BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Autonomic Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1601599
Beneficial effects of intermittent intravenous saline infusion in dysautonomic patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: a caseseries
Provisionally accepted
- 1Bragée Clinics, Stockholm, Sweden
- 2Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
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Purpose. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating condition with no single, uniformly effective pharmacologic therapy. Dysautonomic features like orthostatic intolerance and postural tachycardia syndrome are common features in ME/CFS, severely affecting the patient´s quality-of-life. Intermittent saline infusion may reduce symptoms associated with dysautonomia, but this has not been tested scientifically in patients with ME/CFS.In this case-series, 22 patients with ME/CFS and signs of dysautonomia and/or hypovolemia were treated every third week over 9 weeks with intravenous saline (9 mg/mL NaCl), using standard aseptic technique. Symptoms were monitored throughout the treatment regime, and a follow-up evaluation was conducted.Results. At treatment start, patients were predominantly female (95%), at mean age 46 ± 10 years, and with a mean body hydration percentage of 48 ± 6. Self-reported health status revealed an overall symptom score of 47 ± 13 on a 0-96 scale, a median POTS score of 64 (IQR 16) on a 0-120 scale, and poor measures of quality-of-life (median 25 IQR 25, on a 0-100 scale) and abilityto-work (median 0, IQR 26, on a 0-100 scale). Following 9 weeks of intermittent saline infusion (mean volume 1600 ± 360 mL), self-reported composite symptom score, quality-of-life and POTS-related symptoms improved significantly (all p<0.001), as did ability-to-work (p<0.05).Our data derived from a non-controlled case-series indicate health benefits from volume loading with intermittent infusion of saline among patients with ME/CFS, which may stimulate further studies on various forms of intravenous volume loading to patients with ME/CFS and dysautonomia.
Keywords: intermittent infusion, Volume loading, ME/CFS, Treatment, dysautonomia
Received: 31 Mar 2025; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sjogren, Huhmar, Bertilson, Bragée and Polo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Per Sjogren, Bragée Clinics, Stockholm, Sweden
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