Molecular Hydrogen and the Inflammation Puzzle in Long COVID, ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia
Molecular hydrogen therapy uses hydrogen gas, water, or topical delivery to calm inflammation and support mitochondrial repair, with growing research in Long COVID, ME/CFS, and fibromyalgia.
Dr. Eric Gordon has had a molecular hydrogen device sitting in his office for roughly six years. For most of that time, he used it the way many practitioners do, without a clear sense of why it actually seemed to help. “I’ve had reports for a decade that hydrogen helps people, but we didn’t really understand the physiology.”
That gap between clinical observation and mechanism is closing fast, and it is why Dr. Gordon recently sat down for a Gordon Medical Forum LIVE community webinar with engineer and researcher Ben Tammetta for a deep dive into what molecular hydrogen actually does inside a body dealing with Long COVID, ME/CFS, or fibromyalgia.
Anyone dealing with complex chronic illness knows the pattern.
Patients arrive having tried supplement after supplement, protocol after protocol, and the underlying inflammation just will not settle. What drew Dr. Gordon to hydrogen is that it doesn’t seem to work like most interventions his patients have already tried. It is not a drug with one fixed effect. It seems to nudge the body toward balance, turning certain processes up and certain processes down depending on what that particular body needs at that particular moment.
That distinction matters most for people with post-exertional malaise, a hallmark of ME/CFS and Long COVID. Push a fragile system too hard, and it can crash for days. Dr. Gordon recommends sensitive patients start with a single minute of inhaled hydrogen rather than the hour or more a healthier person might use, then build up gradually.
What The Gas Is Actually Doing
Molecular hydrogen is not foreign to human biology. A healthy gut microbiome produces six to twelve liters of it daily, so a body that already knows how to use hydrogen is simply being given more of a molecule it recognizes. Delivery happens a few ways, most commonly through a nasal cannula for inhalation, dissolved into drinking water, or, for localized joint and soft tissue issues, sealed against the skin in a bag or sleeve. Hence, the gas saturates the affected area directly.
The newest research gives Dr. Gordon something he has wanted for years, a plausible mechanism. A study published in December 2025 identified hydrogen’s first known molecular target inside human cells, an iron-sulfur protein in mitochondrial complex three. Hydrogen appears to attach to this protein and partially break it down, creating a small, controlled stress signal similar to what a workout does to muscle tissue.
The mitochondria respond by repairing and strengthening themselves, which animal studies have linked to ATP production increases of up to fifty percent. Separately, hydrogen appears to neutralize the hydroxyl radical, one of the more damaging reactive molecules involved in oxidative stress, converting it into ordinary water in the process.
Dr. Gordon connects this directly to the Nrf2 antioxidant response pathway, the body’s own master switch for managing oxidative stress. “You are not giving a drug that keeps its foot on the gas. The idea is that these interventions are intermittent. They push your body to a place of balance and then let it go.” Used constantly, he notes, hydrogen would likely stop working this way. Used in short, deliberate sessions, it appears to give inflamed tissue room to recalibrate rather than simply suppressing symptoms.
Published Cases on Molecular Hydrogen Therapy
The condition-specific research is still being collected but it has begun to accumulate. A 2026 review of hydrogen and lung disease found that fourteen days of inhalation during post COVID rehabilitation improved lung volume and walking distance.
A 2022 randomized, placebo-controlled trial followed 50 adults with persistent symptoms 21–33 days after COVID-19. After inhaling molecular hydrogen for 60 minutes twice daily for 14 days, participants showed significantly greater improvements in six-minute walk distance, FVC and FEV₁ than placebo promising evidence for early post-COVID rehabilitation, but not yet proof of efficacy in established Long COVID.
In ME/CFS, a 2024 case published in Medical Gas Research described an eighteen year old with longstanding ME/CFS and fibromyalgia who had not responded to other treatments improving in headache, body pain, sleep, motivation and brain fog after eight to nine weeks of hydrogen inhalation.
Other reported cases describe shorter post-exertional crashes and faster recovery after roughly ninety minutes of breathing hydrogen following activity. Early research on mast cell activation is also emerging, with several papers pointing to a calming effect on the overactive histamine response many of these patients live with.
We must be careful not to overstate any of this. Large, blinded, placebo controlled trials on hydrogen are unlikely anytime soon simply because there is no patent to fund them. What Dr. Gordon is pushing for instead is more structured observational tracking, following patients he knows well with objective markers, not just symptom questionnaires, before and after use. “Everything works sometimes. We want to know how often.”
As Dr. Gordon shares, this is not a cure. It will not remove someone from mold exposure or replace antibiotics for a bacterial infection. What he tells patients is to expect improvement, not miracles, and to think of hydrogen as one more tool that helps an already capable body do the healing it is trying to do anyway. For someone who is generally healthy, it may only take a small nudge. For someone who has been sick a long time, it tends to take longer, often two to three weeks of consistent use before the shift becomes obvious.
He also emphasizes starting slow and working with a practitioner, particularly for anyone with severe post-exertional malaise, anyone on blood thinners, or anyone who wants a baseline sense of mitochondrial function before beginning.
None of that changes his overall read on the therapy. After years of watching it help patients with little downside, he is comfortable recommending people try it for themselves and see.
If you have been living with Long COVID, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia or another condition rooted in chronic inflammation and stalled healing, molecular hydrogen therapy may be worth exploring for yourself.
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- Negishi S, Ito M, Hasegawa T, Otake H, Ohkawara B, Masuda A, Mino H, LeBaron TW, Ohno K. The Rieske iron-sulfur protein is a primary target of molecular hydrogen. Redox Biology. 2025;88:103952. doi:10.1016/j.redox.2025.103952. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12719095/
- Botek M, Krejčí J, Valenta M, McKune A, Sládečková B, Konečný P, Klimešová I, Pastucha D. Molecular hydrogen positively affects physical and respiratory function in acute post-COVID-19 patients: a new perspective in rehabilitation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022;19(4):1992. doi:10.3390/ijerph19041992. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8872486/
- Hirano S, Ichikawa Y, Sato B, Takefuji Y, Satoh F. Successful treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome using hydrogen gas: four case reports. Medical Gas Research. 2024;14(2):84-86. doi:10.4103/2045-9912.385435. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10715329/
- Molecular hydrogen therapy in respiratory diseases: mechanisms, evidence, and technical considerations. [Journal name pending confirmation]. 2026. doi:10.1080/26895293.2026.2643533. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26895293.2026.2643533
- Atiakshin D, Kostin A, Volodkin A, Nazarova A, Shishkina V, Esaulenko D, Buchwalow I, Tiemann M, Noda M. Mast cells as a potential target of molecular hydrogen in regulating the local tissue microenvironment. Pharmaceuticals. 2023;16(6):817. doi:10.3390/ph16060817. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10300919/
- Ostojic SM. Revisiting molecular hydrogen signaling in mitochondria: is the Rieske protein the entry point or a downstream sentinel? Redox Biology. 2026. doi:10.1016/j.redox.2026.104003. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12808497/
- Ge L, Yang M, Yang N-N, Yin X-X, Song W-G. Molecular hydrogen: a preventive and therapeutic medical gas for various diseases. Oncotarget. 2017;8(60):102653-102673. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.21130.
- Ohsawa I, Ishikawa M, Takahashi K, Watanabe M, Nishimaki K, Yamagata K, Katsura K, Katayama Y, Asoh S, Ohta S. Hydrogen acts as a therapeutic antioxidant by selectively reducing cytotoxic oxygen radicals. Nature Medicine. 2007;13(6):688-694. doi:10.1038/nm1577.
This article is intended as general educational information, not personalized medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting any detoxification protocol or prescription-based treatment such as nebulized glutathione.
Want to learn more?
Listen to Gordon Medical Forum Podcast episode Mast Cells, Mold & Long COVID: Unlocking Hidden Pathways to Recovery to hear more about this approach and the connection between mold illness and Long COVID.
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