Darden returns to explain how she ended up a fixing a common problem in ME/CFS and FM – low cortisol levels and feelings of agitation and “wiredness”. Please note Darden is a patient, not a doctor.
“Adrenal Exhaustion”
Adrenal exhaustion or fatigue is a term used in alternative medicine to describe a condition of diminished adrenal function found in persons who have experienced unabated stress over long periods of time. The adrenal glands produce the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenalin), cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA), aldosterone and small amounts of estrogen and testosterone.
These hormones play an important role in helping the body cope with stress and moderate immune function. Symptoms of adrenal exhaustion include fatigue, low blood pressure, sleep disturbances, low blood sugar, decreased sex drive and cognitive impairment.
Adrenal exhaustion is a controversial diagnosis. Many doctors now believe it originates in the brain – not the adrenals.
Adrenal exhaustion is a controversial diagnosis and is not recognized by mainstream endocrinologists who only diagnose and treat adrenal insufficiency or Addison’s disease, a different condition caused by inadequate production of adrenal hormones. Alternative medical physicians diagnose adrenal exhaustion primarily with saliva tests that measure cortisol levels at four intervals throughout the day as well as DHEA. Healthy cortisol levels follow a circadian rhythm with the highest levels occurring in the morning and the lowest levels around midnight.
Adrenal exhaustion is treated, by taking for a period of time, hydrocortisone (Cortef), which is thought to give the adrenal glands a chance to rest and build up hormonal reserves. Some physicians prescribe adrenal cell extracts obtained from bovine glandular tissue instead of hydrocortisone. The hormone DHEA is often prescribed as well.
Alternatively physicians also treat adrenal exhaustion with a variety of nutritional supplements including Vitamin C, licorice root, Siberian ginseng and ashwagandha. After a period of several months cortisol levels are retested.
Most person with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia suffer from adrenal exhaustion and will produce irregular results on a saliva stress test. It is postulated by many researchers that the “hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis” is out of balance in patients with CFS & FMS. This axis is a complex set of interactions between endocrine glands, which control reactions to stress and regulate many body processes including digestion, the immune system and energy storage and expenditure. Addressing low adrenal and thyroid function is an important part of bringing the axis back into balance.
Diagnosis
I was first diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion in 1990 by Dr. Jonathan Wright, a well-known leader in the field of alternative medicine from Kent, Washington. Dr. Wright diagnosed me with adrenal exhaustion using a baseline 24 hour urine collection test that measured adrenal hormones and then after an injection of adrenocoricotropic hormone (ACTH) a hormone secreted by the pituitary gland that stimulates the release of adrenal hormones. Several of my adrenal hormones were in low ranges at baseline and/or failed to respond to ACTH.
Dr. Wright prescribed hydrocortisone, which I took for six months and DHEA, which I took for five years. Although I felt some increase in energy initially from taking these hormones the improvement was not long lasting.
Long before being diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion I had adopted lifestyle changes that are recommended to manage this condition including avoidance of alcohol, caffeine and sugar; moderate exercise in the morning; a short nap in the early afternoon; and adhering to a regular bed time.
Over the next 15 years I was repeatedly diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion as measured by saliva stress tests prescribed by naturopathic physicians. My cortisol levels remained well below normal throughout the day and night in all these tests except when I was taking hydrocortisone, which I tried several more times. I also tried various herbs and nutritional supplements including licorice root, ginseng, ashwagandha, and vitamin C as well as several years of acupuncture with no significant benefits.
Thyroid
Beginning in 2005 I experienced a series of breakthroughs in my health that alleviated chronic fatigue and brought my body back into balance. The first one was addressing low thyroid function by treating Wilson’s Low Body Temperature Syndrome or Wilson’s Syndrome by taking for a period of several years the thyroid hormone T3 obtained from a compounding pharmacy.
Hypothyroidism is common in ME/CFS. Some ME/CFS experts believe the correct tests are rarely done to diagnose it.
Initially I had to take a large dose of T3 to bring my body temperature up to 98.4 degrees, then over time I needed to take less and less until my body temperature and thyroid function “reset”. Returning my body temperature to normal relieved a certain kind of fatigue I had experienced for over 25 years.
The second breakthrough began in 2007 when I started Oral Systemic Balance, a treatment developed by a TMJ dentist named Farrand Robson that employs oral appliances to help patients breathe better and restore balance to the autonomic nervous system. OSB took a huge layer of stress off of me physically but despite these significant improvements in my health I still suffered from some fatigue and when aroused emotionally I would go into a “wired” or hyper agitated state.
Saliva stress tests still measured very low levels of cortisol. I suspected that I might be suffering from some kind of post traumatic stress from living in an exhaustive state for many years so I started to investigate therapies to address this.
Biofeedback
The field of biofeedback has the potential for reversing many maladaptive stress patterns by using instruments that measure various physiological functions and learning through practice how to alter these patterns. It has the advantage of not producing side effects associated with pharmaceutical drugs.
In the mid-1970’s after first developing CFS I had a positive outcome training the tight muscles in my neck using surface EMG biofeedback to alleviate chronic headaches. In the late 1990’s I learned a surface temperature biofeedback technique called hand warming that alleviated night sweats.
Neurofeedback Take I
Then in the mid-2000’s I began to explore a third form of biofeedback called Neurofeedback or EEG biofeedback, which provides feedback on the electrical activity of the brain or brain waves measured with an electroencephalograph (EEG). Various amplitudes or rhythms of brain waves correspond to different states of consciousness. For example delta waves correspond to deep sleep, theta to dream-like states, alpha to meditation and beta to mental focusing and problem-solving.
In neurofeedback training a person learns to manipulate brain waves through visual and auditory feedback to produce desired brain wave patterns. It is used to help with various neurological conditions including depression, addiction, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In 2008 I did over 60 sessions of neurobiofeedback training with a system called NeuroCare (now called NeuroOptimal) developed by the Zengar Institute. Zengar’s system does not target or train specific brain wave patterns nor does it treat different conditions with different protocols, rather it is designed to train the entire brain to function more efficiently.
Training sessions involve sitting in a comfortable chair with sensors placed on either side of the scalp that pick up brain wave activity. Feedback of brain wave activity is obtained from watching a video of moving graphic designs on a computer monitor and listening to music. The process is monitored by a technician who adjusts the thresholds.
When the brain is unproductive the video or music is interrupted and when the brain makes appropriate adjustments the video and music restart. I noticed an improvement in my cognitive abilities from this therapy but experienced no other significant results.
Neurofeedback Take II
Next I tried a different form of neurofeedback called LENS or Low Energy Neurofeedback System. Developed by Len Ochs, a pioneer in the neurofeedback field, LENS operates entirely different from traditional EEG or neurofeedback training and in fact it does not exactly fit the definition of biofeedback. Rather than training the brain with feedback to produce desired brainwave patterns, LENS feeds back a person’s own brain waves at a slight alteration or offset.
People are hypersensitive to their own brain waves. If you feed back the dominant brain waves to a person it can amplify these waves creating an unstable condition provoking for example a seizure in someone with epilepsy. Ochs discovered that if you feed back a person’s brain wave at a slight offset, the brain waves will lose amplitude and break up dysfunctional or stuck patterns. This disruption causes the brain to heal on its own.
The Lens treatments require no conscious effort on the part of the participant
The treatments are very short, lasting only a few seconds in duration and involve no conscious effort on the part of the patient. The practitioner determines the variation of the feedback offset based on the patient’s history and previous response to treatment. LENS also differs from other forms of neurofeedback in that is treats 21 different sites on the scalp, one at a time in a specific order determined by a brain map of the individual.
The intensity of the radio waves in the electromagnetic field used in LENS are extremely weak, less than a trillionth of a watt. The changes produced however are quite profound and usually permanent requiring no further treatment once a course of LENS is completed. LENS is effective for treating dysfunctions of the Central Nervous System including autism and head injury. It is especially effective for those that suffer from trauma, both psychological and physical.
Treatment
In August 2009 I started LENS treatments at Ochslabs, the LENS center in Sebastopol, California working with Len Ochs’ partner, Cathy Wills. Cathy told me that my case was particularly difficult due to my severe sensitivities. We started treating one site per session at a large offset, once a week. After each treatment I felt a shift in my energy and symptoms, sometimes feeling worse for a period of hours or days.
My breakthrough came after session four which was followed by a 14-day roller coaster of symptoms, including every kind of headache I had ever experienced, anxiety, depression and gastrointestinal pain. When the symptoms finally subsided, I felt much better than before the treatments and started for the first time in over ten years getting some long stretches of deep sleep.
After this positive response to LENS, I began working with a practitioner in my area. Over time I was able to tolerate treatments with no adverse reactions at a shorter offset and then two treatment sites per session, signs that my brain was healing. I observed a general calming of my nervous system and the chronic symptoms of dry mouth and loose stools went away completely and never returned.
While doing Lens Neurofeedback Darden’s cortisol levels normalized
I continued LENS treatments on and off for two years. After two years of treatment my cortisol levels as measured by saliva stress tests rose to normal levels with the exception of slightly low levels during the afternoon. During this time I was not pursuing any other therapy or taking any drugs or supplements.
After a break in treatment of a year I did another year of treatments in 2014. During this time my symptoms of occasionally becoming agitated or “wired” when emotionally aroused completely disappeared and my most recent saliva stress test showed normal cortisol levels throughout the entire day and night.
Rewiring the Brain to Improve the Adrenals
In conclusion I think that my symptoms of adrenal exhaustion both subjectively, and as measured by cortisol levels, were caused by maladaptive stress patterns of the brain. In other words there was nothing wrong with my adrenal glands, rather my brain’s regulation of my hormones. LENS neurofeedback training was successful in reversing this.
Similarly my low thyroid function was also a maladaptive stress pattern reversible by taking incremental doses of T3 according to Dr. Wilson’s protocol. This unique response of down regulating physiological functions in response to overwhelming physical stress is characteristic of CFS and FMS.
Fortunately I found therapies to correct down regulation of my endocrine system, which have contributed significantly to my quality of life. It is important to note the LENS neurofeedback did not resolve all of my remaining CFS symptoms. It did not help with fibromaylgia muscle pain after exertion, or lessen my sensitivities to foods and drugs or substantially restore my disturbed sleep.
In my opinion CFS and FMS are multifaceted conditions that require a variety of treatments to improve health and well-being.
- Check out more of Darden’s blogs here.
Lens Neurofeedback Resources (added by Cort)
Traditional Neurofeedback vs Traditional Neurofeedback
Interesting!!! Thanks for sharing.
Issie
Thank you SO much for this article. I was diagnosed with CFS 35 years ago and with FMS 7 years ago. Some of the symptoms discussed rang a bell with me (low cortisol, low body temp., anxiety/panic w/conflict) and I intend to discuss this with my doctor. I live in a very small town and the doctors are often way behind the curve but my doctor is very open to discussion on things I’ve read/researched to help with my condition. I am almost totally housebound so any improvement would be amazing.
A very interesting post! I think the heading for the video should be LENS biofeedback vs Traditional Biofeedback.
I tried this type of neurofeedback, then called Flexyx, around 15 years ago. The practitioner was 2 1/2 hours away, so I only went once a month. My brain often responded–not always–depending on the treatment, but the problem was that any good results only lasted for a few hours or at the most, maybe, a day. I thought it was–is–a good type of treatment, but thought I would need to do it every day to help!
I am glad to hear that you had more far reaching changes. Maybe the frequency of your treatments, maybe a different or improved protocol for what sites to treat in what order, all contributed. Also we are all different.
I too have had low adrenal and endocrine output–low everything there is–and take cortisol, thyroid and other hormones. The hormones help but don’t bring me up to normal. I still have ME/CFS every day, just am able to function better than I would otherwise.
I hope your blog will encourage more of us here to embark on a course of treatment with this type of Neurofeedback so we can at least informally evaluate it for our type of condition.
Lens sounds really interesting, but I don’t have a lot of money. I feel like I’ve tried lots of drugs, and I guess I need to see if there’s more I can do within my healthcare provider, kaiser permanence. I live near Oakland Ca. I have been helped a bit by methylfolate/methylcobalamine treatment but I still can’t work, and funds are limited. Any ideas? I’m pretty bummed about my situation.
Many Independent LENS do not bill insurance and can charge $100 or more a session however you may be able to find a more affordable option in your are. The first LENS practitioner that I worked with was a counselor at Lutheran Counseling Services – a non-profit that covers some of the costs. My cost was $70 a session. Then I worked with a practitioner who was able to bill my insurance company so the cost was $25 per session (my co-pay).
My sentiments, too~how in the world did you afford all that? If it’s not covered by insurance (which we have to pay on our own) we sure can’t afford it. I had TMS with very little improvement. I’m also very sensitive and have had multiple med failures…at 59 it feels like there’s no hope, and here in SD it’s almost impossible to find anyone who knows anything much at all about ME. i can’t afford to travel nor do I have the energy. Have had chronic fatigue for going on 28 yrs with severe depression (have had mood swings and sensitivities since infancy). The aches and pains of “fibromyalgia” came on more gradually…SO tired of being sick and tired, anxious and depressed. Makes life hard to enjoy.
Great critique of Adrenal Fatigue diagnosis. Well worth the read:
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/fake-diagnosis-fatigue/
i have had CFS and Fibromyalgia for 3 years. In 1996 I pituitary surgery for Cushings Disease. After 6 months my gland started producing its own cortisol and I didn’t have to take meds. I wonder if there is a connection between my current issues and my tumor. Any idea how I would go about figuring that it?
I find this fascinating. Any research on these systems of neurofeedback?
Also, if one has a hidden infection(s) that has crossed the BB barrier, can the changes be retained or possibly even help strengthen the immune system — or just be temporary?
I ask because about 10 years ago, I spoke with a nurse who found that neurofeedback would always help her for a while but ultimately her symptoms always returned. She eventually was diagnosed with Lyme (and other co-infections); it was not til she was treated for those that she started to recover.
“…It is important to note the LENS neurofeedback did not resolve all of my remaining CFS symptoms. It did not help with fibromyalgia muscle pain after exertion…”
Some of us have discovered an approach that has reduced our fibromyalgia muscle pain after exertion, and I wonder whether the healing also occurs in reverse – that is, the endocrine system may be healing as well due to the relief in pain and tension? I can’t say yet, and I also can’t say whether daily dedication to the program is essential to maintain the improvement; if it is, it would suggest that the underlying endocrine issues are still present and will cause relapse in the muscular condition as soon as the self-help program is diminished.
To reiterate the self-help protocol that has worked for me:
Pace the exertion to below a threshold at which harm begins to occur (I suspect that the fat-burning heart rate exercise advice of 65% of maximum is a very similar concept to the fibro sufferer’s exertion threshold) – and do lots of this low intensity exertion, like more than 1 hour per day.
Low carb diet, to deprive the muscles of the sugars that produce waste by-products that are a major reason for fibro harm and reset the muscles to fat burning, which is low toxicity.
Gentle muscle stretches in a spa pool – I have gradually got more and more range of movement into all my limbs and a reduction in pain at the extreme end of current range of movement. Take muscles to the edge of the onset of POTS symptoms and hold gently for a few seconds, breathing as relaxed as possible. Gradually the POTS symptoms are retreating in me. Use the water of the pool to support the body – one of the things that is counter-productive about muscle stretches for fibro sufferers, is that while you are stretching one muscle, others are overloaded due to the posture you need to adopt to do the stretch!
LOTS of Magnesium, taken 3 times per day – we all know magnesium is good for fibro, but the more the better. Magnesium is not stored by the body, we need to be ingesting it, and I suspect fibro sufferers have disabled mechanisms in this regard, requiring compensating ingestion of magnesium. My last dosage is immediately before bed, and this really helps how I feel the next morning. Adequate water consumption goes along with this.
Massage therapy from a Qi Gong or other Chinese massage practitioner who is highly trained and understands fibro. They call it something else in China – a good practitioner will work out by himself that you have fibro on the first massage, without you even telling him.
But I recently visited a highly regarded naturopath for the first time, who has strong opinions about fibro, opinions I had never heard before, not even on this site – he claims it is all due to undiagnosed low-level infections. Hmmmmm. Dental health is highly important, and using all the naturopathic anti-infection aids such as Artemisia Annua.
Any comments, Cort or others?
I am going along with his ideas for now to see if I get more improvement, and maybe even lasting benefit that means I don’t need to do so much daily self-help. It might have been nice to have tried his approach back when I was still in a bad way. But he also associates all these malfunctions with thyroid problems, which is certainly me – I had a cancer removed 25 years ago and lost 2/3 of one lobe of my thyroid at that time. The mainstream medical people have always said the tests show “normal”, that is, what is left of the gland is allegedly coping. But everyone in alternative medicine disagrees with this.
There are a number of varieties of “fibromyalgia”. I had post exertion muscle soreness that improved by treating Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO).
To Phil – Which form of magnesium do you take?
Good question – yes, I believe it makes a difference what magnesium supplement you take. I think powder is better than tablets and capsules, and THIS is probably the best magnesium powder in the world:
http://www.naturopath.co.nz/shop/Browse+by+Brand/Naturopaths+Own/Magna+POWER.html
http://www.garymoller.com/Products/Products/N/Naturopaths-Own-Magna-Power-120g.aspx
THIS powder is nearly as good and considerably cheaper:
http://www.goodhealth.co.nz/products/detail/_prod_/Opti-Mag-Powder
http://www.pharmacydirect.co.nz/Good-Health-Opti-Mag-Powder-150g.html
The only magnesium that has helped me much is magnesium chloride powder mixed with coconut oil. I grind up magnesium chloride flakes in a coffee grinder to get the powder. I take as much as I can without softening stools too much. It does taste disgusting though. The fat increases absorption so much for me. I first noticed it when combining MgCl with sea salt and sprinkling it on my butter covered food – my nails got a lot harder. Drinking much larger amounts of MgCl with water after meals had little effect, and various other Mg supplements also had little effect. When I started the MgCl mixed with coconut oil, for the first couple of weeks I had some fairly intense symptoms for a while after ingestion. It improved my vitamin D tolerance as well. I can take a larger dose of vitamin D without getting limb heaviness that I used to get.
I read in a Dr. Mercola newsletter that a few Tb of coconut oil/day could offset Alzheimer’s, too, so I should try that. When I lost most of my sense of smell a couple yrs ago i seriously thot I might have early onset Alzheimer’s because I read about a study done at a U that said if you can’t smell peanut butter out of one nostril (don’t remember which one!) it may indicate that…but I couldn’t smell it out of either nostril! Don’t know what caused the loss of smell which also affects the sense of taste. It’s the least serious sense to lose at least…
But if you take too much it causes loose stools, doesn’t it? My holistic CNP says Mg Citrate is best…
Yes, everything gets more and more complicated the more problems that occur to deal with. What I have found is that consuming Shiratake Noodles or a Flax Seed flatbread that I bake myself – these are very high fibre but low GI foods – I can take a LOT of Magnesium and drink a lot of water, which is also necessary, without ending up with loose stools and/or excessive urination.
There are so many angles to the path I have found to improvement, it needs a long essay to cover it.
Today I went on a group bicycle ride that I go on sometimes and I have been gauging my improvement from my performance relative to other regular riders. I have been for 20 years, very limited in regard to such things. Cycling with competitive riders was a passion that I largely had to give up when Fibro hit me more than 20 years ago.
When I started joining group rides again a few months ago, I could only do half the route (others turn back too at about halfway and even they would end up leaving me behind by 5 minutes after a 90 minute ride) and I got completely left behind on any major hill. By 10 weeks ago, I could stay with most of the riders even on a big hill, and keep up with the fastest bunch on the level, and finish the whole route near the front. Today, on the same long hill that I had to dismount and walk up 12 months ago, I kept up with the 2 fastest hill-climbers in the group almost all the way to the top – and I was pacing myself to not trigger post-exercise malaise!!!! (And I still weigh 240 pounds, when all the good hill climbers are like 140 or lower!) The improvement I have got is magic, and maybe the naturopath I went to for the first time a couple of weeks ago, giving me his favourite remedies including Artemisia Annua, has given me another boost leading to today’s once-unthinkable level of physical performance. I am typing this 8 hours later with no post exercise malaise at all.
Spread the word – fibro is not a life sentence after all!!!!
Wow….that’s tremendous Phil!
One of the other riders accused me of taking banned substances! Some of them are now a bit skeptical of my fibromyalgia life story, unfortunately!
I can see the possibility now that some wise-guys might say I never had fibro at all – but I still have the sore spots that are used for diagnosis, and I still cannot run at all without major post exercise malaise, and I still get POTS-type symptoms with some activities that use the upper body in some postures, and my time tolerance for squatting is still short.
The activity I am best at, cycling, is the activity that never was too badly affected by the POTS-type symptoms; it did cause post-exertion malaise if I went anaerobic much at all, and I was in constant pain in my neck, shoulders, arms, back, legs, etc etc hence I didn’t do much riding for 20 years. What I have gained, is an increased threshold for triggering post exertion malaise due to focusing exercise on low intensity and building aerobic capacity; I have a lot less pain and muscle tension; am slowly losing lumps and knots in my muscles (especially legs) that have been there for more than 20 years; I don’t have the fibro sensation of sunburn-like pain in the myofascia and top layer of muscle “all over”; my sleep is a whole lot more restorative and I am often at the gym by 6 am; and I am far more functional in daily life with ability to do simple things like check car tyre pressures, that require squatting or awkward postures for a while. For example, I work as a piano tuner and sometimes need to do maintenance on the pedals on a piano, which used to be torture for me, crouched on the floor and reaching inside the piano. It is minimal problem now.
Overall doing the job of piano tuner is low-stress and rewarding and I love it, and I credit that too with being part of my reason for recovery. I should remember to mention that. I blame a high-stress job way back in the past, for causing the fibro in the first place.
It’s just amazing Phil. Congratulations and continued good luck with your health.
What kind of magnesium do you take?
I have experienced the most benefit so far, from this:
http://www.goodhealth.co.nz/products/detail/_prod_/Opti-Mag-Powder
http://www.pharmacydirect.co.nz/Good-Health-Opti-Mag-Powder-150g.html
BUT this has been recommended to me and I am going to try it, it has the potential to be the best magnesium powder possible:
http://www.naturopath.co.nz/shop/Browse+by+Brand/Naturopaths+Own/Magna+POWER.html
http://www.garymoller.com/Products/Products/N/Naturopaths-Own-Magna-Power-120g.aspx
I do think a lot of the magnesium supplements I have been taking over the years, have been nowhere near as good as these very modern powders. But I have not until the last 18 months, understood just how much magnesium I really needed to take – I have had painful wake-up calls because episodes of nocturnal calf muscle cramps occur even when I thought I was taking “enough” magnesium. This might also be related to doing low carb diet and doing a LOT of exercise every day, albeit “paced”. My whole approach has been fraught with fresh problems, and I have had to work out how to deal with them.
HMAT is very helpful. But even without HMAT for guidance (they are expensive), I found a few months ago that doubling my multivitamin and mineral daily dose helped me get a bit more improvement. And a tendency to just urinate out the water and possibly the supplements as well, has been helped by the high fiber, Low GI additions to the diet (Shiratake noodles and Flax seed flatbread, home baked).
Quite possibly the naturopath Gary Moller is right, and giving me Artemisia Annua (since 1 fortnight ago) has cleared out some unknown low level infections that were causing dysfunctions. He also emphasizes dental gum health, religious brushing and flossing. One regular site of infection and bleeding in the gums can be responsible for a lot of bodily dysfunction, according to him.
Thanks for your wonderful sharing. What dosage and form and/or brand of Artemisia Annua did you take? How long did it take you to notice a difference?
It is interesting now that you ask me this – Gary Moller himself gave me a bottle of capsules labelled Artemisia Annua: 150mg Standardised Herbal Extract – but I can’t find it for sale on his website!
On his website, there are these:
http://www.garymoller.com/Products/Products/I/ICL-Parazyne-30-tabs.aspx
But they are not what I am taking. I must ask him.
Most of my improvement has occurred in the 18 months prior to taking this, but it may have given me a very big new boost in my condition literally within 10 days. Maybe Gary Moller is right, and I may have got more improvement earlier if I had got onto this stuff.
I do firmly believe that the exercise with the correct approach, and the diet and the other stuff, is important.
When you are doing a lot of things, it is hard to know what really is essential – I should mention I have been taking Guaifenesin as well as everything else. I took it for a long time years ago and I think it “helped”, but I ended up going without it because my finances were stretched and it wasn’t really a “cure”. I started it again at the same time as adopting all the other tactics after reading so much helpful information on this blog. Cort, you are a blessing. I needed the detailed information you provide on numerous aspects of fibro, before my intellect could grapple with what self-treatment approaches might help. Really, I think all I have done, is take on board information from following this blog for a few months, and Cort’s analysis and advice, and put it to use.
I also take Mucinex (the extra strength time release seems to work best) and it def helps some for the aches and pains, but not at all for the fatigue or depression. I’ve been taking it almost 5 yrs, and when I’ve quit notice a difference. I, too, want to thank Cort for all the info, even tho it’s over-whelming at times and I don’t have the concentration necessary to read every article. I’m printing out a couple articles to take to my more holistic CNP hoping she will pay attention. Have never found one practitioner in the last 28 yrs that knew anything much about ME or could figure me out! I’m really hoping that getting back on a C-PAP machine will help. I tried it 7 yrs ago but quit after a couple wks because i couldn’t get used to the mask due to being overly sensitive…They gave me a sleeping med so I’d sleep all night, then I woke up with a scratchy throat which turned into 6 wks of bronchitis. I thot it had blown a sinus infection down into my lungs, and they didn’t explain how they could tell I had sleep apnea. I’ve gotten so much worse that I’m desperate to try just about anything! The nurse who set me up for the sleep study gave me great hope as she’s a couple yrs older than me and felt so much better after a few months on her C-PAP. I doubt she was ill as long as I’ve been, but I’m still hopeful
! She said her blood sugar went down, she lost weight and her depression went away. She’s working at age 61 which is more than I’ve been able to do for over 5 yrs…
Hi,
There is also mag L-Threonate. Supposedly it does not cause the diarrhoea etc.
http://suzycohen.com/articles/brain_magnesium/
Wow, how extremely interesting. I had been fascinated by the research that suggested our sleep/awake brainwaves were out of sync, and I’d also been fairly sure my adrenals were fine, but simply getting the wrong messages. It hadn’t occurred to me that it might be something other than brain inflammation or pathogens, but why not?
My (very basic) long-used bio-feedback gadget was the first clue that things were properly wrong, but no amount of concentration could make any alterations in my responses any more. If anyone wants to do this on a UK resident, I’m there!
This is an older page so don’t know if anyone will read this.
I am all for whatever works when it comes to severe illness but I do like to work with honest practitioners. I did an exhaustive search for David Dubin’s medical credentials and found he does not have a license to practice medicine in CA.
Maybe his therapy works or maybe it’s the placebo effect. I don’t know.
On his website, Dubin mentions that he is an ER doc who graduated from UNDMJ (New Jersey Medical School). He is currently practicing in Los Angelos, CA.
According to the Oregon Medical Board, Dubin surrendered his medical license in Oregon in 2005. (It was issued in Oregon in 2003.) Oregon’s board mentions that Dubin graduated medical school in 1980 and did his residency in Ohio.
Ohio’s Medical Board has his initial licensure date as 10/7/1981 but currently inactive. Ohio lists a residence for him in Cambridge Massachusetts. Indeed, there is an active domestic profit corporation called Cambridge Medical Consultants in Boston of which David Dubin is the president, treasurer and secretary.
I simply have to trust the practitioners I work with. If Dubin claims to be licensed in CA to practice medicine, he’s lying.