Fear and anxiety. I don’t know about you, but since I came down with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/’CFS) / fibromyalgia (FM) it seems like those two states of mind are ever present. Fear that I’m suddenly going to get worse, or will have money problems, or that tomorrow everyone will sudden stop reading the blogs. Reason doesn’t to seem matter at all to my fears; they are simply there.
An undercurrent of anxiety and fear came packaged with my ME/CFS?FM
Then there’s the “anxiety”: the difficulty making decisions and the continual “vigilance” that seems to be present. I am wired to the hilt, my mind is running a hundred miles an hour, and it’s flitting from item to item like a maniac.
I don’t know why this under-current of “arousal” or vigilance is there, but it isn’t unique to chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) or FM. Donna Jackson Nakazawa describes a similar situation in her book “The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life“.
Donna doesn’t have ME/CFS or fibromyalgia; she has a serious autoimmune disorder that has twice left her temporarily paralyzed. She was lucky enough to find several powerful drugs that allow her to be up and about now, but her mind is still running a million miles an hour, she constantly feels fatigued and run down, and she experiences little peace. Thanks to modern medicine she is still alive, but the quality of her life sucks and she wants more.
Having exhausted all her traditional medical options, Donna turned to findings from neuroscience which suggested she could use her brains plasticity to re-find her joy in life and improve her health. Health Rising has been following her year of immersion into techniques to do that in a series of blogs.
In next chapter in our series called “The Compassion Cure” Donna explains why sending healing messages to her brain may, by turning down her immune system, improve her health, and give her some much needed peace.
The Compassion Cure From “The Last Best Cure”
The Old and the New Merge
First Donna relates how the loving kindness meditations she’s about to do were developed by the Buddha to combat fear. Then she skips forward to the 21st century to see what physiological effects these meditations have. Charles Raison, an Emory neuroscientist, reports that stress causes an immune response that’s similar to what happens during an infection:
“Stress activates cytokine activity and inflammation, taxing your immune system in a way that’s not all that different from what happens when you’re infected by a virus or bacteria….Stress is implicated in every disease from depression to irritable bowel syndrome to heart disease to cancer.”
Studies indicate that not only are ME/CFS and FM two of the most difficult illnesses to have, but that the stress response systems are dysregulated in both to boot. In fact, it appears that the stress response in these diseases never shuts off; that it’s present even during sleep. That suggests that learning how to bypass those stress responses, and experience some joy might be good both physically and for one’s peace of mind.
Loving Kindness Meditation
At her evening class Donna practices an age-old Buddhist meditation called Loving Kindness Meditation that consists of repeating the following phrases to herself:
- May I be filled with love and kindness
- May I be safe and protected
- May I love and be loved
- May I be happy and contented
- May I be healthy and strong
- May my life unfold with ease
Plus she adds a personal wish: “May I be a person of joy”
Loving kindness is designed to replace feelings of fear and anger with feelings of kindness and loving
As she repeats “May I be a person of joy” a desire for being joyful once again pervades her body – a warm, welcoming feeling she hardly recognizes. As a bonus an unasked for recognition that she really is a good person suddenly appears! Donna recognizes on a deep level that she really, really is a good person. This is a far cry from the judgmental, damning voice in her head she’s usually at the mercy of.
When Donna is asked to send loving feelings to someone close to her (she picks her children) the warm feeling pulses again, and her worried thoughts about a big move she is about to make disappears. She is simply present to the love she has for her children and feels relaxed and at ease.
Then she is asked to send loving feelings to someone she doesn’t know well and, finally, to someone she is upset with. When Donna brings up someone who lied to her, and then stiffed her for a lot of money, her mind boils with anger and resentment.
She recalls the words of Tsoknyi Rinpoche about people who vex us. There’s “Lots of drama” attached to that person, he says. It’s as if that person is “driving a truck through you…vroom, vroom” everytime you think of him or her.
Donna agrees. The anger she feels for this person dominates her very being. When Trish asks her bring that persons image into her heart she can’t. Donna knows that her angry state of mind is causing her immune system to spew out the very pro-inflammatory cytokines that have done her harm in the past, but she is too embedded to let go.
She can, however, give herself a little space by reminding herself that she is not these thoughts, and recognizing that these are, after all, are just thoughts. They are not reality – they’re the workings of a machine called her mind and she doesn’t need to feed them. (Landmark Education suggests that we thank those thoughts for sharing and then move on.) Donna is still agitated, but she’s taken a step forward; she’s cleared some space for her self to show up in.
Donna’s experience reminds me of something I heard at a Landmark Education Seminar: “You can’t be a person of grace, purpose and ease and be resentful – of anything!” It just doesn’t work. You can have grace and ease or you can have resentment. You can’t have both. Most of us for some reason choose resentment but we do have the choice to leave it behind.
When Trish, Donna’s instructor instructs the group to send the following wishes to all beings everywhere: “May all beings be filled with love and kindness”, Donna’s torment begins to fade. Her mind begins to relax. She even begins to have experience the beginnings of compassion for the person she’s angry with.
Then when Trish asks everyone to say “May all beings be safe and protected” Donna simply feels compassion for a man who has alienated so many, and who therefore must be so isolated. Her experience has completely flipped.
She has forgotten about her angry feelings, her big move to a new house, her illness, her work issues – all she is feeling is love.
Imagine if you could flip your experience with your illness, your body and the people or circumstances around you which trigger feelings of resentment or fear. Imagine if grace and ease was present in your life.
- May I be filled with love and kindness
- May I be safe and protected
- May I love and be loved
- May I be happy and contented
- May I be healthy and strong
- May my life unfold with ease
Find more blogs on “The Last Best Cure” here
_____________________________
Donna Jackson Nakazawa was swimming 60 laps a day in a pool when she woke up one day and was unable to move
Donna Jackson Nakazawa is a science journalist, author and public speaker. She is the author of How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology And How You Can Heal, the Autoimmune Epidemic, Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parent’s Guide to Raising Multiracial Children
and Childhood Disrupted, as well as a contributor to the Andrew Weil Integrative Medicine Library book, Integrative Gastroenterology, (Oxford University Press, April 2010).
She is also the recipient of the 2010 National Health Information Award, and the 2012 international AESKU Award from the International Congress on Autoimmunity for her lifetime contribution to autoimmune disease research with the book The Autoimmune Epidemic.
She tweets often about breaking medical news. Follow her tweets and check out her Facebook site and website and blog.
I am surprised that I don’t have much anxiety given the way CFS/ME has screwed up my life. I think it might be because of some of the supplements/meds I take – ashwagandha, Seraphos (which lowers cortisol levels), theanine, glysine, taurine, and bioidentical progesterone. I don’t have the patience to meditate consistently.
Thanks for passing that on Rachel. Those sound like good supplements.
Many thanks again, Cort for putting out this excellent publication. I don’t know how you do it.
I just want to mention that the thing that I think helps me maintain calmness the most is the natural progesterone. I take a big dose – 300 mg before bed. It’s a huge help with sleep, too. I sleep deeply, though not long enough. There is research backing up the efficacy of natural progesterone for sleep for women. It helps you fall back to sleep when you have an awakening. There is also research about L-theanine helping to reduce anxiety and promote sleep.
Hi Rachel,
Having CFS/FM for 37 yrs. In the last 1 -1/2 I have found these 3 to work!
Yes, Ashwagandha ,Rhodiola Extract, plus organic Turmeric to heal what needs healing with meditation. I take these twice a day. Turmeric sometimes 3x a day.
Hi Danielle, I’m glad you’ve found things that work. I take rhodiola, too, but I can’t tell if it does anything. And I’ve tried turmeric many times, but it gives me aches and pains. It’s supposed to be good stuff. Sorry to hear that you’ve had CFS/FM for so long! That totally sucks. But at least you’ve found some relief. How much better do you feel from those three supplements?
Hi Rachael,
The brand is “Organic Turmeric Formula” & Organic Ashwagandha Plus the Rhodiola Extract some people need 3x a day. I also take so many other supplements plus probiotics 4 x a day all different makes. I also go to the Chiropractor every week or every two weeks. Somedays are better then others as you well know. I do stretches in bed before I get up. Plus, I use a large hand held massager to give me relief of the tight muscle plus nerve pain. I find this helps just to get out of bed and I don’t know about anyone one else? I walk like a snail until you wake up:) Some days I can walk with my dog 30 to 1 hr. Somedays no walks. Everyday is a new day and it’s like riding the wave. I take it one hr. at a time:) Most people that see me when I am walking who meet me think I look great and surprised I have CFS/FM. I just wish like the rest of us on this blog to be without this. Plus, I feel dizzy all the time like I have had 2 glasses of wine but I don’t drink! Does anyone else have this plus with tinnitus. No wonder it’s hard to think plus super sensitive to noise and the list goes on-on…Feel be Rachel:)
I’m so sorry to hear how much people have been suffering with anxiety and racing thoughts, etc., etc. I said before that I don’t have much anxiety, but then I thought back to a time two years ago when me beloved cat died. I was so upset by watching her die at home that I got into a terrific anxiety state that didn’t go away. My calming amino acids and herbs and natural progesterone didn’t help at all. I tried meditating – no help. I tried 3 different massage therapist – nothing. Finally I went to my acupuncturist and BINGO! One treatment did the trick. I think that acupuncture can tune your nervous system from too much sympathetic to more parasympathetic – at least that’s how I understand it.
Hey Rachel,
Yes, losing an animal or family member is heart breaking. I do go over the top with emotions. I lost my chihuahua and it took 8 months to get another.
I have done acupuncture also but never thought to do it for grieving & over the top emotions. I am glad it worked for you.
I really appreciate the variety of posts here, from research to skillful living. I find I practice lovingkindness meditation most in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep and I’m buzzing. It’s a really sweet practice.
I am plagued with anxiety almost constantly. A beta blocker is helping me from falling into PTSD land, which I’m so unbelievably grateful for.
My heart goes out to all of us dealing with this shoddy shite disease. Thanks Cort and Donna and everyone else who contributes here.
Beautiful job Cort! I look forward to your new articles everyday.
Thanks!
Hello Elisabeth,
Yes, I have also experienced the fear,anxiety,depression.
I take St. John’s Wort one daily 900 mg a day. Plus, Aswagandha 3x a day to. Natural herbs to calm me. Sometimes I have had to hug myself and tell my self I can do this by driving myself where I need to go. I love walking with my dog and being close to nature (view of the ocean) plus socializing with people almost everyday. Positive mind plus prayer/faith to get me threw what I am going threw. What gives me joy is interacting with people,baby’s,and dog’s all put a smile on my face plus feeling nature at it’s best in ca.
Keep the faith no matter what. Reading Louise Hayes,Wayne Dyer, all spiritual and inspirational positive messages for the brain and soul to help uplift you. My dog is Therapy for me as well,my best sweet friend:) We are with one another 24/7.
Lovingkindness practice directly stimulates the vagus nerve and will, over time, lead the vagus nerve to become actively thicker. I think there is something very poetic about lovingkindness meditation leading to physiological changes in the nerve that connects the brain to the heart.
But beyond the poetry, it is also very possible that the vagus nerve could be an important player in CFS/ME. It is the home of the parasympathetic nervous system and emerging evidence in rheumatoid arthritis suggests that vagal nerve stimulation can cool autoimmunity and inflammation.
If anyone wants to read more about lovingkindness meditation, I suggest you read Sharon Salzberg’s book Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Thanks Alex! I forgot about the vagus nerve connection and would have mentioned it. Thanks for mentioning it and Sharon Salzberg’s book 🙂
Cort, you and your website are the biggest help and encouragement in my struggle with ME/CFS. Hearing you share about how anxiety and fear is a integral part of your and others’ illness makes me feel human again. The longer I’m ill, the worse my sensory sensitivity and overload, and with that comes anxiety from the slightest, dumbest little worries and fear. It does feel as if I’m going to lose it sometimes. I’m glad I can share this post and Donna’s story with others, and my family, to help them understand better why I get so worried and nervous about things at times. Meditation helps me as well, and easy yoga, but I don’t have the stamina of mind or body to do as much as I used to. Like some who commented above, bio identical progesterone seems to help my anxiety level, more than supplements.
Not sure what we all would do without you, Cort. Thank you!
:)…You would not believe the weird anxiety I feel -or maybe you would actually. (I am not calm and collected at all (lol).) It is just the strangest thing.I am getting better at slowing that bunny rabbit mind of mine down, though, and Donna’s recent chapter is helping with that. One of the places my mind does slow down, thankfully, is when I’m writing
Thanks for your nice words. I’m thankful that the ME/CFS communities support is allowing me to do engage in this adventure, really, regarding what the heck is going on with all of us…
These types of mindfulness, along with meditation and other practices (listening to binaural beats’ music), etc., underlie Dan Neuffer’s ANS Rewire program and Ashok Gupta’s Amygdala Retraining Programme. I don’t use either right now, though I do have Gupta’s from long ago. It’s also a key tenet in spirituality: the energy you put out and focus on is what you’ll receive; a fear based vs a love based thought pattern. What you think about and HOW you think about it charges those thoughts with either fear or love. By love, I mean exactly what Donna’s “mantra” is based upon. Carrying it even further, we could say “I am filled with love and kindness…,” the “acting as if” it’s already happening, that we’re already manifesting these things in our life. The icing on the cake is to always add “And I’m so grateful.” Layers of intention. For you, Cort, it could be “I have good health,” “I have abundance and all I need,” “I make decisions easily,”…etc. Am I doing this? Pppfff…well, I THINK about doing it, but my OCD and severe procrastination keep me in that quicksand of I’m not in that “perfect” state to do it. But I’ve started by saying each day that I’m grateful to be here, thankful for the abundance in my life and the blessings of love that surround me. Having a mantra like Donna or writing out a “movie script” as described in “Manifesting 1-2-3” makes it easier to be consistent and focused. I’m writing my script at this point. Great article and gives such hope. Thanks!
Thanks Judith – that fits right in with what I’ve learning at Landmark Education as well. For me being in abundance is a key one, moving along powerfully is another and being grateful is another. It’s about creating the space for that and coming from that. Imagine if I came from “abundance”….I would be able to relax, pick my opportunities and go for big things. Why play small, after all, when I’m already coming from abundance?
One note from Landmark – there never is the right time 🙂
Thanks
Hi Cort,
Thanks for the article. I recently experienced some lower back pain, and got out an old bottle of DMSO for some pain relief. I ended up using more (topically) than I have in the past, and within about 2-3 days, I noticed I was waking up in the morning feeling much better than normal, and far less feelings of depression, anxiety, despair, dread, etc.
Mornings have long been the most difficult part of my day, and I’ve long believed it was because of a buildup of toxins in my body during the night. Daily morning coffee enemas have worked very well for me to relieve those morning feelings, but DMSO, which improves circulation and reduces inflammation, has now become another effective tool that has helped me, in many different ways.
When I did a search on DMSO,. I noticed it’s been noted to improve many brain issues, including depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, and more. One way it apparently does this is it facilitates GABA (calming neurotransmitter) to cross the blood brain barrier. Supplementing with GABA, along with DMSO, has definitely improved my sleep quality as well.
All the Best, Wayne
Wayne, that’s really interesting about the DMSO. I’m going to look into it.
Another thought about anxiety and feeling revved up. I had my DNA tested and found that I have a genetic variation that makes my COMT enzyme work slowly. COMT is the enzyme that breaks down stress hormones, so when it’s slow the stress hormones stick around too long. I did a little research and found that green and black tea have something in them (not the caffeine) that slows the COMT enzyme down further. I stopped drinking tea (which was hard for me because I had been drinking tea all day) and a weird symptom that had been plaguing me for months went away. I had been feeling overstimulated every evening at 9 p.m. – heart rate went way up and blood pressure went up. I wouldn’t say I was anxious, but it sure was weird and disturbing to get revved up every evening at 9. I’m wondering if people who have anxiety and/or racing thoughts might have too much in the way of stress hormones running around in their blood and maybe this could relate to the COMT enzyme. I realize that I’ve gone way off the main topic here.
COMT (there are at least two variations that might be inappropriately expressing) combined with the dreaded MTHFR is a severe double whammy. It takes much expertise or a spot-on accurate consult to find what works for each person who has this and even more complex genetics. All the loving kindness intent practices over the decades have not allowed peace of mind, although practices can enhance clearer thinking and observation. Physical practices seem to help smooth out stuck energy better.
Hi Beca,
I’m with you on finding physical causes of emotional distress such as anxiety. But where can one find someone who has the expertise to figure out how my COMT snp and other genetic issues can be addressed. Do you know of a medical practitioner who does this well? My MD recommended 23 and Me and then didn’t have much to say about the results. I’d love to get some expert advice.
Wayne, please, what is your source for DMSO?
Wayne, I would like to know what your source of DMSO is also. I have a sore Achilles tendon I need to fix because I’ve gotten better enough to be able to walk a mile except that the tendon starts to hurt after half a mile. And better sleep would be fantastic, too.
Hi Hezza and Rachel,
I bought a pint from a place called the dmsostore.com. Here’s a link to a gallon size at eBay, which is what I plan to order next ($36.95). Much better value than the pint size. I looked around quite a bit, and this seemed to be the best value, for price and purity:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DMSO-Dimethyl-Sulfoxide-99-995-Odorless-Pharma-Grade-1-Gallon-In-BPA-Free-Jug-/151994515454
The 99.995% purity is important, as it greatly reduces the garlic odor associated with DMSO.
I’d read online never to buy DMSO in plastic, but I’ve seen other references where it says it depends on the plastic. I contacted the dmsostore, and they assured me they test to see if any residue showed up in their DMSO, and it hasn’t.
If you go to their store, you’ll see a variety of selections, though I have to say, it’s not very well organized.
Another thing I noticed shortly after applying the DMSO, was I felt a better energy, and even started taking walks in the morning, something that’s long been very difficult for me to do. I ran across this online, and I could definitely relate to it.
………………………………………..
Here’s a paraphrased story: I spread a liberal amount of DMSO on my abdomen. A few hours later I played tennis and I felt a very large increase in energy and agility. I have repeated this a number of times since with the same result.
Another paraphrased example about Alzheimer’s disease/senile confusion: Gave mom some liquid DMSO in juice and within an hour a new woman! She could have conversation, laugh, be alert. When the DMSO wore off back to the fatigued, yawning and disorientated person. So, I gave some more DMSO, a whole teaspoonful, and within an hour she came alive again, hold conversation, have energy.
Holy moly, Wayne, this DMSO sounds like good stuff. Thanks for the info on where to buy it. I’m going to order some. But if it’s almost 100% pure and you are supposed to use DMSO that’s 70 to 90%, do you dilute it with water? Or what?
Check out a thread on the Health Rising Forums on Wayne’s progress here.
Check out Wayne’s thread on the Health Rising Forums here for more – https://www.healthrising.org/forums/threads/pots-inexplicably-improves-after-topical-dmso-applications.4709/
Thanks Wayne & Cort!
My anxiety has decreased a lot by practicing various forms of mindfulness meditation. I have done the same meditation as Donna. You can also send out loving thoughts to others. Autogenics has been the best meditation/therapy for me to decrease anxiety and improve sleep. I used to be generally skeptical of claims of meditation and supplements improving health, that is until I stuck with it for more than a year and it has helped a lot. Yes, I still get exhaustion-like now because I’m just back from spending a week with kids and grandkids, and I still get pain but the anxiety has decreased a huge amount.
Try lying on the floor (on a mat), put your legs on top of a chair and a small pillow under your hips and relax x 15-20 minutes. Do some meditation. Add some deep breathing. The position and deep breathing work on the vagus nerve. After a week or two I did notice quite a difference with decreased pain and anxiety.
Thanks for the reminder that it takes a while and that it can really help. That’s encouraging. 🙂
I thought this blog was quite interesting:
How I Treated My Social Anxiety with CBD (cannabidiol)
http://transcendingfatigue.com/cbd-social-anxiety-treatment-faq/
It ends with this concluding section, which seems to tie in with this thread…
How CBD Has Changed My Life
It’s not like “wow, it flipped a switch and I’m like a totally mellow surfer dude without a care in the world” – but more like it reduces the intensity & rapidity of anxious thoughts I would normally have by a significant amount.
I still get anxious about about things that trigger me (like going on dates, dealing with a nasty person) but the anxiety is more normal and manageable – it can be worked through – rather than disabling me and ruining the date.
The most powerful effect is that is reduces “negative mental chatter about nothing important” in my mind by about 80%! Which is huge. It’s great at turning down mental noise and fretting about random, non-specific things.
Meditation is still required to deal with my biggest anxiety triggers, but CBD complements meditation wonderfully.
I believe it Wayne! My couple of tries with medical marijuana were soooo soothing. It was like both my body and my mind just calmed down – and my pain with it!
Hey Cort,
I just checked the comments on this blog, and discovered he no longer needs the CBD. Very interesting development indeed!
–
Hi Vincent… I am doing great. Strangely enough I don’t need to take CBD anymore. I have discovered that taking 600mg NAC (n-acetyl-cysteine) + 2g of glycine in the morning and then 2g of glycine powder in the evening pretty much eliminates my anxiety. My anxiety was caused by high glutamate and low glycine levels. Unfortunately this may not be the case for everyone, as there are different underlying biochemical reasons why we are anxious.
Wayne,
That’s a fascinating story about Vincent (your friend?) getting rid of anxiety by taking NAC and glycine. I’m wondering how he figured out that he had high glutamate and low glycine levels. Was this from a DNA test?
I just recalled the following story, with a conclusion similar to the the one I just posted earlier.
http://herballure.com/HotTopics/MyMercuryStory.html
My Mercury Story
In the mid 90s, despite being athletic and energetic, I began experiencing various health ailments. These ailments worsened and grew in number year-by-year. By 2000, I had acquired 17 specific physical ailments ranging from fatigue to immune weakness to constant ringing in my ears. I could only work about 4 hours per day and had to take daily naps. I knew that something was seriously wrong.
I finally stumbled upon the cause of my problems while speaking to a friend about her health issues. She told me she had Chronic Fatigue and had healed herself after 5 years of visiting doctors and getting nowhere. She told me that she had her amalgam (“silver”) dental fillings removed one-by-one, as she could afford it, and it had changed her from a bed-ridden state to a normal, working person. She told me something no dentist ever had:
Amalgam dental fillings contain mercury, the world’s most toxic, non-radioactive metal.
I started conducting research on the Internet and found that I was not alone. Many other people were suffering just as I was and they had determined the problem was their dental fillings as well.
After spending numerous hours researching this issue, I had my amalgam fillings removed in couple weeks and my life changed forever, and it happened virtually overnight. A few years later, I realized that not only had my physical symptoms gone away, but a number of phobias vanished as well. My relationships improved, I became more social, my memory improved dramatically, and I realized how life is supposed to be lived.
Now, looking back, I realize that I lived most of my life with a number of negative personality traits and emotional ailments that were actually caused by mercury. My bad memory, extreme shyness, very low self esteem, fear of commitments (especially in relationships), history of suicidal thoughts and fear of confrontations is now gone, not to mention horrible depression, and all of these changes have dramatically improved the quality of my life.
Wayne,
I had all my amalgam fillings replaced a few years ago and nothing much improved. I started to get IV chelation to get the mercury out of my body and the side effects of the chelation were too much. I probably still have lots of mercury hidden away in my body and my brain – ugh.
Hi Rachel,
I’m finding it difficult to post here. The replies become VERY narrow, and the posting (and formatting) seems quite cumbersome. I could do a PM, but I don’t know your username.
Cort, I don’t know if my problems are with my computer, but it seems I have to constantly put in my username and email address, and the formatting and posting seems pretty limited.
Wayne, my e-mail address is rachelfolsom@mac.com. You can contact me that way. Thanks! I hope this is OK.
Hello Everyone,
I have compiled a LOT of research on cfs/fm. I would like to comment on a few posts above and give you access to my quotes. Have been emailing with Cort recently about metabolism.
I do not have cfs or FM, but my friend does. She 4 more conditions, which I wont go into. But key issues, as always, are ZERO exertion tolerance, slow recovery, non-restorative sleep and being cold in the day and hot at night.
I felt that something central must have brought these about in an otherwise healthy person. I have read approximately 3,500 of the most scientifically reliable articles/paper reviews/physiology theory over 4 months. I look for the big picture, determine it , then read about the mechanisms. I have put online screenshots of almost all of the article excerpts to make sure I dont lose them, which means that you are free to read them. Right now the images are just numbered links. But I am creating video tables of contents…. swiping left to each successive page. So then you wouldnt even need the images. Simply press pause. If anything personal is there from messenger threads (in the “comments” folders) Im not embarrassed, please just ignore it.
I will give you my comments in a second post since this is long already.
web.ncf.ca/eq449/
is where you will find the quotes only provisionally organized by folder, pretty much in order of discovery, but not yet by subject. Its a work in progress. A few pdfs are named…. and those are REALLY GOOD.
I am not medical. I am trying to help. I hope this in some way supplements Cort’s work. If you wish to read the articles, please do. But my conclusions are opinions and should be screened by your doctor.
Until its organized better, your best bet would be to look in (paraphrased):
“1. First wave” —folder, with named pdfs
and
“1. first wave videos” — folder
any of 1. 2. or 3. “comments” —folders,
“Causes” — folder and
“Treatment” — folder
To summarize this far….
Inflammation seems ubiquitous and constant. It drains nutrients and the body is always on high alert thanks to autoimmunity, which means the stress hormone cortisol is always raised. The stress vitamins (B) are liable to be deficient. In many cases the adrenal glands are on their last legs, or getting there, sacrificing other substance manufacture to make cortisol. If you are cold in the day, hot at night, dysregulated cortisol and the HPA axis may be to blame.
Therefore jobs 1 and 2 are to moderate inflammation (ashwgandha, certain mushrooms etc) and to nourish the adrenal glands.
Gut health/dysbiosis is being blamed for some of autoimmunity and now for worsening covid and long haul covid, so sealing a leaky gut and using probiotics correctly is recommended. But theres much much more.
sorry for the length.
If I could tell you nothing else I would at least want to share:
consider Dr Lam and Dr Amy Myers with regard to adrenal recovery. (Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome). Myers thinks her larger regimen will reduce cfs/fm to almost nothing. Maybe. Curcumin is a component of and should be more effective than whole turmeric. Be very careful about St John’s Wort. GABA and Glutamate are major competitors in the body, but especially in the brain for sedation vs excitation, respectively. So if DMSO gets GABA into the brain– thats amazing news.
One remark has been that cfs/fm women do better on ssri’s since those regulate neurotransmitters. I would argue that is because dopamine presence is increased. Wellbutrin is different because it recirculates norepiphrine and dopamine– NOT serotonin. I think inhibition of dopamine is both the reason for hypersensitivity and the reason why muscles fatigue quickly. Dopamine motivates muscles, not just your brain. Thats my belief.
Finally, I hadnt heard of NAC. N-acetyl-cysteine. But I just finished reading about cysteine in muscle metabolism. And since acetylcholine waits at the motor neurons to provoke flexing…. you can see where Im going with that. Thanks for mentioning it. ACh is made from acetate and choline, and choline is a vitamin, so that leaves……. Acetylcholine, if consumed, cant cross the BBB so then if its so important to cognition…how can we increase it????
Take care.