Fijen, Lauré, Weijmer, Marcel · BMJ case reports · 2019 · DOI
This case report describes an elderly man with ME/CFS who developed serious kidney damage after taking high doses of vitamin C supplements. He also had a pancreatic condition that affected his ability to digest fats properly. The combination of these two factors caused harmful crystal buildup in his kidneys, leading to acute kidney failure that required dialysis treatment.
This case is relevant for ME/CFS patients because vitamin C supplementation is frequently used in this population to manage symptoms. The report highlights a potentially serious but preventable drug-disease interaction when high-dose supplements are combined with underlying metabolic conditions, emphasizing the need for careful medical supervision of supplement use in ME/CFS.
This single case report does not establish how common this complication is among ME/CFS patients taking vitamin C, nor does it prove that all patients with pancreatic insufficiency will develop kidney damage from vitamin C supplementation. It cannot determine causation definitively or apply findings to the broader ME/CFS population without larger systematic studies.
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 →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Fijen, Lauré & Weijmer, Marcel (2019). Acute oxalate nephropathy due to high vitamin C doses and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.. BMJ case reports. https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2019-231504
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-fijen-2019-acute-oxalate,
author = {Fijen, Lauré and Weijmer, Marcel},
title = {Acute oxalate nephropathy due to high vitamin C doses and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.},
journal = {BMJ case reports},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1136/bcr-2019-231504},
note = {PubMed: 31748360},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/fijen-2019-acute-oxalate},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/fijen-2019-acute-oxalate
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