Post-COVID syndrome with fatigue and exercise intolerance: myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, 2022, Scheibenbogen

Abstract
Background

A sizable part of post-COVID syndrome meets the diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). A doubling of cases of ME/CFS within the next years is therefore projected.

Objectives
Presentation of the current state of knowledge on ME/CFS.

Materials and methods
Unsystematic review of the literature and of own contributions in research and patient care.

Results and conclusions
ME/CFS is a neuroimmunological disease, mostly infection-induced, usually persisting throughout life. Clinically it is characterized by fatigue lasting at least 6 months and the defining core feature of exercise intolerance (post-exertional malaise, PEM). Exercise intolerance is defined as a worsening of symptoms after (even mild) everyday exertion, which usually begins after several hours or on the following day, is still noticeable at least 14 h after exertion, and often lasts for several days (up to weeks or longer). Furthermore, ME/CFS is characterized by pain, disturbances of sleep, thinking and memory, and dysregulation of the circulatory, endocrine, and immune systems. As a separate clinical entity, ME/CFS should be distinguished from chronic fatigue, which occurs as a symptom of a range of very different diseases. The diagnosis of ME/CFS is made clinically using established international diagnostic criteria and requires careful stepwise diagnosis to exclude other diagnoses. A causal therapy for ME/CFS has not been established; the focus is on symptoms relief, treatment of the often accompanying orthostatic intolerance, and assistance with anticipatory energy management (pacing).

mostly in german at this link
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00108-022-01369-x

 

Gnnnnnnnnnnnnhhh. The fact that it's so difficult to get the basic words right, even in people who know better than most, is endlessly frustrating.

The concept of exertion is not complicated at all, but decades of lies have made those words meaningless in this context. And of course the mindless obsession with deconditioning and making everything about exercise. I'm sorry but when a profession is struggling with simply using simple words correctly it's failure, plain and simple. This is not about not being able to keep up on a 5km run. Grrrrrrrr.

 

Cut 'em some slack - they're German. In this case, it seems to be a translation mistake from German to English for the Springer summary: The German original is correct ("Belastungsintoleranz" referring to exertion in a general sense). The German article has been published in and is being featured on the cover of the current issue of a German internist professional journal, see https://twitter.com/user/status/1552927773429321728
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How about you drop both authors an email via their adresses available via the Springer publication link and let them know? I am sure they are open to feedback about it.

 

I was more lamenting the fact that there's still so much to be done, how even Long Covid basically changed so little that we still can't get the vocabulary right. There's no point chasing every small mistake out there, there are literally too many. The day those mistakes are over is going to mark the shift from pseudoscience to science, but we're still as far as we've ever been.