New Research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Tests

Researchers have looked into potential biomarkers to identify Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. These biomarkers show poor immune function and signs of autoimmunity. Examples include differences in cytokine profiles, natural killer cells, autoimmune activity and T cell responsiveness (Esfandyarpour R, 2019). The immune system is often the focus for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome research, given that a viral infection often triggers the start of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

It is thought that ATP is deficient in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients (Esfandyarpour R, 2019). Studies show that inducing a biological stressor on blood cells forces the cells to consume ATP, which may be deficient in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients.

To explore this low-ATP hypothesis and to test whether they could use ATP consumption to identify individuals with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, scientists did an experiment. In 2019, they created a blood test that correctly identified Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients from people without Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Esfandyarpour R, 2019). The test looked at people’s blood cells, and specifically at a type of immune cell that is easy to isolate from blood samples. The test used a “nanoelectronic assay”. This monitors blood cells’ electrical responses to an induced stressor. It can detect molecular and cellular interactions and their electrical reactions, measuring the electrical activity of cells (Esfandyarpour R, 2019). It measures changes in tiny amounts of energy as a proxy for the health of immune cells.

The subjects’ blood cells were “stressed”, using salt. The cells were put in a high salt environment. This creates a type of stress that cells can usually fix using ATP. The researchers then watched how the cells reacted. Any big change in cell behavior shows that the cells are struggling with the stress and cannot process it well.

All of the blood samples from the people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome showed the cells were clearly stressed (Esfandyarpour R, 2019). The results from the healthy controls in the experiment showed cells that reacted in a stable manner, indicating that their cells managed the stress better than those of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Esfandyarpour R, 2019).

The cells from healthy controls had a period of electrical change when exposed to high salt levels, but soon returned to normal. Cells from everyone with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the experiment showed much greater electrical changes. The healthy cells were better able to cope with the stress of a high-salt environment.

Cells from more severely ill people showed the greatest changes and those from healthy controls showed the lowest. This shows the test may also reflect disease severity.

The scientists don’t know exactly why the cells reacted as they did but there was a clear difference in how healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress.

This is a good start. However, more studies are needed to confirm these findings. More research will hopefully provide a reliable biomarker to identify Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and distinguish it from other conditions with similar symptoms.

If you are considering joining our functional medicine coaching academy, we will take you through a variety of testing and treatment methods for a wide variety of disease processes including chronic fatigue syndrome.

Examples of what tests we would run for this condition include:

* Lyme Disease and other vector borne infections

*Gut dysbiosis and pathology

*Toxic overload via mold, metals or other environmental toxins.

*Nutrient imbalances, blood sugar abnormalities

*and many more..

In the meantime, how can Functional Medicine help with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

While there is not a clear-cut Chronic Fatigue Syndrome test, there are many tests that get to the root cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In many ways, these Chronic Fatigue Syndrome tests are even more important than the diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This is because when we test for and identify the root cause(s), we also understand what we need to do to treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and bring someone to back to health. This is part of what we would be teaching you at our functional medicine coaching academy.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a complicated, multi-system disease, often misdiagnosed as being caused by psychological issues. But the onset of a multi-system illness is rarely due to psychological issues (Bransfield RC, 2019). Many complex conditions that have been described as “all in your head” are actually immune-mediated infections (Bransfield RC, 2019). They are most likely related to the immune system and/or the microbiome. Complex diseases require complex explanations. A disease is caused by something. When clinical findings are confusing, the Functional Medicine approach is to find the root causes, rule out other diseases and address the problem at its root. We have extensive experience in our clinic addressing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other complex diseases (see our site here).

Whether Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (or something else) is the main cause of a person’s fatigue, we use Functional Medicine principles to find the root causes. In Functional Medicine, we look deeper to identify root causes. We would look for a previously undiagnosed underlying chronic infection, as this can often be a root cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Other potential root causes include gut dysfunction or infections, autoimmune tendencies, HPA axis issues, mitochondrial issues or reduced cellular metabolic function, thyroid or other hormonal imbalances, toxic overload (particularly metals) and nutrient deficiencies.

We may uncover other reasons for the fatigue. In Functional Medicine, we can look into these other issues and treat them alongside the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This would improve symptoms of overall fatigue. In our clinic, we have expertise in treating a range of complicated, difficult-to-diagnose conditions like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We regularly treat and resolve chronic infections, fatigue and other complex conditions in patients in our Functional Medicine clinic.

** Please stay tuned for our next Blog!  **