Rüstemova, Diana, Genc, Aysun, Bora, Gül et al. · Medicine · 2017 · DOI
A 41-year-old woman developed a persistent feeling of being cold after breast cancer surgery and was diagnosed with ME/CFS after other conditions were ruled out. She improved significantly with aerobic exercise done for at least 30 minutes, three or more days per week. This case suggests that abnormal temperature regulation—feeling unusually cold or hot—may be a symptom of ME/CFS that doctors should watch for.
This report highlights thermal dysregulation as a potentially underrecognized symptom cluster in ME/CFS that may aid in diagnosis and patient recognition. It also documents a favorable response to structured aerobic exercise, providing clinical guidance for symptom management in selected patients.
This single case report cannot establish causality between breast cancer surgery and CFS onset, nor can it prove that thermal dysregulation is a primary or universal feature of ME/CFS. The response to aerobic exercise in one patient does not necessarily apply to all ME/CFS patients, and notably, some ME/CFS patients may experience post-exertional malaise worsening with exercise.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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