An Etiological Model for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 2011, Jason et al

Abstract

Kindling might represent a heuristic model for understanding the etiology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Kindling occurs when an organism is exposed repeatedly to an initially sub-threshold stimulus resulting in hypersensitivity and spontaneous seizure-like activity. Among patients with ME/CFS, chronically repeated low-intensity stimulation due to an infectious illness might cause kindling of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Kindling might also occur by high-intensity stimulation (e.g., brain trauma) of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Once this system is charged or kindled, it can sustain a high level of arousal with little or no external stimulus and eventually this could lead to hypocortisolism. Seizure activity may spread to adjacent structures of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis in the brain, which might be responsible for the varied symptoms that occur among patients with ME/CFS. In addition, kindling may also be responsible for high levels of oxidative stress, which has been found in patients with ME/CFS.

https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=4275

 

This is a ridiculous take in my honest opinion

 

in how many patients has hypocorticolism been demonstrated?

 

Not many.
Some people latch on the finding of low salivary cortisol in mornings, but those people don't understand that there are confounding factors - patients may think they're being careful and complying with the study by actually getting up at a regular time in the morning and then testing (as opposed to sleeping in to their usual waking time as they usually do). This alone can cause the effect.

Napping during the day can also alter the daily cortisol response, without having any underlying pathology.