Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia-like symptoms are an integral component of the phenome of schizophrenia, 2020, Maes et al

Andy

Retired committee member
Full title: Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia-like symptoms are an integral component of the phenome of schizophrenia: neuro-immune and opioid system correlates

Physiosomatic symptoms are an important part of schizophrenia phenomenology. The aim of this study is to examine the biomarker, neurocognitive and symptomatic correlates of physiosomatic symptoms in schizophrenia.

We recruited 115 schizophrenia patients and 43 healthy controls and measured the Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Rating (FF) scale, schizophrenia symptom dimensions, and the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia. We measured neuro-immune markers including plasma CCL11 (eotaxin), interleukin-(IL)-6, IL-10, Dickkopf protein 1 (DKK1), high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) and endogenous opioid system (EOS) markers including κ-opioid receptor (KOR), μ-opioid receptor (MOR), endomorphin-2 (EM2) and β-endorphin.

Patients with an increased FF score display increased ratings of psychosis, hostility, excitement, formal though disorders, psycho-motor retardation and negative symptoms as compared with patients with lower FF scores. A large part of the variance in the FF score (55.1%) is explained by the regression on digit sequencing task, token motor task, list learning, IL-10, age (all inversely) and IL-6 (positively). Neural network analysis shows that the top-6 predictors of the FF score are (in descending order): IL-6, HMGB1, education, MOR, KOR and IL-10. We found that 45.1% of the variance in a latent vector extracted from cognitive test scores, schizophrenia symptoms and the FF score was explained by HMGB1, MOR, EM2, DKK1, and CCL11.

Physiosomatic symptoms are an integral part of the phenome of schizophrenia. Neurotoxic immune pathways and lowered immune regulation coupled with alterations in the EOS appear to drive the physiosomatic symptoms of schizophrenia.
Paywall, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11011-020-00619-x
Sci hub, https://sci-hub.se/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11011-020-00619-x
 
Schizophrenia has been discovered to respond favourably to the same ketogenic diet that is used to minimise and control epilepsy. Perhaps the schizophrenic patients are poorly nourished [Edit : or more specifically - their brains might need fat and protein rather than carbs to work properly] - and poor nutrition would very likely lead to the symptoms of fatigue and fibromyalgia.

Title : Ketogenic diet for schizophrenia - clinical implication

Link : https://journals.lww.com/co-psychia...genic_diet_for_schizophrenia__clinical.6.aspx

...

Title : Low-Carbohydrate Diet: Superior to Antipsychotic Medications?

Link : https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...drate-diet-superior-antipsychotic-medications
 
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As far as I can see they are saying that a good proportion people with schizophrenia feel rubbishy and particularly the ones with bad schizophrenia. Which is no surprise.

I didn't know this was a thing? None of the people with schizophrenia (and they've all had "bad" phases) that I have known have complained about "Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia-like symptoms".

The authors commit the usual fallacy, assuming that questionnaire answers are the same as symptoms...
 
I didn't know this was a thing? None of the people with schizophrenia (and they've all had "bad" phases) that I have known have complained about "Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia-like symptoms".

The authors commit the usual fallacy, assuming that questionnaire answers are the same as symptoms...

Indeed. I feel rubbishy from time to time and would probably score a few points on ME and FM questionnaires.
I have constant pain in more than four places for instance - but so what.
 
Schizophrenia has been discovered to respond favourably to the same ketogenic diet that is used to minimise and control epilepsy. Perhaps the schizophrenic patients are poorly nourished [Edit : or more specifically - their brains might need fat and protein rather than carbs to work properly] - and poor nutrition would very likely lead to the symptoms of fatigue and fibromyalgia.

Title : Ketogenic diet for schizophrenia - clinical implication

Link : https://journals.lww.com/co-psychia...genic_diet_for_schizophrenia__clinical.6.aspx

...

Title : Low-Carbohydrate Diet: Superior to Antipsychotic Medications?

Link : https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...drate-diet-superior-antipsychotic-medications
There's also (possibly just case) studies on N-Acetyl Cysteine supplementation that have shown positive effects on some.
 
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