Health Rising by Cort Johnson

Home
Health Rising by Cort Johnson

Supporting people with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, and related disea

Cort Johnson founded Phoenix Rising and Health Rising to support people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Health Rising provides the latest treatment and research information for people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

17/03/2026

The Massive Sequence ME/CFS and Long COVID Project Aims to Find the Precise Drivers of These Illnesses

Big, potentially groundbreaking projects, the likes of which we've rarely seen before, keep cropping up in ME/CFS and long COVID.

The latest - a $20 million effort to sequence the entire genome of 18,000 ME/CFS and long COVID patients - may take the cake.

The most ambitious ME/CFS effort yet, this project could reveal precise drivers of these conditions.

Check it out

The massive Sequence ME/CFS and long COVID whole genome sequencing project aims to find the precision drivers of these illnesses

06/03/2026

Blood, S*x and Inflammation: Did the IMPACC Long COVID Study Point to Core Issues in Long COVID and ME/CFS?

Does it all come down to the fact that the blood is not getting through to the muscles, organs or brain? Is it as simple as that?

That's what one of the most comprehensive long COVID studies and recent ME/CFS research suggests.

That makes sense on so many levels. Check it out

The big IMPACC long COVID study findings suggest that inflammation and reduced male s*x hormone levels may be playing havoc with the small blood vessels in long COVID -= and ME/CFS

28/02/2026

Is the OMF’s ME/CFS BioQuest Study the Study We’ve All Been Waiting For?

It's big and ambitious and if successful the Open Medicine Foundation's BioQuest study could transform how ME/CFS is understood, researched, and ultimately even treated.

Check out a study that the ME/CFS field has arguably been waiting for, for quite some time

The Open Medicine Foundation's huge Bioquest project has the potential to transform ME/CFS patients experience with doctors, dramatically enhance research and get drug companies finally interested in this illness.

16/02/2026

Precision Medicine Required For ME/CFS? A Deep Genome Dive Uncovers Many Possible Causes

Studies are focusing more and more on core themes such as energy production and metabolism but they rarely can say "X" causes ME/CFS.

This paper is different. A whole genome sequencing study and analysis pointed to what the authors believe are clear causes of ME/CFS in up to 40% of those assessed.

The findings suggested that many roads do indeed lead to Rome; i.e. cause ME/CFS - and that some roads may require a deep genetic analysis to be uncovered.

Check the blog and a zoom interview out in

A deep dive into the genome of ME/CFS patients points to many genetic causes of ME/CFS most of which impact energy production, the metabolism, and blood flows.

11/01/2026

“Something in the Blood” Again! ME/CFS and Long COVID Serum Locks the Muscles Down

On the heels of a proteome study which suggested that poor muscle repair is producing PEM in ME/CFS, comes a "muscle on a chip" study.

It exposed healthy muscle tissue to serum from ME/CFS or long COVID patients. As one might expect, things tended to go haywire

Check out what happened and where we are with the ever-expanding list of studies that are exposing tissues or animals to fluids from ME/CFS/long COVID patients in

Geoff’s Narration The GIST Muscles on a Chip Whoa, another muscle study. We recently reported on a proteomic study suggesting that muscle repair problems contribute to post-exertional malaise in ME/CFS. Now, we have a direct muscle test – and even better – we get to see whether something in th...

10/01/2026

An Enigma No More? Is ME/CFS an Acquired Muscle Myopathy

ME/CFS has always been a mystery. Not so anymore, declared two German researchers, Klaus Wirth and Carmen Scheibenbogen.

ME/CFS is completely biologically explainable and, because of that, "highly efficacious" drugs will be found.

Check out the switch they believe has become flipped in this disease and why they think it is reversible in

Klaus Wirth shows how ME/CFS and long COVID may be acquired muscle diseases caused by poor blood flows and mitochondrial dysfunction

18/12/2025

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.

10/12/2025

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.

22/11/2025

Low Brain Norepinephrine Levels Pt. II: A ChatGPT Produced Treatment Program

The low norepinephrine in the brain finding opened up a new window for understanding ME/CFS and long COVID.

This long blog uses ChatGPT to brainstorm possible treatment approaches to solve the low NE brain levels.

A variety of possibilities are outlined including several which take into account whether you feel better in the morning or the afternoon.

Check it out in

Check out how ChatGPT thinks people with ME/CFS and long COVID might treat the low norepinephine brain findings in these diseases.

12/11/2025

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.

04/11/2025

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.

28/10/2025

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...

Address

Website

https://www.healthrising.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Health Rising by Cort Johnson posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Health Rising by Cort Johnson:

Shortcuts

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic?

Country:

City: