Elevated brain natriuretic peptide levels in chronic fatigue syndrome associate with cardiac dysfunction: a case control study, 2018, Newton et al

A few random Googled links to what look to be similar studies:
Reduced cardiac volumes in chronic fatigue syndrome associate with plasma volume but not length of disease: a cohort study - http://openheart.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000381
Chronic fatigue syndrome: comments on deconditioning, blood volume and resulting cardiac function - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4236909/
In some patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, left ventricular function may be involved - https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-04/aps-isp040903.php

 

@Grigor's link above is also relevant.

 

Yeah, but it's by Cort....

 

Is the problem because it's by Cort, or because it is unreliable?

 

For me personally, it's because it's by Cort, for both recent history reasons and his propensity to leap to conclusions in other articles that I've read by him. That particular article though may well be accurate, I don't know as I haven't read it.

And apologies to all for taking this off-topic.

 

If energy provision ( ATP provision via
Mitochondria) is compromised then would this not account for some of the issues

 

From the paper:

Low blood volume in ME/CFS patients has been suggested for decades. I don't know if anyone has rigorously tested the hypothesis in a well-characterized cohort using radioactive marker concentrations as a metric. In 2015, Dr. Bell wrote an article on low blood volume in ME/CFS at healthrising.org.

https://www.healthrising.org/forums/resources/dr-david-bell-on-low-blood-volume-in-chronic-fatigue-syndrome.234/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_natriuretic_peptide

This could certainly explain a lot of my primary symptoms, such as standing intolerance and sodium loss.

 

Interesting, ACE inhibitors can lower BNP:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19629285

 

Poor water retention leading to drinking and peeing often and liking salt a lot?

 

Just going by this, but use of ACE inhibitors doesn't look desirable

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACE_inhibitor

 

I think this could be a failure of proprioception which is not discussed in ME the way it used to be. Many of us have a negative Romberg test where we fall over if we close our eyes. In my own case it gets worse depending on how I am. At times I stumble every time I blink.

If proprioception is not working (it is a particular set of fibres in the nerve bundle) we do not have a proper feel of where we are in space so we need to use other senses such as vision or touch to compensate. I initially used a walking stick to help me keep upright rather than for support as I began to fall whenever I walked across an open space where there was nothing to touch. I had more skinned knees than when I was 10!

 

Actually this is all done by the standard somatic sensory and motor pathways. Conscious control only kicks in for fine tuning. Spinal reflexes, cerebellum and brain stem control most automatic actions, but automatic should not be confused with autonomic. The autonomic system innervates blood vessels and sweat glands but does not control skeletal muscle action.

 

Many thanks.

 

My wife uses a stick. Quite some time before my wife noticably suffered from ME, she seemed to develop minor balance issue that we did not really recognise at first - occasionally falling sideways off a bike when she stopped.

 

The first link you posted is the same study. Looks very interesting.

 

I've only just come across this as it appeared on MEA twitter feed. I wonder what this means for someone with aortic regurgitation? Maybe I should print this off for my cardiologist when I next visit?

On the subject of ACE inhibitors, I was tried on two different types and reacted badly to both so had to stop using them. First one made me feel dreadfully ill, the second one caused chest pain. The NHS have me recorded as allergic to them.

 

I experience the exact same issue.

As an aside, I just have to pass along to you my admiration for the interest you show in your wife's illness, and the obvious support you're providing her.

 

https://tinyurl.com/y7ywdjd2
i.e.
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...te-with-cardiac-dysfunction-14-february-2018/

MEA Summary Review: Elevated BNP levels in ME/CFS associate with
cardiac dysfunction | 14 February 2018



________________________________

By Charlotte Stephens, 14th February 2018.

A recent study from a research group at Newcastle University has found that patients with ME/CFS have significantly higher levels of a hormone called BNP in their blood and that this also correlated with significantly lower cardiac volumes.

Structural and functional cardiac abnormalities have been reported in ME/CFS before and MRI studies have suggested subclinical cardiomyopathy in some.

Finding a cause for the cardiac abnormalities and raised BNP levels seen in patients could help in the discovery of the physiological mechanisms behind the disease and could also help to direct treatment routes.

Overview of the study

The study aimed to look at BNP levels and how these associate with the cardiac abnormalities recently identified in ME/CFS.

Cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) examinations and BNP measurements were performed on 42 patients with ME/CFS (meeting the Fukuda criteria) and 10 sedentary controls, all with an average age of 46.

BNP levels were found to be significantly higher in the ME/CFS cohort compared with controls. The authors also found that those with higher BNP levels had significantly lower cardiac volumes.

There were no relationships between fatigue severity, length of disease and BNP levels, suggesting that the findings are unlikely to be related to deconditioning.

‘This study confirms an association between reduced cardiac volumes and BNP in CFS. Lack of relationship between length of disease suggests that findings are not secondary to deconditioning. Further studies are needed to explore the utility of BNP to act as a stratification paradigm in CFS that directs targeted treatments.’



________________________________

Read the full review online or as a download
https://tinyurl.com/y8c2rw42
i.e.
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/wp-...NP-and-Cardiac-Function-in-MECFS-14.02.18.pdf

 

Anyone want to take a stab at defining "lower cardiac volume" for the layman?