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Fibromyalgia, CFS, The Internet,
Miracle Pills And The Birth of Quackery
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_______________________________Fibromyalgia, CFS, The Internet,Miracle Pills And The Birth of Quackery
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In
this article, I am going to explode a few myths.
There
are thousands upon thousand of companies trying to sell you
Fibromyalgia/CFS cures on the internet; all of them have a similar
story. Take their pill or supplement, follow their diet or detox, or
maybe even avoid certain foods, and you will be miraculously cured of
your illness pain, and fatigue.
There
are detox regimes, candida cures, herbal supplements, vitamins and
minerals, hormone supplements, liver cleanses, amino acids etc. Some
of the more convincing advertisements for these products are disguised
as articles backed by trials involving 10 or 20 subjects against
placebo. Despite what they may advertise, these are NOT clinical trials,
they are small scale trials run by the manufacturers of the product and
surprise, surprise, the results are always positive. So
what’s going on and why are we all still suffering? The
majority of these pills and supplements are useless in terms of their
advertised qualities i.e. they will NOT CURE true Fibromyalgia or
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Some
have a degree of validity and may reduce one or more of the symptoms of
your illness, much as paracetamol will rid you of a headache for a few
hours. They
may work in the short-term, indeed it is a strange anomaly that placebo
cures often work in the short term, and this is all due to the power of
our minds, the psychological response, and our overwhelming desire to
get well again. Or,
if your condition is not true Fibromyalgia/ CFS and your body is
suffering from dietary deficiencies, then in stands to reason that by
supplementing and removing the deficiency you may experience an almost
instant cure. Such
cases are relatively rare in modern society, however it must be noted
that cases of malnutrition in Statement
of Fact: NO
SINGLE PILL OR SUPPLEMENT WILL CURE YOU of Fibromyalgia or Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome From
a dietary perspective, you should be following the much vaunted,
generally accurate advice of eating 5 or more portions of fresh, raw
fruit and lightly cooked vegetables per day, with a good balance of
protein and low levels of carbohydrates. Avoid
too much sugar, too much dairy and wheat. Alcohol I’m afraid has to
go, at least for the next 12 months. A medicinal glass of wine at the
weekend will not affect your recovery. With
this balanced diet you should not be deficient of any nutrients your
body needs, or which could possibly cause fatigue, or limit your
recovery from your condition. And, you will not be putting undue strain
on your digestive system, which is currently malfunctioning. I
WOULD advocate taking a high quality multivitamin/ multimineral
supplement to top up any shortages you may have on a daily basis. They
will certainly do you no harm and for a small price will eliminate any
worries you might have over dietary deficiencies. Always take them with
food. Any
good health store will do a good range, there is plenty of competition,
speak to the manager and they will recommend a good quality balanced
supplement. Avoid
those sold in chemists and supermarkets. The manufacturers hedge these
supplements to well below the RDA’s in order to protect vendors from
the latest craze of litigation by people claiming their livers have been
damaged by excess vitamin A or whatever the current trend (when in fact
they are alcoholics). There
is evidence that powdered capsules may be better absorbed in the gut
than the solid variety. I cannot personally verify this though it seems
very credible. Another
industry which is profligate on the back of the Fibromyalgia/CFS
epidemic is food allergy, intolerance testing and candida cures. Again
hundreds of companies selling you testing kits, candida cures, allergy
cures etc. It really is soul destroying. Everyone
on the planet will tolerate certain foods better or worse than others,
this can be down to inherited genetic and cultural makeup or
environmental factors. A
FOOD INTOLERANCE DOES NOT MEAN A FOOD ALLERGY. For
example, a majority of people on the planet will have an immune reaction
to cow’s milk. What this means is that there is a degree of stress to
the digestive system in terms of breaking down lactose which is
notoriously difficult to digest. In
turn this can stimulate an immune response which to people with
Fibromyalgia/CFS/CFIDS causes an immune over-reaction and a prolonged
immune response, and therefore an exacerbation of their symptoms. The
only way to find out effectively and accurately which products cause an
immune over-reaction is an antibody blood serum test, you should be able
to find a company that does this for around $300. You
pay them their money they send you a test kit, you prick your finger to
provide a small sample of blood which you send back to them and they
test the reaction of your antibodies against a hundred or so food
products and families. Reactions
will be classed as slight, considerable or extreme, the extreme ones,
usually dairy/ yeast/ gluten or albumen and alcohol should be
considerably restricted or even eliminated for a while to see if your
symptoms improve. I
would advocate this as being well worth doing to get “quick wins” in
respect of your overall fatigue. It’s certainly a good start and if
you have been eating a lot of a food product which stimulates a strong
immune over-reaction and you have true Fibromyalgia or CFS then you may
get a noticeable improvement in your symptoms by removing it. However
your nervous and immune systems are still damaged, and I will be talking
about the techniques we use to stimulate healing of the Autonomic
Nervous System later. If you would like FREE IMMEDIATE access to read the very latest article, and to stay updated with Dr Shaw's latest breaking Fibromyalgia and CFS research in the future then please complete the form below. Please only use valid personal email addresses.
Finally,
to put the record straight on a few other points. You
CANNOT tell if someone is intolerant or allergic to foods using hair
analysis, or prodding an electrode catheter into acupressure points
linked up to a computer or any of the other new age rubbish being touted
around. This
is a new craze and snake oiling at its lowest ebb!! Similar
rubbish is touted about liver and colon cleansing. They are by
definition organs of cleansing and elimination i.e. they do it
themselves. They are self cleansing, self regulating organs. I would
advise against doing these. Please
DO NOT have your dental mercury amalgams removed unless you have
extensive testing indicating that they are somehow corroding and
poisoning your system. This is extremely unlikely to happen if they were
installed correctly in the first place. There
is only one supplement regime which I recommend to sufferers as part of
my protocol. There is huge movement and a growing body of evidence for
its effectiveness based on metabolic and cardiac research. I would
strongly recommend this protocol is implemented during Stage 2 or 3 of
recovery once the lymphatic massage and exercise aspects of the regime
are in place.
Copyright of The Mellington Clinic and Associates: 2006: Fibromyalgia,CFS,Cures,Miracle,Internet,Truth
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