Our November 2021

The central feature of ME/CFS is post-exertional malaise (PEM), which means that symptoms get worse after physical or mental activity.

Emerge Australia is pleased to have launched the latest element of our awareness campaign with a full-page advert in the Australian Financial Review to give ME/CFS a voice in the national Long COVID conversation.

Many symptoms of ME/CFS can make communicating difficult. Emerge Australia has put together some helpful ideas and tools to help you get the most out of your medical appointments.

To manage your ME/CFS well, you will need a number of different healthcare professionals to help you deal with your ME/CFS symptoms and any other health conditions you may have.

Striking Similarities MECFS Long Covid

It’s called Long COVID, often Long-haul COVID and sometimes Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Last week the World Health Organisation announced a definition for what it calls “post COVID-19 condition”, affecting people at least two months after a COVID-19 infection with symptoms that “cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis”.

Up to an estimated 20% of people who survive COVID-19 will have persistent symptoms with no obvious organ damage. This is also known as post-COVID-19 syndrome, or Long COVID. The symptoms of Long COVID overlap with those of other post-infectious conditions like ME/CFS.

The first principle of helping patients manage Long COVID, and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), should be to “do no harm”. Patients and healthcare workers have tried to speed up recovery from Long COVID with exercise-based rehabilitation.

This paper identifies similar biological changes in people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and acute COVID-19. The authors suggest that these changes may lead to what has become known as Long COVID, which also shares similarities with ME/CFS.

This global study asked Long COVID patients from 56 countries about their symptoms during the previous 7-months. Results revealed striking similarities between ME/CFS and Long COVID.