ME/CFS PEM lasting days, somewhat better with more protein and NAC
- Condition
- ME/CFS
- At worst
- Not stated
- Ill before improving or writing
- Not stated
- Last post
- Oct 2025
In their words
- Condition: ME/CFS
My PEM went way down when I started.
In context ↗ - Now: Somewhat better
My PEM went way down when I started. I used to get PEM that lasted days and days but now it usually lasts just a couple days.
In context ↗
Summary
A person with ME/CFS whose post-exertional malaise used to last days at a time said that eating more protein and taking NAC brought their PEM down a lot, so it now usually lasts only a couple of days. They built up NAC slowly to 1800-2400 mg because of nausea, taking it with food, and reported no side effects later. They still have to pace, but the consequences of overdoing it are less severe.
Ask Miruvor AI
What they tried
What they credit
Their words about each treatment
- NAC · Helped
My PEM went way down when I started. I used to get PEM that lasted days and days but now it usually lasts just a couple days.
In context ↗ - Eating more protein · Helped
Eating more protein and NAC help my PEM.
In context ↗
Approaches: Diet · Supplements
Their path
They say too little about how ill they were at each step to draw it on the severity scale, so the steps are listed as they describe them. Dates are when they posted.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| — | PEM lasting days at a timeI used to get PEM that lasted days and daysIn context ↗ |
| 2025-10 | PEM shortened to a couple of days; still has to paceMy PEM went way down when I started ... now it usually lasts just a couple daysIn context ↗ |
Adverse events
- NAC (N-acetylcysteine)“I had to start slowly because I was getting random nausea. I’m not actually sure if it was the NAC that caused the nausea” In context ↗ Gut side effects
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Post-exertional malaise
I still need to pace but the consequences when I don’t pace well are not as severe
In context ↗ - Gut problems
I had to start slowly because I was getting random nausea
In context ↗
Ask Miruvor AI
Similar stories
-
Long COVID: stopped work at worst, improved then relapsed, mostly bedbound; credited sauna
Cove 38035, a UK woman in her early 30s, developed long COVID in 2020 and has been ill for about five and a half years. She was at her worst around 2022, relapsed and stopped working in 2023 to mid-2024, then was about 65-70% recovered in early 2025, working…
-
Long COVID with brain fog and POTS, now 85-90% of normal after supplements and pacing
A Dutch student and chef who fell ill with long COVID in 2021, with brain fog, PEM, POTS, headaches and histamine reactions, and had to stop school. He credited supplements — NAC, quercetin, vitamin D, magnesium taurate, vitamin C, salt and electrolytes —…
-
Not enough detail to draw a path
Long COVID with POTS and brain fog, now about 90% of old self after rest and diet
Fjord 97083 got long COVID in April 2022 after an omicron infection, with POTS, PEM, breathlessness and brain fog, working but needing to lie down after stairs. Novavax shots in January and June 2023 each gave roughly three months of relief; a later one did…
-
Long COVID with full-blown PEM, now almost back to normal with pacing
Ocean 17923 caught COVID in March 2020 with lung damage, felt recovered within six months, then declined until full-blown PEM after mild activity in early 2022, worsened by a reinfection at the end of that year. Pacing, nattokinase, NAC, 5-HTP, L-tyrosine, a…