00:00For more than 20 years, Debbie Flesser has lived with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also
00:09known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
00:11She suffers crushing tiredness, memory issues, brain fog and trouble sleeping.
00:17The fatigue is all day, every day.
00:20The former psychologist can't work and there's no effective treatment.
00:25It's taken my hopes and dreams that I had and it leaves you when you live alone with
00:32a great deal of isolation and loneliness.
00:35Researchers at Griffith University are studying patients with MECFS and long COVID, illnesses
00:42with similar symptoms.
00:44They scanned the brains of 46 patients and compared them with 15 people who have neither
00:50condition.
00:51We found these regions were significantly larger.
00:55In the published research, they found the seahorse shaped part of the brain, called
00:59the hippocampus, is enlarged in patients with both conditions.
01:04This allows us now to have that information to say, well, there is that commonality and
01:10perhaps we need to explore that even further in larger populations, not only here but in
01:16other research teams worldwide.
01:18The study also found the size of the hippocampus increased in line with the severity of patient
01:24symptoms.
01:25Professor Corey Smith wasn't involved in the study and says while small, it further validates
01:32the illnesses are physiological, not psychological.
01:36These symptoms are happening to people and I think this again provides supporting evidence
01:40for that and we need to continue investigating it.
01:43The ultimate goal is the development of diagnostic tests and treatments.
01:48It's giving all of us in the ME community hope for something in the future.
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