Woolie
Senior Member
No, what I was describing was not an 'additional heath problem'. Its at the core of my illness. Its part of the consequences of my constantly high levels of inflammation.Sorry to hear that so many are having these additional health problems!
High levels of inflammation are a well established risk factor for CVD generally, at least when we use cheap, readily available measures like CRP:
Ridker PM, Buring JE, Shih J, Matias M, Hennekens CH. Prospective study of C-reactive protein and the risk of future cardiovascular events among apparently healthy women. Circulation. 1998 Aug 25;98(8):731-3.
CRP isn't usually abnormally raised in PwMEs, but these studies are not focusing on those with abnormally raised levels. Being on the high end of the normal scale increases your risk relative to being at the low end.
The part we don't know yet is what role inflammation plays in ME more generally, and if it does, whether it is the type of inflammation that raises CVD risk. But my money right now would be on "yes" to both questions. Because tachycardia is such a ubiquitous feature of ME, and I suspect this cannot be put down to inactivity alone.
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