Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
An Overview
by Phillip Day

Profile
For years, the medical establishment would not recognise chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), even though doctors were reporting cases showing up at the surgery with disconcerting regularity. Known variously down through the years as Iceland disease, post-infectious neuromyasthenia, chronic Epstein-Barr virus syndrome, etc., CFS has had a rocky ride getting itself taken seriously by all but those suffering from its debilitating symptoms. Many doctors for years wrote it off as Yuppie flu, or, in plain English, malingering.

Symptoms
Flu-like symptoms, constant sore throat, listlessness, fatigue, allergies, muscle pain, sleep disorder, stiffness, visual blurring, swollen lymph nodes, multiple chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, migratory joint pain, depression and emotional disturbances.

Commentary
CFS is a classic immune system challenge. Those suffering from its various symptoms have likened it to driving with the handbrake on. As mentioned, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a member of the herpes group, has been blamed, as have others, like Cytomegalovirus, Brucella, Human herpes virus-6, etc. CFS sufferers often discuss with others how tired and debilitated they are, and how hopeless their condition is, which is one of the first clues to what is going on.

Nine out of ten people who approach me with complaints of CFS actually do not think they will recover. This is what I refer to as 'tossing yourself under the bus'. Emotional negativity and depression are a key feature in Candida albicans and fungal infestations (gastrointestinal overgrowths), since fungi and yeasts release toxins that manipulate their host's environment to their advantage, often having a direct impact on mood and motivation.

Poor diets, chronic dehydration, and stressful, 21st century lifestyles are at the heart of CFS - fizzy sugar drinks, foods saturated in sugar and coffee abuse in particular - which depress the immune system, giving rise to a number of spin-off conditions: hypoglycaemia, hypothyroidism, joint pain, lower back pain, food allergies (sensitivities), Candida overgrowths, etc. A multi-factorial nutritional and lifestyle approach to CFS almost always brings relief from symptoms, but only if the patient is prepared to take action! Part of the problem with CFS has always been that the patient, all too often, cannot bring themselves a) to appreciate that recovery is waiting for them and b) to do what it takes consistently (there's that word again) to work their way out of the problem.

Take action!
Working your way out of CFS will take time, and the more consistent you are about taking action, the quicker your recovery will be. The regime is all about what you stop doing as well as what you take. It always helps to have professional supervision to ensure compliance with the measures below:

· DIET: For the first three months, COMMENCE THE ANTI-CANDIDA DIETARY REGIMEN and anti-fungal supplementation, taking special care to avoid the foods in the exclusion section. After three months, or as directed by a physician, change to THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN, a slightly more liberal regime
· RESTORE NUTRIENT BALANCE: COMMENCE THE BASIC SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM
· HYDRATION: Drink 4-5 pints of clean, non-tap water a day (reverse osmosis or a still mineral water sold in glass bottles is fine)
· DETOXIFICATION: Conduct a magnesium oxide bowel cleanse
· DETOXIFICATION: Ensure that harmful lifestyle actions, such as taking drugs, smoking, and excessive drinking are halted immediately
· TIP: Exercise regularly. Join a gym and make it fun
· TIP: Rest, rest, rest and get into a good book or do something that takes you emotionally out of the day-to-day grind
· TIP: Give up reading newspapers and watching the news
· TIP: Are you on medication which might be depressing your mood and creating side-effects?
· TIP: Avoid stressful situations. Ideally, take a holiday where you can relax and have fun while eating good, wholesome foods with people you enjoy being with
· TIP: Compel yourself to stand back from your situation and evaluate it for what it is. Have you been jamming the needles to the red and smoking the rubber to the cord? Are you exhausted, stressed out and not having a good life?
· TIP: Working your way out of CFS, in my view, is actually about working your way out of the stress and diet cycles you have compelled upon yourself over the years
· TIP: It's a beautiful life. Embrace it

Extracted from The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day
© Copyright Phillip Day 2003

Further Resources
Need to know more about yeast overgrowths and other health problems?
The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day

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