Dr. Wayne Anderson has been puzzling over and treating chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) for over 30 years. A couple of years ago he took a refreshingly honest look back at what he’s learned in an article "
The New Era of the Virus: A Personal Learning Curve of the Etiology of CFS/ME". ME/CFS is too often treated by practitioners in online articles as a relatively easy to treat illness. That's clearly not so and Anderson's many different (and often failed) attempts to use emerging treatments over time reflects that.
In the article Anderson traced many of the treatments (fads?) the alternative medicine movement has focused on with regard to this disease.
Epstein-Barr Virus
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View attachment 619 [/fright]ME/CFS first showed up for Dr. Anderson, as it did for many practitioners in the 1980s as a chronic Epstein-Barr virus infection. With the treatment remedies available unable to significantly impact the infection, Dr. Anderson reported that the attention shifted to yeast (Candida) and the gut. (Anti-candida treatments may have been the first (unsuccessful) treatments I received for my ME/CFS).
The rise of functional medicine in the 1990’s brought a focus on issues like gluten intolerance, food allergies, heavy metals and hormones. They certainly helped some people but when they weren't the answer, the emphasis shifted, particularly in some parts of the country, to Lyme disease. At one point, Anderson noted, he believed
everyone with chronic fatigue syndrome probably had a tick borne illness but antibiotics only worked for a few. Ultimately for the non-Lyme patients, Anderson returned back to the viruses, particularly noting strangely high Epstein-Barr virus titers (high early antigens (> 1:640)) he found in many of his patients.
Antiviral Drugs
This time, however, he had a new tool - alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase or nagalase - an enzyme produced by viruses that is able to halt macrophage functioning in its tracks. Dr. Anderson reported that he’s found high nagalase levels virtually every ME/CFS patient he believes has viral issues. Every time he’s successfully treated one of those patients their Nagalase levels have dropped as well.
Anderson’s return to a viral conception of difficult to treat ME/CFS patients coincided with new hypotheses suggesting how Epstein-Barr virus causes chronic illnesses. Queensland researcher Dr. Michael
Pender has posited two factors are necessary - both of which may be present in ME/CFS: pour cytotoxic T and NK cell functioning. Yale researcher Dr. David Dreyfuss believes EBV infected B cells are driving autoimmunity.
Both Pender and Anderson, however, have had marginal success with anti-herpes virus drugs. Anderson reported that they can reduce symptoms, but believes they could take decades to eliminate the virus hiding in the B cells. Anderson does not state how long his treatment protocols were but does acknowledge they may not have been long enough. (Dr. Lerner has had success with very long treatment protocols. Other doctors such as Dr. Dantini have reported success using anti-herpes drugs. Still, it’s not that difficult to find ME/CFS patients who have not responded or who have only responded moderately to these drugs.)
XMRV brought up the possibility of using retroviral drugs. Dreyfus’ belief that an endogenous retrovirus may be triggering an autoimmune reaction suggested that antiretroviral drugs that targeted both retroviruses and herpesviruses could be helpful, and indeed in some patients some miraculous recoveries were reported. (I know of one person who did better on antiretroviral drugs than anything else she’s tried, but the side effects in the end proved to be too much.) The side effects, expense, and otherwise not particularly significant effects most kept these drugs for the most part off limits.
Antiviral Herbs
In the end, Anderson reported that aside from antiviral drugs (that were helpful only for a few patients) he found little in the pharmaceutical drug world to help his ME/CFS patients. Instead Anderson reported much better success with herbal extracts developed by Byron White. White has developed many extracts he asserts that “energetically” neutralize specific viruses and other pathogens. He uses Chinese concepts of energy meridians to help explain how the energetic process works.
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View attachment 620 [/fleft]Anderson lauds White on the front page of Anderson’s website stating that he has found them “indispensable” for treating Lyme disease and other neurodegenerative disorders and that he’s used them in thousands of patients. He predicted they will quickly “become an essential therapeutic tool in the treatment of Chronic Lyme disease and
the other chronic fatigue-like illnesses”.
Anderson reported that he finds the A-V combination very beneficial for ME/CFS patients with viral issues particularly those with central nervous system symptoms such as brain fog, cognitive problems, headache and dizziness. An immune adaptogenic formula he finds A-V both “provoking and regenerative”.
Could herbal extracts be more powerful than antiviral drugs? Anderson’s report is intriguing because he has tried both and has clearly had more success with herbal treatments. A recent study Health Rising reported on suggested that antiviral treatments could be as effective as antibiotics in treating irritable bowel syndrome.
The catch with White’s formulas is that they are only provided to physicians; i.e. you have to see a physician who is using them to get access to them. (Check out
White’s website here. The website has the kind of dated and amateurish presentation that does not help its credibility.)
Anderson loves the Byron White extracts but even they don't necessarily provide a straightforward treatment path. There is no cookie-cutter approach with these extracts. There is no set dose and the dosing schedules vary depending on an individuals response. Furthermore, Anderson states that as many as 85% of his patients with unresolved infections and neurotoxic problems have other conditions that have developed over time. Often some sort of catastrophic event throws their immune system into further disarray. These are, in the end, complex diseases.
Hormones
In a 2014 interview focusing mostly on Lyme disease but which is clearly relevant to ME/CFS Anderson talked about another important facet in functional medicine – bio identical hormones. Bio-identical hormones form the backbone of many functional practitioner’s treatment protocols. Anderson believes that people with adequate hormonal levels can deal with the chronic inflammation brought on by infections. Knock those hormonal levels down, though, and they’ll have significant problems. Women entering menopause, in particular, can experience debilitating symptoms.
Anderson often finds evidence of hormone dysregulation in chronic fatigue syndrome, but unless their hormonal levels are significantly out of range, does not begin hormone replacement early. (Other practitioners will prescribe hormones based on symptoms.) As with the viral issues he’s found that bio- identical hormones don’t always work in some patients with clear hormonal problems. Even when improvement is made it’s usually followed over time by a return to baseline. Anderson’s general thesis is that an underlying infection is probably present in patients who respond poorly or unusually to a generally effective therapy.
Anderson practices at the Gordon Medical Center in Santa Rosa, Ca.
