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Eleanor Stein MD

Dr. Stein recovered from ME/CFS/FM and MCS using neuroplasticity, diet, photobiomodulation and other approaches.

Health Rising’s “What’s Up, Doc?” series asks ME/CFS/FM and long COVID experts about what’s exciting them in the field. The first “What’s Up Doc?” session was with Dysautonomia International founder Lauren Stiles.

Dr. Eleanor Stein MD is a chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) expert with a difference. About 30 years ago, she came down with ME/CFS/FM and multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS). As a doctor, she’s worked with over 1,000 ME/CFS, FM, and Environmental Illness patients over the past 20 years. (She is no longer practicing.)

Dr. Stein won the Florence Nightingale Award from the Edmonton ME Society and the John MacLennan Award of the Canadian Society for Environmental Medicine.

It took her over 25 years to do it, but she’s also a recovered person with ME/CFS. In the second of our “What’s Up Doc?” series exploring what’s exciting ME/CFS/FM and long-COVID doctors and researchers, I had to ask Dr. Stein first about her recovery.

Watch the interview and/or read the blog (which contains some extra stuff).

A Surprising Recovery

She also has an eye-opening recovery story. She did everything she could to get over MCS and ME/CFS. She flew all over the place, trying so many different treatments, including some really exotic ones, and nothing worked until – to her utter shock – something did.

Dr. Stein explained that she was a hardcore biomedical proponent who sniffed at anything mind/body oriented until she had a very, very ill and hypersensitive MCS patient who was able to move out of her tent and into an apartment after doing Annie Hopper’s Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS).

A Nurse With ME/CFS Finds Help in a Surprising Place: Christine’s DNRS Recovery Story

A week after Dr. Stein did the program, her chemical sensitivities were 80% better and are now gone completely.

That was Part I. Part II. – getting over chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) – was more difficult. It took several years, but using DNRS, and other practices she picked up from Norman Doidge’s book, and Dr. Michael Moskowitz, plus photobiomodulation (red light therapy), an autoimmune diet, pacing, focusing on her psychological well-being, etc., eventually came together, and at one point, it all came together and she was able to start exercising again without harm. She is still well and completely functional several years later.

(Anyone leery about the brain’s ability to retrain itself should check out Jan’s remarkable story, as told by Dr. Moskowitz in Norman Doidge’s 2015 book “The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity“.

Rewiring the Brain to Get Out of Pain: the Moskowitz Approach

The Autoimmune Diet

The Autoimmune Diet avoids substances that arouse the immune system like nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, legumes, and greens. It basically consists of meats, vegetables, and fruits (and she doesn’t recommend it for everyone). About a year and a half after she started, she noticed that her energy was up, she was able to do more in a day, she was not crashing and she was able to get out and about without a problem.

Neuroplasticity and a Gratitude Practice

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplastic techniques were “incredibly helpful” for Dr. Stein.

Dr. Stein said her neuroplasticity practice was “incredibly helpful”. Prior to that, she was focused on what she didn’t have and what she’d missed out on. Finding ways to elevate her mood – which is basically what all these programs do – is helpful physiologically. For instance, BDNF, which helps us form new neural circuits, does its best work when the mood is elevated.

Neuroplastic practices need to be done repeatedly…over and over again – so that the brain starts to “get them” and listen to them.

Recently, she’s done a lot of research on chronic stress. One upshot is that chronic stress is a function of how we perceive our situations. Referencing some people who are in really difficult situations but manage to remain upbeat, she said:

“That objective circumstance is not the determinant of whether I feel stress or not. It’s how I perceive it. Two people, could have the exact same circumstance, and one person could be absolutely miserable and continually focused on the have nots. That is, she said, a Buddhism a recipe for misery.”

Another person in objectively very similar circumstances could be like, you know what, life is good. I can do this, this, and this. I have a loving family looking after me, or I have this or that.

To anyone who is experiencing chronic stress (heart rate is up, sleeping poorly, feeling stressed and anxious, worried, angry, and frustrated, she suggested starting a gratitude practice. She recognized some people respond, “Are you kidding me?”, but for her it’s made a real difference.

Dr. Stein emphasized that these practices are not a cure! Instead, each of them worked on one of the many layers of health that were ultimately beneficial for her.

As is hormesis…

Hormesis

boost metabolism

Several of the hormetic practices boost the metabolism.

If Dr. Stein is anything, she is curious and she’s recently focused on something called hormesis. Hormesis is a process by which cells get stronger after being exposed to low levels of stress.

A key factor regarding hormetic stressors is that they are natural; i.e. for the most part, they are stressors our bodies have become evolutionarily adapted to.

Stressors involving reduced food intake, and extremes of heat and cold, for instance, call forth a healthy metabolic response that leaves us stronger. Proponents of hormesis assert that these stressors are so baked into our physiology that our bodies and cells need exposure to them to function optimally.

Exercise, when done correctly (in people who can do it), is a prime example of how a hormetic stressor works. Even though exercise strongly stresses the body – it causes our heart rate and breathing to increase dramatically, and can result in muscle damage – in a healthy person, the damage is quickly repaired, the muscles grow stronger, and glucose metabolism, bone formation, and more are improved.

(With regard to exercise and diseases like ME/CFS Dr. Stein assesses her heart rate and heart rate variability using a wearable tracker. Check out her presentation in May of this year on how to do that on her website as well as handouts on pacing, orthostatic intolerance, etc. The biggest mistake people make with exercise is pushing forward too fast. Once you establish what you can do safely with no increase in resting heart rate or decrease in heart rate variability then try to up the duration by 10%. Only after significantly increasing the duration do you attempt to increase the intensity. It’s all about baby steps.

Because hormetic stressors tax the body it is possible to overdo them. Hormetic stressors should be started and built up slowly, be done at levels that tax the system but do not overwhelm it, and should be done intermittently.

Of course, not all stressors are good. Being exposed to toxic chemicals, for instance, does not make you stronger: it just makes you sicker. Being exposed to white flour stresses your system but does not make it stronger.

Six Hormetic Stressors

Photobiomodulation 

Red light therapy

Red light therapy can perk up the mitochondria.

Dr. Stein reported that photobiomodulation using red and/or infrared light therapy was one of the things that aided her recovery and has helped her patients with pain, energy, sleep and mood. She started using it in 2010 and found that it slowly helped.

Specific light wavelengths that are absorbed by our mitochondria are needed: visible red light between 600 and 700 nm (630 & 660 nm are the most commonly studied) and invisible infrared light between 700 and 1000 nm (800 to 930 nm are most commonly studied). The wavelengths increase ATP levels by enhancing an enzyme found in the electron transport chain called cytochrome oxidase.

The increased ATP production comes at a cost: it causes free radicals (reactive oxygen species) levels to rise. (This is the hormesis part.) That, however, triggers the antioxidant response element, which strengthens our antioxidant system. Instead of taking antioxidants (which studies suggest are not helpful), the body’s internal antioxidant machinery is strengthened.

While Dr. Stein acknowledges that mitochondrial support can be helpful, she also notes that supplements and drugs like glucosamine and berberine, and the diabetes drug metformin that block mitochondrial production have a hormetic effect, as they result in the production of more mitochondria and are considered longevity factors.

I noted that many studies have found increased oxidative stress (free radicals) in ME/CFS. This could be happening because exhausted T-cells throw out lots of free radicals. (So do damaged mitochondria and cells that have not been cleared out by autophagy). Dr Stein noted that if the problem with T-cells is exhaustion, then maybe helping their mitochondria to function better would help reduce the oxidative stress.

Dr. Stein then suggested the low energy levels could be impairing sleep and interfering with the vital repair processes that occur during sleep. (She has found photobiomodulation (red/infrared light therapy) can help with sleep in ME/CFS, and uses red/infrared light therapy before going to sleep.

She suggests reading Ari Whitten’s Red Light Therapy book ($2.99 Kindle).

Intermittent Fasting (Metabolic Flexibility)

Because we evolved in times when food wasn’t always available, our bodies have developed metabolic flexibility: that is, we burn carbohydrates for immediate energy when food is available, and store energy in the form of fats which we use to power our bodies when food is not available.

Most of us, healthy or ill, are in poor metabolic health. We’re overweight, have some form of insulin resistance, have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high triglycerides – all of which increase our risk of things like diabetes, cancer, dementia and heart disease.

Intermittent fasting – fasting for 12 hours or more a day (14-16 hours is best), aiming for 4-5 times a week – helps protect from those things. During this period the body begins breaking down fats instead of sugars, repair bad cells, clearing out garbage from the brain, fat from the liver, etc.

Like all these practices, you start low and build up. Maybe you start at 10 hours of fasting (10 pm to 8 am) a day and then add half an hour at a time. The ideal is not to eat 3 hours before bedtime. It’s best to have a big protein, fat, and calorie meal earlier in the day.

Dr. Stein noted that the drug Rapamycin enhances all these hormetic (also known as longevity-enhancing) pathways. She believes the most reliable, cheapest and safest ways to improve them, though, is through natural means: intermittent light, heat and cold exposure, oxygen deprivation, fasting, etc.

(Dr. Courtney Craig has found intermittent fasting helpful for her ME/CFS.

Dr. Craig on Fasting For Better Health in Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

THE GIST

  • Dr. Eleanor Stein MD is an ME/CFS expert with a difference. About 30 years ago, she came down with ME/CFS/FM and multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS). As a doctor, she’s worked with over 1,000 ME/CFS, FM, and Environmental Illness patients over the past 20 years. (She is no longer practicing.)
  • It took her over 25 years to do it, but she’s also a recovered person with ME/CFS. In the second of our “What’s Up Doc?” series exploring what’s exciting ME/CFS/FM and long-COVID doctors and researchers, I had to ask Dr. Stein first about her recovery. (see the blog for the Zoom interview with Dr. Stein).
  • After a patient with very severe chemical sensitivities improved dramatically using Annie Hopper’s Dyn      , she tried it. Within a week her chemical sensitivities were down by 80% and are no longer a problem. Her road to ME/CFS recovery was much longer. Pacing, an autoimmune diet (no dairy, eggs, legumes, grains, nuts or seeds), photobiomodulation (red/infrared light therapy), sauna, and years doing neuroplasticity work all came together at some point and she quickly regained her health. That was several years ago and she remains in good health today.
  • Her research into chronic stress has indicated that how much stress we feel is a function not of our situations but how we perceive them. She’s found gratitude practices particularly helpful for her.
  • She’s recently been focused on something called hormesis. Hormesis is a process by which cells get stronger after being exposed to low levels of stress. A key factor regarding hormetic stressors is that they are natural; i.e. for the most part, they are stressors such as occasional lack of food, extremes of heat, and cold that our bodies are evolutionarily adapted to and may even require for optimum health.
  • Because hormetic stressors tax the body it is possible to overdo them. Hormetic stressors should be started and built up slowly, be done at levels that tax the system but do not overwhelm it, and should be done intermittently.
  • Photobiomodulation – Dr. Stein first talked about photobiomodulation which uses red/infrared light to increase mitochondrial production. This practice employs specific wavelengths of light (visible red light between 600 and 700 nm (630 & 660 nm are the most commonly studied) and invisible infrared light between 700 and 1000 nm (800 to 930 nm are most commonly studied) that increase ATP levels.
  • The increased ATP production comes at a cost: it causes free radicals (reactive oxygen species) levels to rise. (This is the hormesis part.) That, however, triggers the antioxidant response element, which strengthens our antioxidant systems. Dr. Stein has found that red/infrared light therapy has helped her patients with energy, sleep and pain. (She uses it before bed.) She suggested reading Ari Whitten’s Red Light Therapy book ($2.99 Kindle).
  • Intermittent fasting (going 12 or more hours without eating) causes our cells to start breaking down fats instead of sugars, and the body to repair bad cells, clear out garbage from the brain, fat from the liver, etc. One key to intermittent fasting is start slow – add 30 minutes of fast time to your usual schedule and work up from there. Fourteen to 16 hours is best but going 12 hours without food a couple of times a week helps. Try to not eat 3 hours before going to bed.
  • Heat Exposure – Saunas increase metabolism, detoxify the body, produce feel-good endorphins, and help with heat intolerance. Ten minutes of sweating time is best but, of course, be sure to slowly build up. Fluid load with electrolytes a half an hour before the sauna, and then during it as well.
  • Cold Exposure – Cold exposure increases one’s metabolism, tells the cells to build more mitochondria, and increases their ATP production. It can be done in the bath, shower, or outside by wearing less clothing. Extreme cold exposure only needs to be done for a few minutes.
  • Breathing – temporarily reducing oxygen levels using breathwork can make the body increase oxygen saturation and increase CO2 levels. (Some people with ME/CFS/FM and long COVID hyperventilate thereby reducing CO2 levels).
  • Hormetic Foods – Different colors of vegetables and fruits contain different phytonutrients that slightly stress our cells and cause our antioxidant systems to rev up. Because studies have not found that taking antioxidants is beneficial – Dr. Stein suggests eating different colored fruits and vegetables to naturally boost our antioxidant systems. She tries to eat an unusual food every week.
  • Conclusion -In Dr. Stein’s experience red light/infrared therapy and sauna can be helpful with illnesses like ME/CFS/FM and long COVID. While a lot of research has been done on the other practices (heat, cold, breathing, intermittent fasting, foods), she doesn’t know how much people with these diseases benefit from them.
  • Hormetic stressors don’t appear likely to cure your ME/CFS/FM or long COVID, but they are not “woo-woo” ideas, either. As Dr. Stein said, most have been well-studied and have a solid grounding in the scientific literature.
  • Dr. Stein’s website has many free resources, a once-a-month newsletter, and a new subscription membership course called Live! with Dr. Stein that features Dr. Stein interacting with a variety of experts. Past course offerings have included treating Lyme Disease, chronic inflammation, Recovery with Raelen Aegle, managing orthostatic intolerance (Peter Rowe), chronic disease and aging, and more. Future sessions include improving sleep, craniocervical issues, healing environmental sensitivities and using hydrogen-rich water. A low-income option is available.
  • Get Dr. Stein’s handout on hormesis by going here. / Check out Dr. Stein’s Healing Through Neuroplasticity Course 
  • Coming up on Health Rising – blogs on photobiomodulation, cold and heat stress, and breathing
    Health Rising is not affiliated with or receive funding from Dr. Stein or her courses.

Heat Exposure

Sauna

A sauna can boost feel-good chemicals called endorphins, the metabolism, increase oxygen utilization, and help with heat intolerance.

Sauna is another hormetic practice that stresses and rejuvenates. Infrared saunas are all the rage now, but Dr. Stein believes the key is getting you to sweat – and traditional rock/steam saunas do that very well. In her experience (and mine), it’s when you’re sweating that the endorphins – those feel-good chemicals – start to show up.

She noted that Susanna Soberg Ph.D. (in metabolism :)), who is a world expert on heat and cold exposure, has found that sauna 4 to 7 times a week – each time with 10 minutes of active sweating – is best (presumably for healthy people). Obviously, people with ME/CFS/FM/long COVID would want to start lower. Dr. Stein says a couple of times a week works for her.

The sweating response is similar to what happens during exercise: your heart speeds up and your blood pressure goes up. It’s also a great detoxifier and can help with heat intolerance. If you can’t exercise, sauna might be an option. If you do sauna, be sure to fluid load with electrolytes a half an hour before the sauna, and then during it as well.

Decades ago, I did the sauna program at Dr. Rea’s in Dallas. I couldn’t handle the exercise portion (bicycling), but I did the sauna program and really pushed it. It was miserable throughout the couple of weeks I was there, but a couple of days later driving home, suddenly I felt better than I had in years.

I found saunas difficult to tolerate at times but they also produced some real highs as well.

Cold Exposure

ice bath

You don’t have to dunk yourself in an ice bath to get benefits

Being exposed to cold temperatures is another hormetic practice that can be helpful. (There’s been quite a bit of interest in cryotherapy in fibromyalgia – a blog is coming up on that.) The benefits of cold exposure are similar to those of heat exposure. Cold exposure tells your body to up its metabolism, build more mitochondria and increase their output.

Instead of completely bundling up, Dr. Stein is going out into the cold Canadian climate without as many layers. However you do it – a cold shower or bath or exposure to the elements – the key is to activate the shivering response.

Brief exposures to the cold – a couple of minutes – are enough. They also provide a good opportunity to train your breathing and train yourself to create calmness even in adverse circumstances.

Breathing

Studies suggest that some of us are hyperventilating – probably in an attempt to get more oxygen to our cells and increase our energy levels. David Systrom’s invasive exercise studies indicate that many people with ME/CFS or long COVID are having trouble getting oxygen to their tissues during exercise.

He’s also finding that some people have hypocapnia – low carbon dioxide levels. When that happens, though, we breathe out too much carbon dioxide, leaving our body more alkaline which then makes it more difficult for the oxygen to leave the hemoglobin and move into our cells.

That increases the air hunger causing us to hyperventilate more, and on and on. Holding your breath – reducing your oxygen levels – can increase your carbon dioxide levels. Deep breathing is not where it’s at, though. The best and most efficient breathing is done quietly and shallowly.

Dr. Stein is not an expert on breathing, but she recommended Patrick Mchugh and Ari Whitten’s breathing module to optimize breathing. David Putrino’s MEO course for people with long COVID also focuses on breathing.

Hormetic Foods

vegetables

Eating a variety of colored vegetables and fruits helps.

While vegetables and fruits contain lots of nutrients, they also contain phytonutrients that are just a little bit toxic and produce some hormetic stress. Different colors of vegetables and fruits contain different phytonutrients, so it’s a good idea take in a range of them. Because these phytonutrients trigger our antioxidant systems to rev up – and because studies have not borne out that taking antioxidants works – Dr. Stein suggests eating a wide variety of different colored fruits and vegetables to naturally boost your antioxidant system. When she goes shopping, she tries to buy one food she usually doesn’t eat.

Conclusion

I asked Dr. Stein how effective these practices might be for someone with ME/CFS, FM and/or long COVID. Based on her experience with patients over the past 25 years (she’s no longer practicing), red light/infrared therapy and sauna can be helpful.

A lot of research has been done on the other practices (heat, cold, breathing, intermittent fasting, foods), but she doesn’t know how much people with these diseases benefit from them.

Hormetic stressors don’t appear likely to cure your ME/CFS/FM or long COVID, but they are not “woo-woo” ideas, either. As Dr. Stein said, most have been well-studied and have a solid grounding in the scientific literature.

Dr. Stein’s website has many free resources, a once-a-month newsletter, and a new subscription membership course called Live! with Dr. Stein that features Dr. Stein interacting with a variety of experts. Past course offerings have included treating Lyme Disease, chronic inflammation, Recovery with Raelen Aegle, managing orthostatic intolerance (Peter Rowe), chronic disease and aging, and more. Future sessions include improving sleep, craniocervical issues, healing environmental sensitivities and using hydrogen-rich water. A low-income option is available.

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