Soejima, Yoshiaki, Otsuka, Yuki, Tokumasu, Kazuki et al. · Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022 · DOI
This case report describes a 36-year-old man who had persistent fatigue after COVID-19 infection. Doctors discovered he had abnormally low testosterone levels and pituitary gland problems, which can cause fatigue and other symptoms. After treatment with traditional herbal medicine, his fatigue improved along with his hormone levels and gland function.
This study highlights that persistent post-COVID fatigue can have specific endocrine causes requiring targeted treatment, rather than being automatically classified as ME/CFS. For ME/CFS researchers and clinicians, it underscores the importance of screening for hormonal abnormalities in post-viral fatigue patients, as treating underlying conditions may improve outcomes.
This single case report does not establish that LOH syndrome is a common cause of post-COVID fatigue or that it represents a distinct subgroup of long COVID patients. It cannot demonstrate that herbal medicine is effective for LOH-related fatigue more broadly, nor does it prove causality between COVID-19 infection and the development of hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. The improvement observed could reflect natural recovery, placebo effect, or other unmeasured interventions.
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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