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Circadian rhythm disruption in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Implications for the post-acute sequelae of COVI...(McCarthy, 2022)

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600
Circadian rhythm disruption in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Implications for the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19
Michael J.McCarthy, 2022

Abstract

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a common and disabling disorder primarily characterized by persistent fatigue and exercise intolerance, with associated sleep disturbances, autonomic dysfunction, and cognitive problems. The causes of ME/CFS are not well understood but may coincide with immune and inflammatory responses following viral infections. During the current SARS-CoV2 coronavirus pandemic, ME/CFS has been increasingly reported to overlap with persistent “long COVID” symptoms, also called the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Given the prominence of activity and sleep problems in ME/CFS, circadian rhythm disruption has been examined as a contributing factor in ME/CFS. While these studies of circadian rhythms have been pursued for decades, evidence linking circadian rhythms to ME/CFS remains inconclusive. A major limitation of older chronobiology studies of ME/CFS was the unavailability of modern molecular methods to study circadian rhythms and incomplete understanding of circadian rhythms outside the brain in peripheral organ systems. Major methodological and conceptual advancements in chronobiology have since been made. Over the same time, biomarker research in ME/CFS has progressed. Together, these new developments may justify renewed interest in circadian rhythm research in ME/CFS. Presently, we review ME/CFS from the perspective of circadian rhythms, covering both older and newer studies that make use of modern molecular methods. We focus on transforming growth factor beta (TGFB), a cytokine that has been previously associated with ME/CFS and has an important role in circadian rhythms, especially in peripheral cells. We propose that disrupted TGFB signaling in ME/CFS may play a role in disrupting physiological rhythms in sleep, activity, and cognition, leading to the insomnia, energy disturbances, cognition problems, depression, and autonomic dysfunction associated with ME/CFS. Since SARS-like coronavirus infections cause persistent changes in TGFB and previous coronavirus outbreaks have caused ME/CFS-like syndromes, chronobiological considerations may have immediate implications for understanding ME/CFS in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and possibly suggest new avenues for therapeutic interventions.

The study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666354622000023
 
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600
I skimmed the paper. I got the impression of "these diseases mess up a lot of different functions in the body, and for no real reason (maybe funding?), we've decided that blaming it on circadian rhythms would make a good title". I'm not very impressed.
Oh, well i thought it was quite interresting that the particular cytokine most strongly linked to mecfs just happens to be the particular one that is important for regulating the circadian rhythm as well. Also i think sleep problems is one of the most central symptoms of mecfs and that have made me a bit curious as to why exactly that would be the case.
 
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52
Location
UK
So... the fact that I already had a circadian rhythm disorder (Non-24) could have made me more susceptible to ME?

FWIW between here and the N24 communities on discord and reddit, all of which small communities, I'm aware of five people with both conditions. That's a LOT relative to the odds of two very low probability events coinciding by chance alone.
 

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,251
Oh, well i thought it was quite interresting that the particular cytokine most strongly linked to mecfs just happens to be the particular one that is important for regulating the circadian rhythm as well.

maybe there is also an interaction here between circadian rhythms and brain cleansing mechanism being impaired, the issue of lymph stagnation, stagnation generally, (body not flowing).

I just took lymph cleanse herb tea again, three days, and it created an intolerable level of brain crash and zombie coma and cellular poisoning. My lymph nodes dropped down, and I probably got a bit of brain flushing, and now I"m poisoned.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
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5,684
Location
Alberta
Also i think sleep problems is one of the most central symptoms of mecfs

I didn't notice any sleep changes for my first decade or so of ME. After that I started waking more frequently and also had more triggers for insomnia. I don't think those are circadian rhythm issues.

I recently found that it's well-known that human sleep has a 90-minute cycle. My problem was that I was fully waking at the end of each cycle, rather than just shifting sleep states. More recently I've shifted to closer to a 60-minute sleep cycle.
 

Judee

Psalm 46:1-3
Messages
4,461
Location
Great Lakes
Also i think sleep problems is one of the most central symptoms of mecfs and that have made me a bit curious as to why exactly that would be the case.

Dr Ron Davis said in one of his videos that they've found that something about the gene mapping for ME/CFS was very similar to Trypanasomes and this Wiki sleep page talks about Sleep Inversion and mentions that as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_inversion

It also mentions higher ammonia which I think can cause burning muscle pain that so many of us experience. When I've read ornithine reviews online some say it improved their sleep. Ornithine is suppose to reduce ammonia in the body.