Hi there
I also wondered about overtraining syndrome since my onset was closely associated with a collapse while training.
I did some digging around recently and found the literature rather disappointing perhaps because overtraining syndrome appears to be treated as an acute problem with little discussion of longer terms impacts. I'm not aware if it can lead to a chronic condition or if it did what diagnosis would be given.
French researchers have reported though that a proportion of elite cyclists develop ME/CFS even many years after they ceased intensive training.
Also the Jammes 2011 paper, referenced above by Cort, reports the deficit in heat shock protein production is most marked in those reporting a viral onset of CFS and also those who had previously exercised intensively.
One finding though that did strike me in the overtraining literature related to blood viscosity. Normally exercise confers protection by thinning the blood but those with overtraining syndrome have hyperviscosity which is proposed as explaining the subjective feeling of heavy legs.
The Golomb paper I referenced reports that those suffering from Gulf War Illness have hypercoagulation. Hyperviscosity and hypercoagulation may not be synonymous (apparently hyperviscosity contributes to hypercoagulation which would make sense if overtraining syndrome patients were acute patients) but both appear to be intimately linked with peripheral arterial disease (as is c-reactive protein) and cerebral vascular disease.
ME/CFS findings include high levels of CRP, hypoperfusion and endothelial dysfunction and reduced blood flow to the muscles has been proposed as underlying muscular pain and fatigue.
Plus of course, back in 1999, Berg and colleagues linked CFS with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (aka Hughes syndrome), a hypercoagulable condition.
Berg D, Berg LH, Couvaras J, Harrison H. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) &/or Fibromyalgia (FM) as a variation of Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS): an explanatory model and approach to laboratory diagnosis. Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis. October 1999;10(7):435-438
Fertile ground for comparisons I would have thought.