Very Severely Ill "ME/CFS" Patient Gets a New Diagnosis, New Treatment Approach & Major Improvement

Diagnosis

Other diagnoses: Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) - a biotoxin illness

Disease Course Over Time: Prior to becoming ill James worked as a fitness trainer and model to put himself through medical school. After collapsing at work one day his health steadily declined Despite seeing dozens of doctors and having many tests, Jame deteriorated to the point where he was bedbound, could not tolerate light or visual stimulation, and could at best only whisper. At the age of 43, his formerly brown hair started turning gray and white, and he dropped from a fit 220lbs to 149lbs. His mother's living room became a makeshift hospital.

Symptoms: Massive digestive issues, food and chemical sensitivities, fatigue, weakness, aches, muscle cramps, joint pain, unusual pain, ice pick pain, headache, red eyes, blurred vision, tearing, sinus problems, cough, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, diarrhea, morning stiffness, memory, focus, concentration, word-finding issues and confusion, disorientation, skin sensitivity, mood swings, sweats (esp. night sweats), temperature regulation problems, excessive thirst, static shocks, numbness and tingling, vertigo, metallic taste, and tremors.

Positive Test Results: GENIE (Genomic Expression: Inflammation Explained) test while under Dr. Heyman's care, resulted in a diagnosis of biotoxin illness known as CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) Stage II. CIRS is a multisystem and multi-symptom neuro-endocrine-metabolic-immune disease process. The test also revealed severe molecular hypometabolism, high rates of apoptosis (cell suicide), a hypercoagulable state that was likely causing nerve damage, and increased expression of the Ikaros gene.

Treatments That Made A Big Difference: Dr. Heyman's CIRS treatment plan followed Ritchie Shoemaker's 12-step protocol plus additions. Check out James treatment plan on his recovery story published on Health Rising -https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2022/06/15/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-recovery-heyman-cirs/

Present State of Health

Words of Advice: I feel at times people feel validated or comfortable in their diagnosis. However, if you’re dealing with a chronic illness, and not getting any better with your current treatment, you need to really challenge things. I did and I’m winning.

One should be mindful and really ask yourself – am I on the right path? Is there possibly something else going on with my health and other avenues that I have not searched out? It’s easy to maintain a myopic view or even be conditioned by medical labels and diagnoses these days.

I needed a totally new approach to my health. Thankfully, I found it and that made all the difference.

Suggested Resources: Read James Recovery Story on Health Rising - Up from the Ashes: James’s Severe ME/CFS Recovery/Recovering Story - https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2022/06/15/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-recovery-heyman-cirs/

If you’d like to communicate with James please provide your email address in the contact form for Health Rising and I will pass it on.

Find out more about Dr. Shoemaker’s approach including finding physicians using his techniques here - https://www.survivingmold.com/

Dr. Heyman’s website - https://www.vc4hw.com/staff/dr-andrew-heyman.html