LV Diastolic Dysfunction is a feature of ‘CFS’. Dr Paul Cheney in America has done lots of work on this exact phenomena this thread is about! In ‘CFS’ he theorises it’s to do with lack of ATP/Energy. In otherwords the heart is too weak to pump and so when people are upright the ‘CFS’ patients squeeze their LV far too hard to compensate. He did some echocardiograms showing this. There’s also a good research on ‘CFS’ that shows non cardiac disease cardiac dysfunction. Remember that many with ‘CFS’ are diagnosed with POTS too.
”The patients with severe CFS had significantly lower stroke volume and cardiac output than the controls and less ill patients. Post exertional fatigue and flu-like symptoms of infection differentiated the patients with severe CFS from those with less severe CFS (88.5% concordance) and were predictive (R2 = 0.46, P < 0.0002) of lower cardiac output. Source: Abnormal impedance cardiography predicts symptom severity in chronic fatigue syndrome.
”The mean values of cardiothoracic ratio, systemic systolic and diastolic pressures, LV end-diastolic dimension, LV end-systolic dimension, stroke volume index, cardiac index, and LV mass index were all significantly smaller in CFSOI(+) patients than in CFSOI(-) patients and healthy controls, and also in OI patients than in controls. A smaller LV end-diastolic dimension (<40 mm) was significantly (P<0.05) more prevalently noted in CFSOI(+) (54%) and OI (45%) than in CFSOI(-) (5%) and controls (4%). A lower cardiac index (<2 L/min/mm(2)) was more prevalent in CFSOI(+) (65%) than in CFSOI(-) (5%, P<0.01), OI (27%), and controls (11%, P<0.01). A small size of LV with low cardiac output was noted in OI, and its degree was more pronounced in CFSOI(+).
Source: Small heart with low cardiac output for orthostatic intolerance in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Also, I think this ‘torsion’ finding below is also possibly mitochondria related. As it takes more energy to ‘relax’ the cardiac muscle than squeeze.
”Patients with CFS have markedly reduced cardiac mass and blood pool volumes, particularly end-diastolic volume: this results in significant impairments in stroke volume and cardiac output compared to controls. The CFS group appeared to have a delay in the release of torsion”.
Source: Impaired cardiac function in chronic fatigue syndrome measured using magnetic resonance cardiac tagging.
Also see:
Causes of Death Among Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Health Care for Women International, 27:615–626, 2006
DOI: 10.1080/07399330600803766
Download: http://www.ncf-net.org/library/CausesOfDeath.pdf
Why myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) may kill you: disorders in the inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative stress (IO&NS;) pathways may explain cardiovascular disorders in ME/CFS
Michael Maes and Frank N.M. Twisk
Activitas Nervosa Superior Rediviva Volume 51 No. 3-4 2009
Download: http://www.rediviva.sav.sk/51i34/106.pdf