleep and PEM. PEM symptoms typically come 24-48 hours after exertion - or to put it another way, after 1-2 night's sleep with masses of excess lactic acid. Anybody have any clues on the biology of how excess lactic acid might be expected to produce the other known PEM symptoms, and the inflammatory markers of PEM found by the likes of the Lights' studies? And then, in the other direction, any thoughts on what kind of cell malfunction (eg mitochondria issues) might cause excess lactic acid production?
And I think they are chasing up the same line of research for EDS which has so many similar symptoms.
Alas here they perpetuate the misconception that you need to be hypermobile or have stretchy skin to have EDS.
Intereting that until now those hae been often the only symptoms taken seriously by doctor in EDS whild the other battery of symptoms that mirror ME - fatigue, pain brain fog, GERD, IBS, joint pains etc etc have been ignored.
Could not find a date sorry.
Fatigue is associated with muscle weakness in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: an explorative study.
Voermans NC, Knoop H, Bleijenberg G, van Engelen BG.
Source
...
Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
n.voermans@neuro.umcn.nl
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of inherited connective tissue disorders characterised by joint hypermobility, skin hyperextensibility and tissue fragility. It has recently been shown that muscle weakness occurs frequently in EDS, and that fatigue is a common and clinically important symptom. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between fatigue severity and subjective and objective measures of muscle weakness. Furthermore, the predictive value of muscle weakness for fatigue severity was determined, together with that of pain and physical activity.
DESIGN:
An explorative, cross-sectional, observational study.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:
Thirty EDS patients, recruited from the Dutch patient association, were investigated at the neuromuscular outpatient department of a tertiary referral centre in The Netherlands.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Muscle strength measured with manual muscle strength testing and hand-held dynamometry. Self-reported muscle weakness, pain, physical activity levels and fatigue were assessed with standardised questionnaires.
RESULTS:
Fatigue severity in EDS was significantly correlated with measured and self-reported muscle weakness (r=-0.408 for manual muscle strength, r=0.461 for hand-held dynamometry and r=0.603 for self-reported muscle weakness). Both muscle weakness and pain severity were significant predictors of fatigue severity in a multiple regression analysis.
CONCLUSION:
The results suggest a positive and direct relationship between fatigue severity and muscle weakness in EDS. Future research should focus on the relationship between fatigue, muscle weakness and objectively measured physical activity, preferably in a larger cohort of EDS patients