Health rising blogpost, by Cort Johnson, 31 May 2017: Study Suggests “Bad Energy” is Core Problem in Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
Lactate has become a big deal in both chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM). A by-product of anaerobic energy metabolism, lactate ordinarily gets pumped out of our cells in large amounts during exertion. The lactate findings suggest that the energy needs of ME/CFS/FM patients are largely being addressed by glycolysis or anaerobic energy production. Anaerobic energy production plays an important role in energy production, but when aerobic energy production is not available and it becomes the major source of energy it produces metabolites that produce the burning muscles, fatigue and other symptoms we associate with over-exercise.
That makes it all the more shocking and puzzling to find high lactate levels in two diseases in which exercise is often hardly tolerated. That suggests that something is profoundly off with ME/CFS and possibly FM patients’ energy productions systems. The fact that increased lactate levels have been found in several different compartments of the body in these diseases only sharpens the interest.
We mostly focus on lactate in the muscles and blood, but high lactate levels have also been found in the brains of people with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Over the past ten years Dr. Shungu and Dr. Natelson have documented large lactate increases in the ventricles in the brains of ME/CFS patients. They’ve also found large decreases in brain glutathione levels as well. In their latest study, they went a step further and examined lactate levels in the brains of FM patients as well.
Ventricular Lactate and the Cerebrospinal Fluid
The ventricles, which sit at the bottom of the brain, are filled with cerebral spinal fluid
When Shungu and Dr. Natelson refer to ventricular lactate, they’re also referring to the cerebral spinal fluid – a “tissue” that is becoming increasing important in ME/CFS and FM. The ventricles are four cavities sitting at the bottom of the brain where the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) is produced. The CSF functions as a kind of cushion, a blood flow and neuro-endocrine-immune regulator and as an important waste removal outlet.
Analyzing the cerebral spinal fluid is the closest we can get to the brain short of a biopsy. CSF studies are able to uncover several different kinds of pathologies associated with the brain including bleeding, infection, inflammation and autoimmunity. Protein analyses of CSF have identified unique protein signatures for multiple sclerosis, lupus and other diseases.
CSF studies from the Simmaron Research Foundation and the Center for Infection and Immunity uncovered a pattern of immune upregulation / exhaustion and identified an atypical ME/CFS subset. Other CSF studies found a different protein signature in ME/CFS vs. Lyme disease and evidence of increased intracranial pressure in ME/CFS. Low levels of glutathione suggest the brain’s antioxidant defenses are down.
- Pressure Building? Study Suggests Cerebral Spinal Fluid Pressure May Be Causing Problems in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Simmaron’s Spinal Fluid Study Finds Dramatic Differences in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Peterson’s Atypical Subset Opens New View of ME/CFS in Columbia/Simmaron Publication
This study examined the makeup of CSF – aka the brain ventricles – in ME/CFS, FM, and healthy controls
