• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Low Sed Rate = Hyperviscosity?

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Hi all.

I'm posting this here rather than under lab tests as its more of a general point for discussion.

The sed rate and inflammation

As you may be aware the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), often referred to as the sed rate, is a common blood test that serves as a non specific marker of inflammation as might be found in an acute phase infection. A high sed rate is also associated with certain autoimmune diseases and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrocyte_sedimentation_rate

Normal sed rates may be calculated depending on age and gender. One set of ranges defines a normal finding as :

Less than 15 mm/hr for men under 50 years
Less than 20mm/hr for women under 50 years.

A sed rate lower than these cut-off points is rarely given much clinical significance (other than indicating an absence of infection/inflammation) except where a small number of specific diseases are suspected e.g. polycythaemia (a condition where a patient makes too many red blood cells), with extreme leucocytosis (patient has too many white blood cells), and with some protein abnormalities.

Low sed rates in ME/CFS patients.

Somewhat paradoxically, given that ME/CFS patients regularly show high levels of c-reactive protein (CRP) and IL6 which are reliable markers of inflammation, there have been a number of threads here and elsewhere in which forum members report low or zero sed rates. Mine tested at 3 last time around.

Cheney is reputed to have stated that his ME/CFS patients have the lowest sed rates he has ever seen.

So do we have inflammation or not?

Hyperviscosity

It appears that the sed rate is not a particularly reliable measure as it can be affected by a range of factors including the plasma viscosity (thickness or resistance to flow) of the blood where viscosity is negatively correlated with the sed rate (i.e. high viscosity gives a low or zero sed rate). Hyperviscosity may be due to a range of conditions grouped under hyperviscosity syndrome or be a downstream effect of, for example, chronic alcohol abuse .


hyperviscosity syndrome any of various syndromes associated with increased viscosity of the blood. One type is due to serum hyperviscosity and is characterized by spontaneous bleeding with neurologic and ocular disorders. Another type is characterized by polycythemia with retarded blood flow, organ congestion, reduced capillary perfusion, and increased cardiac effort. A third group includes conditions in which the deformability of erythrocytes is impaired, such as sickle cell anemia.

High viscosity might be expected to result in reduced blood flow to all organs, and impaired microcirculation to the skin and extremities. Spontaneous bleeding often from mucous membranes results from the viscous blood causing damage due to increased shear stress.

Large and small artery endothelial dysfunction in CFS:

David Newton et al, Univ. of Dundee (U.K.), studied 30 patients with CFS (Fukuda) and 27 healthy controls and found that subjects with "ME/CFS have reduced flow-mediated dilatation in the brachial artery and reduced post-occlusive reactive hyperemia in the forearm skin microcirculation. These responses are both endothelium-mediated via an increase in shear stress... and the results therefore lend further support to the hypothesis that endothelial function is impaired in ME/CFS, both in large vessels and in the microcirculation." (International Journal of Cardiology, Nov. 10, 2011)

Has anyone had either or both sed rate and plasma viscosity tested?
 

biophile

Places I'd rather be.
Messages
8,977
I think this is the Cheney observation (http://www.dfwcfids.org/medical/cheney/heart04.part2b.htm). I started writing this about ESR last year but didn't post ...

I haven't had blood tests for years, but in all the tests I did have in the past, ESR was always 1mm/hr except for one occasional when it was 3mm/hr then back to 1mm/hr. I don't think I've been tested for plasma viscosity, I'm aware of most of the tests I've had, there may have been an occasion or two where I didn't have access to the test results eg during a GET program. There are many similar anecdotes from patients and doctors alike that ESR or SED (erythrocyte ie [red blood cell] sedimentation rate) is commonly very low in ME/CFS. I tried to find some sources for this:

"ESRs approaching zero are characteristic of trichinosis or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). [...] The ESR in CFS is also extremely low, approaching zero. Utilizing this point, if a patient is presumed to have CFS and the ESR is in the normal or elevated range, then an alternative diagnosis should be entertained." - On p160 of Infectious Diseases - 3rd Edition (Gorbach, Bartlett, Blacklow - http://books.google.com/books?id=91altE1evAsC&pg=PA160)

"The most consistent laboratory abnormality in people with chronic fatigue syndrome is an extremely low erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR, the measurement of settling red blood cells in anticoagulated [non-clotting] blood)." - http://www.emedicinehealth.com/chronic_fatigue_syndrome/page3_em.htm

"An elevation of over 20 mm in a male or 30 mm in a female in the ESR, (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate or simply Sed Rate) suggests inflammation. However the red blood cells do not settle out in many conditions, including (a) spherocytosis, (b) sickle cell aenemia, (c) illnesses that change the shape of the red blood cells as can occur in M.E. or (d) decreased protein manufacture interfere with sedimentation. Most chronic M.E. patients have 0 or low Sed Rates. This has caused some physicians to state that there is no inflammation (or itis), in M.E." - (Byron Hyde at the 2009 Goteborg conference - http://www.nightingale.ca/documents/GoteborgConference.pdf)

"Some ME/CFS patients (e.g., patients with spherocytosis and sickle cell anemia), tend to have an unusually low erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Elevation of ESR may suggest an active inflammatory disease." (Chapter: The Complexities of Diagnosis, By Dr. Byron Hyde - http://www.wicfs-me.org/Pdf Files/Byron Hyde - Complexities of Diagnosis.pdf)

According to hfme.org, Hyde also mentions "hyper-gammaglobulinemia and hyper-fibrogenemia" as causing low ESR: "An unusually low sedimentation rate of 3 mm/hr is common in M.E. ESR rates as low as 0 have been documented in M.E. patients, and levels of 1 and 2 are very common. Dr Byron Hyde reported in 1989 that, "To my knowledge, there are only five diseases that have a pathological low sedimentation level: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, sickle-cell anemia, hereditary sperocytosis, hyper-gammaglobulinemia and hyper-fibrogenemia." - (http://www.hfme.org/testingformesummary.htm)

Other sources associate low ESR with hypofibrinogenemia (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/577113_4) so I suppose if fibrinogen is coverted into fibrin during blood coagulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrinogen) this explains why low ESR is related to both of these and hypercoagulation?

However, I have not been able to find published studies which back these claims up about ME/CFS and low ESR. It is such a common test for routine medical assessment that there should be literally thousands of CFS studies with unpublished data on it. Yes, some ME and CFS patients have repeatedly tested very low ESR (0-3mm/hr), but from the limited amount of studies I have seen which do mention ESR (eg data from p124 of the original Canadian 2003 definition), this does not seem common enough to use as a litmus test, if anything it was slightly higher than healthy controls on average, with a standard deviation which would not suggest that lots of ME/CFS patients with lower ESR are being averaged out by lots of patients with higher ESR.

And shouldn't many of the possible causes of low ESR be detected in routine medical assessment and exclude one from a CFS diagnosis? Perhaps those of us with very low ESR do not have "CFS" but some underlying but undetected disease and we were dumped in the CFS wastebasket? Or perhaps ME commonly involves low ESR but CFS does not? I have purchased nattokinase and lumbrokinase for the hypothetical hypercoagulation but haven't really tested them yet. I once tried a dose of the former and coincidently noticed a similar sensation in the sinuses that I get from aspirin.
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Thanks Biophile.

Interesting stuff.

I came across an interesting case study of a child with cyanotic congenital heart disease which involves hyperviscosity.

It lists symptoms that don't usually get a mention when you search for information on hyperviscosity syndrome :

Symptoms related to hyperviscosity include headache, fatigue, faintness, dizziness, visual disturbance, paresthesia, irritability, myalgia, reduced mentation, and anorexia

Easy bruising and petechial haemorrhage (the small red skin dots in another thread in this section) are also mentioned.

http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/123-1312/4072/
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Hyperviscosity in elite athletes with 'overtraining syndrome'

Overtraining syndrome in elite athletes shares many symptoms in common with ME/CFS and is similarly characterised by a range of non-specific subjective symptoms and a lack of specific reliable biomarkers.

This paper correlates subjective questionnaire responses with physiological measures and suggests that early diagnosis is best achieved through a combination of the subjective responses and hemorheological measures - specifically blood viscosity.

Interestingly low blood viscosity is usually a marker of fitness. The authors argue that 'Overtraining Syndrome' is misnomer as what actually appears to happen is that the capacity to sustain previous levels of performance is lost and the usual hemodilution effect of exercise is reversed.

They propose that the acquired inability to meet the usual training demands results in increased cytokine release leading to low level systemic inflammation and raised blood viscosity resulting in the common subjective feeling of 'heavy legs' - plus the other associated somatic and psychological symptoms.

Sounds familiar!



Hemorheological disturbances in the overtraining syndrome

We previously reported that this overtraining score (questionnaire score) is correlated with blood viscosity due to a correlation of this score with plasma viscosity and hematocrit.

When subjects with a high score were compared to subjects with a lower score they appeared to have a higher blood viscosity at native (but not corrected) hematocrit, explained by higher values in both plasma viscosity and hematocrit. By contrast, there was no difference in RBC deformability and aggregation.

Therefore, the early signs of overtraining in elite sportsmen are associated with a hemorheologic pattern that suggests some degree of reversal of the autohemodilution which characterizes fitness.

In a further study we reported that the feeling of heavy legs in overtrained athletes is related to impaired hemorheology. Although well matched with controls for age and body composition, subjects with a complaint of heavy legs had higher plasma viscosity and a higher red cell aggregation as measured with laser backscattering.

These findings suggest that the feeling of heavy legs in overtrained athletes are related to hemorheologic disturbances. In the light of the recent concept explaining this syndrome by a mild chronic inflammatory reaction, the investigation of hemorheology in overtraining can be a promising area for hemorheologists, providing both markers and likely pathophysiological explanations for some symptoms of this situation.

http://jeanfrederic.brun.free.fr/overheorev.pdf
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
However, I have not been able to find published studies which back these claims up about ME/CFS and low ESR. It is such a common test for routine medical assessment that there should be literally thousands of CFS studies with unpublished data on it. Yes, some ME and CFS patients have repeatedly tested very low ESR (0-3mm/hr), but from the limited amount of studies I have seen which do mention ESR (eg data from p124 of the original Canadian 2003 definition), this does not seem common enough to use as a litmus test, if anything it was slightly higher than healthy controls on average, with a standard deviation which would not suggest that lots of ME/CFS patients with lower ESR are being averaged out by lots of patients with higher ESR.

And shouldn't many of the possible causes of low ESR be detected in routine medical assessment and exclude one from a CFS diagnosis? Perhaps those of us with very low ESR do not have "CFS" but some underlying but undetected disease and we were dumped in the CFS wastebasket? Or perhaps ME commonly involves low ESR but CFS does not? I have purchased nattokinase and lumbrokinase for the hypothetical hypercoagulation but haven't really tested them yet. I once tried a dose of the former and coincidently noticed a similar sensation in the sinuses that I get from aspirin.


Given the tendency to frequent re-infection and chronic infection, I wonder how this would affect the sed rate even with an underlying condition of hyperviscosity.

I also wonder, given the range of possible 'triggers' whether a low sed rate might be a characteristic of those whose onset was associated with 'overtraining'.

While no elite athlete, at the time of onset I was training hard, on a restricted diet and simultaneously under mental pressure (career change etc). I literally collapsed/fainted during a training session an immediately lost the ability to tolerate aerobic exercise.

In contrast I've read some of the original Royal Free literature and frankly I don't recognise the description despite the fact that I clearly meet the Canadian criteria. While circumstances and symptoms suggest I may have picked up a (entero)virus, I don't recall even a brief period of feeling fluey or feverish (outside of the usual malaise) and certainly didn't spend any time confined to bed because of an acute illness.

In my case I would suspect overtraining syndrome if there was anything in the literature that suggested that this syndrome could persist over years or decades (come to think of it I did post another French paper that suggested that elite cyclists are at risk of developing CFS even many years after they cease sport!).

I also wonder if an elite athlete failed to recover in the short term despite the best efforts of their coach and physio, would this be reported or would they be given an alternative diagnosis of ME/CFS?

If I had been an elite athlete at the time, given my onset, symptoms and blood tests (low sed rate; high cholesterol; high MCH and MCV; depressed T) would I have been diagnosed with overtraining syndrome and told to take it easy for a while rather than shifted from pillar to post only to end up many years later with a diagnosis associated with 'aberrant illness beliefs'

PS Horses don't have 'illness beliefs'

Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR)

An optional extra test which many vets and trainers find invaluable. In the laboratory the sample is mixed well and the tube stood upright whilst the red cells sediment through the plasma naturally. Readings are taken at 10, 20, 30 and 60 minutes.

The rate is low in a dehydrated horse or over- trained horse and rapid in an unfit or anaemic horse. Most normal fit horses will have an ESR between 30 and 40 mm/hour

http://www.avonvale.plus.com/webfitness.htm
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
Hi again Marco,

This is very interesting. My cholesterol is fine, but the 'bad' cholesterol (LDL?) has been too high, and the "good" cholesterol too low for several years now. Also homocysteine, at least on the methylation panel, was too high. MCH, MCV are okay I guess, and haven't had the SED tested.

I definitely 'overtrained' -- overdid it -- for years and years, as compared to most folks in our local support group, I could walk further, so -- stupid me -- I just took it for granted, plus, I had to walk to the store to buy food (no car) so if I was out of food, I'd have to go anyway, even if my feet were killing me. I still have qualified for the CCC definition diagnosis since 2004, so whlie some might be given a different diagnosis, others may not, after all, exercise, and especially overtraining, can result in severe oxidative stress, adrenal problems, changes in immune function, etc..

Anyway, thanks for this thread. I'm not sure if I have high blood viscosity or not, but there's definitely some sort of circulation problem from about my knees down -- the exact muscles that are 'overused' too much -- even though I'm way too thin and have lost about 10% of my weight in the last year. Rich says this is due to the methylation block, and another says I'm in adrenal burnout -- erratic cortisol levels -- too low in the AM, then high at noon, and high normal the rest of the day. She counseled me to eat more fat -- but when I do, or when I perhaps add "too much" (which is a comparative thing), then I think that's when my legs feel worse.

So how do we reduce this inflammation, or decrease blood viscosity? I suppose the answer will be different for everyone.

When I add fish oil -- even one capsule -- the result is bleeding gums. I've tried nattokinase -- and although I haven't tried it regularily enough, it actually seems to reduce the bleeding gums. I'm not sure how either would affect the parameters you mention above, but natto is supposed to reduce plaque, at least according to some sources.

Here's a link w/a case history, where 'heaviness' was reduced after 2 weeks of nattokinase:

http://www.springboard4health.com/notebook/nutrients_natto_case_history.html

???

Thanks again for this thread.
 

mellster

Marco
Messages
805
Location
San Francisco
Great thread - I remember having a sed rate of 2 when I was tested and was just developing FM and later CFS. Since I am exercising again and the FM pain has also substantially subsided (still somewhat mildly symptomatic though), I might ask for another sed rate test to see whether there is a correlation. However I remember the normal range was given as 0-15 on my sheet, and therefore (as mentioned before) there was no attention paid to low values with a lower threshold of zero ;) Btw. I also used to overtrain (going to 4-5 kickboxing sessions per week) before coming down with the viral trigger and FM although I was never an athlete (meaning I might have overstretched and overestimated my endurance).
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
One way to reduce inflammation is to get good quality sleep(insomnia is known to increasese il6), thats the easy bit, the hard bit is how do we get good quality sleep which helps us to recovery from the days activity etc by producing hormones like growth hormone etc which help the anabolic processes. Inflammation is a sign of injury and the start of the healing process, inflammation is suppose to help attract the immune processes to the area and get the ball rolling. So inflammation isnt bad but chronic inflammation is. The more i read about inflammation, which i think is important, the more i see there are many processes involved in inflammation, too much cortisol, not enough cortisol, not enough sleep/growth hormones, oxidative stress etc etc etc. I think we need to pick them all off one by one, but i truly think sleep should be the first target and i dont think there is one substance that can reduce all the different types of inflammation, although quality sleep i think can get at the biggest majority of them. At the end of the day im chasing my tail, i just hope researchers can work it out for us because i think with our me/cfs brains we wont on our own. Always short term relief from the alcohol rinse protocol i mentioned a few weeks ago, lol.

cheers!!!
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Thanks for the responses folks.

There are a few points I'd like to pick up on for discussion but not right now as I'm feeling crap after exceeding my non-elite energy limits (I might just try the alcohol rinse protocol this evening ;))

In the meantime here's a little more background on overtraining syndrome.

Here's a list of overtraining syndrome symptoms. I've found that popular reviews give a much fuller list of symptoms than most of the scientific papers although ideally it would require the references to be followed up :

Table 1. Symptoms Associated with OTS

?Decreased athletic performance
?Fatigue
?Elevated heart rate
?Muscle and joint pain
?Blood pressure changes
?Sleep disturbances with or without night sweats
?Loss of appetite
?Thirst
?Increased susceptibility to and severity of illness, colds, and allergies
?Flu-like symptoms
?Swollen glands
?Gastrointestinal disturbances
?Depression
?General apathy
?Irritability
?Inability to concentrate
?Decreased libido
?Increased sensitivity to environmental and emotional stress

http://www.rndsystems.com/cb_detail_objectname_SP01_CytokinesandOvertraining.aspx

A familiar list and one which begs the question. If localised microtrauma can generate this list of symptoms; systemic inflammation might be expected to generate a similar list and more?
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
You may have seen one of Cort's front page articles which described a 'safe' protocol (from Klimas or Pacific Labs?) based on heart rate etc that might help determine when PWME might be able to exercise and to what degree.

A similar test has been developed for OTS.

You can also track your resting heart rate each morning. Any marked increase from the norm may indicate that you aren't fully recovered.

Another way to test recovery is to use something called the orthostatic heart rate test, developed by Heikki Rusko while working with cross country skiers. To obtain this measurement:

Lay down and rest comfortably for 10 minutes the same time each day (morning is best).
At the end of 10 minutes, record your heart rate in beats per minute.
Then stand up
After 15 seconds, take a second heart rate in beats per minute.
After 90 seconds, take a third heart rate in beats per minute.
After 120 seconds, take a fourth heart rate in beats per minute.

Well rested athletes will show a consistent heart rate between measurements, but Rusko found a marked increase (10 beats/minutes or more) in the 120 second-post-standing measurement of athletes on the verge of overtraining. Such a change may indicate that you have not recovered from a previous workout, are fatigued, or otherwise stressed and it may be helpful to reduce training or rest another day before performing another workout

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/overtraining/a/aa062499a.htm

It might be interesting to see how PWME do on this simple do at home test.


PS I definitely had a 'compulsive need to exercise' pre onset to the extent that on days when I couldn't swim my usual 1.5km I became quite anxious and had to go out for a fast run to compensate for the unease.
 

kaffiend

Senior Member
Messages
167
Location
California
Great thread. Elevated resting and post-exertion (just walking around) heart rate were the best indicators of a PENE day for me.

I also had an extremely low sed rate and CRP (<0.1) despite inflammatory brain lesions at the time of the blood work.
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Anyway, thanks for this thread. I'm not sure if I have high blood viscosity or not, but there's definitely some sort of circulation problem from about my knees down -- the exact muscles that are 'overused' too much -- even though I'm way too thin and have lost about 10% of my weight in the last year. Rich says this is due to the methylation block, and another says I'm in adrenal burnout -- erratic cortisol levels -- too low in the AM, then high at noon, and high normal the rest of the day. She counseled me to eat more fat -- but when I do, or when I perhaps add "too much" (which is a comparative thing), then I think that's when my legs feel worse.

Hi Dannybex. I definitely have an obvious circulation problem also. My veins are rarely visible and when driving, even for a few minutes my hands start to lose feeling. I also have severe problems with heat intolerance which I'd hypothesised might be due to mitochondrial dysfunction (where peripheral circulation is the first system to be sacrificed to protect vital organs) but it may just be simply due to poor skin microcirculation).

Re the weight loss, I didn't lose weight after onset but found for the first time that I didn't need to diet to maintain a low bodyweight. That lasted for the first 10 years. I do believe though that my body composition changed while my weight stayed constant. It appears that overtraining syndrome is a catabolic state which would tie in with the weight loss.

When I add fish oil -- even one capsule -- the result is bleeding gums. I've tried nattokinase -- and although I haven't tried it regularily enough, it actually seems to reduce the bleeding gums. I'm not sure how either would affect the parameters you mention above, but natto is supposed to reduce plaque, at least according to some sources.

That does seem at odds with hyperviscosity. I'm not familiar with nattokinase I'll have to look it up.


Btw. I also used to overtrain (going to 4-5 kickboxing sessions per week) before coming down with the viral trigger and FM although I was never an athlete (meaning I might have overstretched and overestimated my endurance).

Mellster. One comment that caught my attention when reading up on overtraining syndrome was the question of why some elite athletes succumb to it while others go on to become world champions. Perhaps its a case of individual differences in physiological limits. Elite athletes probably have a much higher limit than most of us with others 'weeded out' through a process of attrition. Like you, I think I overstretched my physiological limit and now that limit is infinitely lower. It could be a mixture of genetic individual differences in physiological potential combined with environmental stressors with perhaps antioxidant status playing a central role?

The more i read about inflammation, which i think is important, the more i see there are many processes involved in inflammation, too much cortisol, not enough cortisol, not enough sleep/growth hormones, oxidative stress etc etc etc. I think we need to pick them all off one by one, but i truly think sleep should be the first target and i dont think there is one substance that can reduce all the different types of inflammation, although quality sleep i think can get at the biggest majority of them.

Heapsreal. I'm beginning to think the same thing and where best to attempt to 'break the cycle'. I'm not sure about sleep being the 'one' as most of my symptoms preceded sleep disturbances. Obviously sleep is required to repair the microtrauma associated with overtraining but I'm not sure this is the source of inflammation in PWME as psychological effort can have the same effects. Perhaps if we could damp down any inflammation for long enough that might give us time to heal?



Anecdotally, my experience of ME is not one of 'fatigue' but feeling inflamed. While I do suffer from PEM, on a daily basis, I start off pretty well but as the day goes on my head feels inflamed and progressively 'light' and its this that lands me in bed rather than 'fatigue' (outside of full PEM). I also notice (as does my wife) that my mood deteriorates as this inflamed feeling grows. I haven't had real depression since my physical symptoms worsened in 1997 (weird one that) but I do feel increasingly irritable , angry and 'low'. It isn't just a case of I'm in a bad mood because I don't feel well. The two come from the same source.

Normally I don't like or tolerate pharmaceuticals but I do get stabbing headaches behind the eyes that I call mini-migraines and Neurofen is the only things that helps. On Thursday, after physically overdoing things, I felt so bad that I took a Neurofen on spec and noticed that not only did the physical symptoms ease but I noticed myself sitting at the computer with a slight smile on my face.

The overtraining stuff and the sudden mood improvement reminded me of the 'brainflammation'/cytokine theory of depression papers by the likes of Maes and Dantzer.

Here's an interesting paper to counter those who like to suggest high rates of co-morbid depression in ME/CFS or still cling to the notion that ME/CFS is 'another kind of depression'.

From inflammation to sickness and depression: when the immune system subjugates the brain


Abstract
In response to a peripheral infection, innate immune cells produce pro-inflammatory cytokines that act on the brain to cause sickness behaviour. When activation of the peripheral immune system continues unabated, such as during systemic infections, cancer or autoimmune diseases, the ensuing immune signalling to the brain can lead to an exacerbation of sickness and the development of symptoms of depression in vulnerable individuals. These phenomena might account for the increased prevalence of clinical depression in physically ill people. Inflammation is therefore an important biological event that might increase the risk of major depressive episodes, much like the more traditional psychosocial factors.

Excerpt

For instance, the prevalence of co-morbid depression in patients with coronary heart disease, a disease in which inflammation is now recognized as a major contributing factor, is three times higher than in the general population79. Depression has long been known to be a risk factor for subsequent cardiac events and mortality, which is usually explained by the detrimental effects of depression on illness behaviour including adherence to treatment. However, this traditional view of the relationship between inflammation and morbidity/mortality in physically ill patients is challenged by the new hypothesis, set out in this Review, that depression can actually be caused by inflammation in vulnerable patients

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2919277/
 
Messages
15,786
While I do suffer from PEM, on a daily basis, I start off pretty well but as the day goes on my head feels inflamed and progressively 'light' and its this that lands me in bed rather than 'fatigue' (outside of full PEM).

Are you sure this isn't Orthestatic Intolerance?

The inflammation headache that I get if I don't take fish oil is pretty constant, whereas my neurally mediated hypotension gets steadily worse throughout the day and causes the same symptoms you're attributing to inflammation. It can be checked with a blood pressure monitor at home.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Just to complicate matters, blood viscosity would be impacted by vascular function, particularly in peripheral blood vessels. There is some kind of disturbance in ME of blood pressure and pressure waves in the vascular system. This is not undestood. So the real impact is a function of blood viscosity and (I suspect) vascular elasticity. Theoretically at least our blood vessels should have reduced elasticity. A further complication is vascular wall damage, either from homocysteine or oxidative stress, both of which can be elevated in ME. Bye, Alex
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Are you sure this isn't Orthestatic Intolerance?

The inflammation headache that I get if I don't take fish oil is pretty constant, whereas my neurally mediated hypotension gets steadily worse throughout the day and causes the same symptoms you're attributing to inflammation. It can be checked with a blood pressure monitor at home.

Could be Valentjin, although OI isn't as much of a problem for me now I think compared to the early days. At the start I had regular dizzy spells on standing and was very aware that I couldn't stand for long periods. I don't have this problem now apart from during PEM.
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Just to complicate matters, blood viscosity would be impacted by vascular function, particularly in peripheral blood vessels. There is some kind of disturbance in ME of blood pressure and pressure waves in the vascular system. This is not undestood. So the real impact is a function of blood viscosity and (I suspect) vascular elasticity. Theoretically at least our blood vessels should have reduced elasticity. A further complication is vascular wall damage, either from homocysteine or oxidative stress, both of which can be elevated in ME. Bye, Alex

Hi Alex.

Very true but I can't think of a mechanism by which arterial stiffness on is own could lead to a low sed rate.

I wonder why there haven't been more 'proof of principal' trials of various anti-inflammatories? Inflammation is a pretty reliable finding in ME/CFS studies to the extent that even unrelated papers regularly refer to 'chronic low grade inflammation'.

There are also a finite number of pro-inflammatory cytokines with IL6 and TNF alpha regularly associated with ME/CFS. Certain biologicals can target specific cytokines (e.g. Etanercept for TNF alpha and one monoclonal antibodt targets IL6). Rituximab downregulates pro-inflammatory cytokines in RA as well as depleting B cells.

A number of 'nutraceuticals' can target specific or multiple cytokines :


Role of nuclear factor-?B-mediated inflammatory pathways in cancer-related symptoms and their regulation by nutritional agents


Abstract

Cancer is a disease characterized by dysregulation of multiple genes and is associated with symptoms such as cachexia, anorexia, fatigue, depression, neuropathic pain, anxiety, cognitive impairment, sleep disorders and delirium (acute confusion state) in medically ill patients. These symptoms are caused by either the cancer itself or the cancer treatment. During the past decade, increasing evidence has shown that the dysregulation of inflammatory pathways contributes to the expression of these symptoms. Cancer patients have been found to have higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6. The nuclear factor (NF)-?B is a major mediator of inflammatory pathways. Therefore, anti-inflammatory agents that can modulate the NF-?B activation and inflammatory pathways may have potential in improving cancer-related symptoms in patients. Because of their multitargeting properties, low cost, low toxicity and immediate availability, natural agents have gained considerable attention for prevention and treatment of cancer-related symptoms. How NF-?B and inflammatory pathways contribute to cancer-related symptoms is the focus of this review. We will also discuss how nutritional agents such as curcumin, genistein, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate and lycopene can modulate inflammatory pathways and thereby reduce cancer-related symptoms in patients.

http://ebm.rsmjournals.com/content/236/6/658.full
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
One more piece of data - my Sed Rate is @ 4mm/hr. Got it measured awhile ago too, and it was exactly the same.

It's frustrating how many of these lab values have a unidirectional quality. My reference range swears that my sed rate could be zero and that would be totally fine... but heavens forfend it's above a certain value. ;)

-J
 

gregh286

Senior Member
Messages
976
Location
Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
its an interesting topic.
My ESR is quite low, 2,2 and 4mm/hr in last 3 counts. To me indicates higher viscosity.
Getting a SV (serum viscosity test) done on monday.
The only time i get good relief is using blood thinning agents. white willow extract/.....aspirin,,,alcohol, but fibrogen levels are low end of scale.
I would expect SV test to give a high reading....opposite to ESR.
Strange why ESR allowed level 0....so no blood drop in tube is ok??
 

out2lunch

Senior Member
Messages
204
It's been six months since someone posted to this thread, but I think it's a worthwhile topic.

The OP inquired if anyone had done both ESR and viscosity testing. I recently did ESR and serum viscosity testing, both of which were low.

My ESR, like most ME/CFS folk, has always been under 4, usually at 1 or 2. I've only seen it higher than 4 once, at 7. This time, it was at 2.

But my serum viscosity was below the normal range of 1.6 to 1.9, at 1.4. Granted, that isn't a huge step outside the range. But it's a narrow range to begin with. And given the discussion in this thread, I was expecting to be above the normal range, because of my low ESR.

It's my understanding that hyperviscosity of plasma or serum is based on elevated proteins, especially IgM. Well, I'm IgM deficient and have very low normal values for IgG. And my interleukins are also very low. Which might explain my low serum viscosity result.

But what about whole blood viscosity testing in ME/CFS.

Anybody know what those outcomes are generally? Has anyone done whole blood viscosity testing?

I'm asking because I've always felt better (less pain, more energy) with low doses of heparin. I don't have a hypercoag problem, but the heparin does help.

So maybe this is about hyperviscosity of the red blood cells?

Thanks in advance! :)
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Anybody know what those outcomes are generally?

*Generally*, there were some studies done back in the day, esp in Australia, where they found RBCs were generally not discoid but far more likely to be one of the other, less common, spikier shapes. I speak very technically, I know.

Research dead-ended. I spoke to KDM about it once. I said, "a few papers, all of which confirmed findings, followed by radio silence. Was it disproven?"

"No, I don't think so," he said.

"Then why the sudden stop? That sounds like a fruitful path to keep exploring."

He replied that odd things happen to stop a particular line of inquiry that have nothing to do with the quality of the research itself. Funding dries up; the researcher who was really into that as a hypothesis for some symptoms retires or passes away. Sometimes good research is stopped for what amounts to no good reason.

-J