ME/CFS:
taken seriously, not explained away
“It is psychological” is a sentence about the limits of an examination, not about you. The exhaustion no sleep repairs and the crash after exertion have measurable counterparts: in the autonomic nervous system, in the immune system, in the energy production of your cells. That is where we start, carefully and at your pace.
- Free
- No obligation
- Reply within 2 business days
- Outpatient · Bad Aibling
- Non-invasive
Free & non-binding · usually a reply within 2 business days · confidential
Prefer to talk? Call us: +49 (0)8061 398-0
Perhaps you are reading this for your wife or your husband, because their own strength no longer stretches to reading. Years in which every activity was paid for with days in bed, and doctors who recommended “more exercise”. Post-exertional malaise is real and documented, and it is the reason we plan every session below the exertion limit and never above it.
Estimates suggest several hundred thousand people affected in Germany; the post-COVID wave has further increased the number of fatigue syndromes.
Symptoms have a map
ME/CFS is a disease of several systems holding each other in place. The autonomic nervous system sits in sympathetic mode with low vagal tone; heart-rate variability shows missing recovery, and a qEEG often shows an overactive salience network. The immune system keeps running after the triggering infection, and its messengers reach the brain and change how networks fire. Mitochondria deliver less energy, which explains the brain fog in the central executive network and the crash after exertion. Stimulating one network alone means working against an engine that keeps running. So immune status, energy and autonomic regulation belong in the same plan as neuromodulation.
For an overview of the six brain networks and a first orientation, see the Brain Network Analysis.
The assessment first, then your program.
Every patient starts with a structured assessment that respects the exertion limit: history since the triggering infection, existing findings, questionnaires on PEM and sleep, a clinical examination, lab work (immune markers, thyroid, micronutrients, infection work-up where needed) and, when the question calls for it, qEEG brain mapping and heart-rate variability. In our program neuromodulation is one building block beside pacing, sleep and whatever the lab demands: taVNS as a gentle stimulus for the vagus nerve, low-dose rTMS or tDCS for fatigue and cognition and, where it fits the energy question, photobiomodulation. Every session is short enough not to trigger a crash; if the body answers differently than expected, we change the dose the same week. Your existing medication stays unchanged unless your treating physicians decide otherwise. The first consultation happens by phone, so it costs you no journey.
Our aim stays the same: to restore functional balance, with as little medication as possible and a life with high quality of life as the measure.
You don’t have to decide anything today. A 15 to 20 minute conversation is enough to know whether an assessment is worth it for you.
Free & non-binding · usually a reply within 2 business days · confidential
Who it is for, and who it is not for
A good fit if …
- Medication or therapy has not been enough so far
- You are looking for a measurement-based, non-invasive path
- You are open to outpatient treatment in Bad Aibling
Less suitable if …
- You expect a purely remote or online treatment without on-site diagnostics
- You expect a guarantee — serious medicine cannot give one
In an acute crisis or having suicidal thoughts? Please seek immediate medical or emergency help — in Germany call 112, or the free 24/7 helpline Telefonseelsorge 0800 111 0 111.
The first consultation is free. We discuss the scope, duration and cost of any program openly afterwards, outpatient, here in Bad Aibling.
What the research shows
Peer-reviewed work on ME/CFS and the relevant procedures, graded by evidence level. No study proves an individual outcome.
In short: for some procedures the evidence is solid, for others still early. Where your case stands is settled in the assessment, and the program follows from it.
rTMS ameliorates symptoms in ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome)
tDCS for post-COVID fatigue: randomized, double-blind, controlled pilot study
rTMS for long COVID-19 with fatigue and cognitive dysfunction
Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation on fatigue and immune responses (Sjögren’s)
ME/CFS: diagnosis and management — clinical review
ME/CFS: the biology of a neglected disease — review
More studies across all conditions: Science & Studies.
The evidence for neuromodulation in ME/CFS is early: small randomised trials and pilot data on rTMS, tDCS and vagus nerve stimulation, no large trials yet. We therefore use it as an informed treatment attempt, with the symptom diary as the yardstick and the exertion limit as the ceiling.
A real doctor. A real clinic.
Dr. med. univ. Julian Douwes · Medical Director
Part of Clinicum St. Georg, under the medical direction of Dr. med. univ. Julian Douwes. Outpatient, evidence-graded, without medication as the first step — tailored to your profile. More on our program.
- 30+ Years of clinical heritage
- 90+ Countries patients travel from
- 30,000+ Treatment sessions delivered
In three calm steps
ME/CFS: let’s talk about your path.
In a free consultation we clarify whether and how our measured program could fit you — no obligation, fully confidential.
Free & non-binding · usually a reply within 2 business days · confidential