Re: CFS - treatments which are not worth trying Dr Myhill.html

March 26, 2003

Amino acid therapy can be very helpful if you find

a practioner who can understand the tests & results

and who can formulate a personalized formula for you.

There are amino acids that can do a great deal to help

the body detoxify

Jan

> CFS - treatments which are not worth trying | Dr Myhill

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> CFS - treatments which are not worth trying

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> Treatments Which Are Not Worth Trying

>

> Graded exercise – this is positively harmful when

CFS is active. I find it quite extraordinary that so many doctors

seem to advocate this as a treatment. It is as if they are unable to

distinguish between CFS and lack of fitness! Let's face it, if graded

exercise worked then the diagnosis could not possibly be CFS. The

only possible explanation I can think of as to why this has stuck in

the medical folklore is that after a physician has recommended this

to the CFS patient, the latter never bothers to attend again for

useless advice. The doctor then believes he has cured the patient

because they don't come back. Has anybody else got any better

explanation?

>

> Cognitive behaviour therapy The idea behind this

is that the CFS patient does not exercise because he is afraid to

because it makes him ill. CBT is all about getting round this fear.

>

> The trouble is that the patient is right – he is

fearful of exercise because it really does make him ill! CBT might

help the patient who is recovered from the acute phase of CFS, but on

the law of averages it is far more likely to make patients worse.

Patients can tolerate so much CBT because they do the exercises at

the expense of other activities, not in addition to and this makes

the results of trials look impressive.

>

> Cold water therapy. This was advocated as a

treatment for fatigue by Kakkar. It probably works because it gives

the adrenal glands a huge " kick " . However if the adrenal glands are

not working properly, as in CFS, then the patient feels awful. I

don't recommend cold baths.

>

> Amino acids. I tried these after reading a paper

about amino acid deficiencies in CFS. The tests are expensive, the

amino acids expensive and the results very disappointing.

>

> Glutathione/ATP injections. Again the initial

paper looked promising. I tried these on 4 patients, twice a week

over six months but no response from any, so I gave up.

>

> Enada. This sounded like the perfect treatment. I

read about it in Autumn of 1998 and faxed the author straight away.

No reply. Six months later it was launched with widespread publicity.

Many of my patients tried it but only 2 reported slight improvement.

If Enada was all it was made up to be, then it would have sold itself

through personal recommendation.

>

> Cocktails of Low Dose Antidepressants and

Treatment of CFS At the British Society for Allergy, Environmental

and Nutritional Medicine meeting in April 1998, Dr

presented his views on the treatment of CFS using cocktails of low

dose antidepressants. His theory is that CFS patients have low levels

of neurotransmitters across the board, namely acetylcholine,

noradrenaline, adrenaline, dopamine, GABA, serotonin and probably

others. It is this which causes the multiplicity of symptoms

including fatigue. He has concluded from his studies and his

experience with patients that the fatigue in CFS is central - that is

to say the cause is within the brain. These abnormalities are within

the mid-brain, thalamus and hypothalamus and are neurological in

origin.

>

> I tried these cocktails for several patients but

they just developed the side effects that I see in most of my

patients with any one antidepressant. I was not impressed by this

approach and would not particularly recommend this line.

>

> Fludrocortisone. The idea here (Dr Bell)

was that the fatigue in CFS is caused by low circulating blood volume

and low blood pressure. He certainly demonstrated that this was the

case and is probably due to autonomic disturbance. The question is

what can one do about it? In theory by using a mineralocorticoid

blood volume could be increased. In practice I found that the

fludrocortisone simply caused swollen ankles and the blood pressure

was unchanged.

>

> Heparin by injection. Work by Dr Berg

suggests CFS may be caused by being in a state of hypercoaguability –

this means CFSs get tiny clots in their capillaries which impair

blood supply. This would certainly explain the multiplicity of

symptoms in CFS and theoretically could be treated by heparin

injections. I've tried these in 4 patients with no success.

>

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> Article No. 277

>

March 26, 2003

Heparin by injection. Work by Dr Berg

> suggests CFS may be caused by being in a state of

hypercoaguability –

> this means CFSs get tiny clots in their capillaries which impair

> blood supply. This would certainly explain the multiplicity of

> symptoms in CFS and theoretically could be treated by heparin

> injections. I've tried these in 4 patients with no success.

> Glutathione/ATP injections. Again the initial

> paper looked promising. I tried these on 4 patients, twice a week

> over six months but no response from any, so I gave up.

I sounds as though this doctor gives up easily. Like someone said,

what works for one does not necessarily work for another, we are all

different.

I am going to be tested for amino acids and I feel this is going to

be a beneficial test for me.

Nat

March 26, 2003

I am very glad you posted this. It is very interesting.

On the other hand, some of the treatments you mention have been

helpful for me.

Weight lifting has been helpful to me (if that qualifies for graded

exercise?). However, I think one has to be VERY, VERY, cautious with

this. If your CFS is not " better " , then I think it can be harmful.

On the other hand, it seems to be benifical hormonally, if you

are " ready " for it. If you feel like exercising, then you probably

can. If you don't, then maybe there is a reason in your body that

you shouldn't !

For example, I have been experimenting with T3 thyroid of late. It

has made me so exhausted that I had to forego my usual exercise

routine. I thought this odd, as T3 is supposed to give you energy! I

was mentally berating myself for my laziness, when I read how

starting thyroid medication can exacerbate unresolved adrenal

insufficiency (it even says this on the thyroid medication insert

info. !) I know I have unresolved adrenal issues from previous

testing. So there you have it, I was tired - for a reason. I should

not have been exercising during this time, as my adrenals were

exhausted. BTW, physicians almost never test, or treat, the adrenals

before thyroid medication is used, even though it says right in their

PDR's that they are should.

Glutathione/ATP seems to be consistently useful for me. When I take

the shots, I look better, am stronger, and generally feel quite a bit

better overall. I do not know why this is. Perhaps it has to do

with poor absorbtion issues, and the shots present the amino acids in

a useable form? Once I go off the shots, I slowly regress though.

I would also add that low dose antidepressants have been very helpful

for me, but I use them in an unconventional fashion. I use small

amounts of doxepin as an antihistamine to help with my burning skin.

I also use it as an effective sleep aid. You can read more about my

use of this at Remedyfind.com.

Your mileage may vary.

Zippy

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