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Health Rising features informative blogs, Forums, recovery stories, resources, a media section and more. Our commitment is to find answers for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia and chronic pain.

12/18/2025

Long COVID - the Inflamed and Exhausted Disease? Plus, the JAK Drug Trial Boom

A major Harvard long COVID study validated an emerging theme: that the immune systems of long COVID patients are both inflamed and exhausted.

It should not be lost on anyone that this scenario (turned on and exhausted) also fits findings in the brain, autonomic nervous system, and muscles. It suggests researchers are zeroing in on core issues in these diseases.

The Harvard team didn't rest there. In an attempt to calm the hyperactive immune system down they immediately started a trial of a powerful drug that shuts down the immune pathways (JAK/STAT) that have become activated.

In fact, with multiple JAK trials underway, we're in a bit of a long COVID JAK inhibitor boom! Find out more...

Harvard researchers find an activated and exhausted immune system in long COVID patients - and begin a drug trial to try to fix it.

12/10/2025

A Long COVID Autoimmune Subset Coming into View? (and Why ME/CFS May be Next)

Noted Yale Immunologist Akiko Iwasaki recently reported that a strong "causal relationship" suggested that a significant subset of long COVID patients have an autoimmune disease that's targeting the brain.

Her next goal is to precisely target those patients and treat them with powerful immune drugs which, she said, have shown "fantastic" results in autoimmune diseases.

The Solve ME Initiative's first Catalyst Award is allowing her to extend her work to ME/CFS.

Find out more in

Solve ME Catalyst Award winner Dr. Iwasaki explains a subset of long COVID patients may have an autoimmune disease. Now she moves onto ME/CFS.

11/12/2025

Role Reversal: Could a WEAKENED Fight/Flight Response Be Causing ME/CFS and Long COVID? The 2025 IACFS/ME Conference Pt. I

We've always thought that a raging fight/flight system was in play in ME/CFS, but a presentation at the IACFS/ME conference suggested just the opposite: that a fumbling fight/flight response is causing all sorts of havoc.

Find out why this may make sense after all, and how it might change our conception of these diseases and how they should be treated in

Low brain norepinephrine levels could explain many of the symptoms present in ME/CFS, long COVID and similar diseases.

11/04/2025

The GLP-1 Agonist Boom in ME/CFS, FM and Long COVID: Insights, Using it, Trials Underway,

We're back digging into what at this point looks like the most exciting treatment possibility to come along for ME/CFS, long COVID, and related diseases.

Data on these drugs is pouring in. This blog covers a Renegade Research webinar, mast cell and intracranial hypertension studies, ideas on how to use these complicated drugs, and two major, controversial long COVID treatment trials that are getting underway soon.

Check it out at

Complex, chronic illness experts discuss what GLP-1 agonists can and can't do in diseases like ME/CFS, long COVID, and POTS. Plus new long COVID trials.

10/28/2025

PrecisionLife’s Bold Attempt to Break the Code on and Beat ME/CFS and Long COVID

I gaped when I saw what PrecisionLife is attempting to do in ME/CFS and long COVID.

Their goal is to identify the biological subsets and the mechanisms driving them, uncover biomarkers, and then test drugs in "smart" clinical trials in carefully targeted patients.

That's a lot! Time will tell if they can pull this off, but if they can, these diseases could be ever changed.

Check out a very different approach to these diseases in the second in a series of blogs on ongoing projects in these illnesses in

Geoff’s Narration The GIST This is the next in a series of blogs exploring ongoing projects in ME/CFS, FM and long COVID. The first featured the RECOVER project’s next set of long COVID clinical trials. RECOVER’s 2nd Round of Long COVID Clinical Trials Shows Progress… and Limitations I ga...

10/21/2025

The Brain Disease: Huge Fibromyalgia Genetic Study Highlights the Brain and Offers New Treatment Possibilities

On the tails of the big DecodeME ME/CFS genetic study comes an even bigger fibromyalgia.

It, too, states the results lay FM on a firm biological foundation. They suggest, as did the ME/CFS study, that the genetic vulnerabilities for these diseases lie in the brain.

Plus, the authors propose that these vulnerabilities extend far past FM and ME/CFS and play a critical role in other diseases.

Lastly, as will happen with these studies, some novel treatment possibilities popped up. Check it out in

Geoff’s Narration The GIST Just months after the publication of the first large ME/CFS GWAS study comes an enormous FM GWAS study. Notice how these two diseases seem to be marching hand in hand. Both are greatly underfunded, both are still struggling for recognition in some circles, symptoms de...

10/18/2025

New Epigenetic Diagnostic Test For ME/CFS Wows… But Can It Hold?

Epigenetics - a change in our gene expression as a result of an infection or stressor - sounds like the perfect answer to post-infectious diseases like ME/CFS.

Epigenetic studies, though, have never wowed the field - until now.

Using specialized technology that assessed chromosome folding of all things, Oxford Biodynamics' test's remarkable accuracy in predicting who had ME/CFS raised eyebrows and resulted in numerous media articles.

Does it mean that ME/CFS is on the verge of achieving a holy grail - a biological biomarker for the disease? Oxford Biodynamics is off to a very nice start, but we're not there yet.

Check out a deep dive into one of the most intriguing studies of 2025 in

Geoff’s Translation The GIST “With this breakthrough, we are proud to enable a first-in-class test that can address an unmet need for a quick and reliable diagnostic for a complex, challenging-to-identify illness,” said Oxford Biodynamics’ Chief Scientific Officer Alexandre Akoulitchev. W...

10/11/2025

RECOVER’s 2nd Round of Long COVID Clinical Trials Shows Progress… and Limitations

The RECOVER Initiative’s eagerly anticipated first round of long COVID clinical trials landed with a thud.

Now, it's back with another try, and the news was mostly good. While one could quibble, RECOVER clearly listened to patients and their doctors more, and the results, at times, were inspiring.

The only problem was that there were too few of them. Find out the four treatments RECOVER is going to tackle, as well as new insights into the effectiveness of one of the hottest treatments being explored - the GLP-1 agonists.

The RECOVER Initiative announces four more clinical trials for long COVID including low dose naltrexone, bariticinib, GLP-1 agonists, and stellate ganglion blockade.

10/02/2025

"In Good Health": How Chronic Illness Redefined My Relationship with Food - Rachel Riggs' Cookbook Has Arrived.

Rachel Riggs' beautiful new cookbook, "In Good Health," for people with complex, chronic illnesses, has arrived!

Looking for nutrient-dense, yet simple, yet scrumptious recipes free of most allergens? Well, here it is.

A longtime "foodie" challenged to cook good-tasting food by her more restrictive diet, Rachel created a cookbook that can help people with complex, chronic illnesses put the "yum" back into their meals.

Check it and three recipes from the book as Rachel shares about the book in

In Good Health cookbook by Rachel Riggs

09/25/2025

Is the Long COVID Field Missing a Major Opportunity?

With new studies coming out every week long COVID research appears to be zinging along. UCSF LC researcher Michael Peluso says he's excited every day to see what his inbox will bring.

Is it possible, though, that LC research could be moving much faster? Thus far, the field has virtually ignored a research approach - using exercise to get at core aspects of the disease - that have paid immense dividends for its sister disease, ME/CFS.

LC has so missed the boat that in some ways the small ME/CFS field is light years ahead of LC in understanding why people with LC have such problems exerting themselves.

Check it out in

Geoff’s Narration The GIST From viral persistence to complex immune studies, to tissue sampling, to assessing heavy-duty immune treatment trials and large treatment trials, long-COVID researchers are doing things the ME/CFS community has wanted to happen for decades. On the flip side, long-COVI...

09/18/2025

The Promise of Vagus Nerve Stimulation – and the No Brainer Long COVID Trial Underway

Vagus nerve stimulation looks perfect for diseases like ME/CFS, FM, and long COVID, which feature low heart rate variability and increased activation of the "fight/flight" response.

Study results have been generally good, but we need bigger studies, and now we have one - an easy-to-participate-in long COVID study that every LC patient in the U.S. should consider.

Find out what we know about vagus nerve stimulation and why, given the enormous amount of basic research going into the vagus nerve, if any field is a growth field, this one is in

Vagus nerve stimulation could reduce inflammation, pain and stress in ME/CFS, fibromyalgia and long COVID. A long COVID trial is underway.

09/14/2025

Gut Reactions: BioMapAI Points to Multiple Dysregulated Systems in ME/CFS

BioMapAI dug deeper into the connections between the gut and immune and metabolic systems than any study has before.

It found that healthy connections have broken down, broad immune dysregulation is present, the gut environment is energy stressed, duration matters, and more.

In other words, things are not looking so good in the gut!

The good news is that this studies appear to support those from the recent Lipkin and DeCode ME studies. Find out more

BioMapAI study suggests the gut problems in ME/CFS are driving other system malfunctions and symptoms.

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