Takahashi, H, Imai, K, Katanuma, A et al. · Arerugi = [Allergy] · 1992
This case study describes a 29-year-old woman with ME/CFS who had severe fatigue, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and muscle pain that didn't improve with standard treatments. When doctors gave her intravenous magnesium sulphate once a week for about 6 weeks, her extreme tiredness improved and she was able to do more daily activities, eventually leaving the hospital.
Magnesium deficiency has been hypothesized in ME/CFS pathophysiology, and this early case report suggests intravenous magnesium may benefit some patients with severe fatigue unresponsive to conventional treatment. The case also documents immune abnormalities commonly observed in ME/CFS, providing clinical context for potential biological mechanisms.
This is a single case report with no control group, placebo comparison, or blinded assessment, so it cannot prove magnesium sulphate is effective for ME/CFS generally or establish causation. The concurrent improvement could reflect natural disease fluctuation, placebo effect, or regression to the mean rather than a specific treatment benefit.
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
Takahashi, H, Imai, K, Katanuma, A, Sugaya, T, Hisano, K, Motoya, S, et al. (1992). [A case of chronic fatigue syndrome who showed a beneficial effect by intravenous administration of magnesium sulphate].. Arerugi = [Allergy]. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1492795/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-takahashi-1992-case-chronic,
author = {Takahashi, H and Imai, K and Katanuma, A and Sugaya, T and Hisano, K and Motoya, S and Aoki, S and Sugiyama, T and Yachi, A},
title = {[A case of chronic fatigue syndrome who showed a beneficial effect by intravenous administration of magnesium sulphate].},
journal = {Arerugi = [Allergy]},
year = {1992},
note = {PubMed: 1492795},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/takahashi-1992-case-chronic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/takahashi-1992-case-chronic
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.