can we really influence gene expression?

[Veet]

Yes, we're just catastrophizing.

 

[Who Me?]

Yes, we're just catastrophizing.

Easy to do with our brains.

 

[Onslow]

Pretty much anything will change your gene expression. Simply doing exercise temporarily changes it. However the titles of those links in the first post sound like pretty bad quackery. Saying that you can cure your illness through changing your gene expression is a little dubious.

There is certainly a lot of evidence that the immune system influences cancer. Stress inhibits TNF-a, and TNF-a helps your body kill cancer cells, so it's certainly plausible that stress will cause cancer to spread.

 

[Remy]

I remember once reading about a very sick woman who wrote a book about looking out her window when she was so sick that she could do nothing else. It was some sort of hit, of course. And I remember thinking that not only was I supposed to be sick, but I was supposed to be writing deep insightful meaningful books about the minutiae outside my window! Not hardly.

I resisted a lot of this approach until it occurred to me one day that my strongest tool is my brain and I'd like it to be fighting for me instead of always against me. So I made a conscious decision to try some of these mindful approaches. Did it work? Not entirely, but I haven't given up hope. It's really hard for me to change patterns that I built for 40 years. But I don't feel responsible for that, like I haven't tried hard enough, or anything. I just think that it's like anything else - sometimes more and sometimes less successful.

I've had remissions over the years from milder illness though. I had more of the spontaneous type remission, without a lot of the supplements and stuff I try now in desperate attempts to keep hope alive. Once though was really tied to changing to a ketogenic diet though. So I do think it's possible that my brain knows the way out of this mess somehow and I think I have more faith in myself than the scientific establishment at this point. Though I'm happy to keep irons in all the fires...

 

[Onslow]

I resisted a lot of this approach until it occurred to me one day that my strongest tool is my brain and I'd like it to be fighting for me instead of always against me. So I made a conscious decision to try some of these mindful approaches. Did it work? Not entirely, but I haven't given up hope. It's really hard for me to change patterns that I built for 40 years. But I don't feel responsible for that, like I haven't tried hard enough, or anything. I just think that it's like anything else - sometimes more and sometimes less successful.

Yes, I certainly think this is the best way forward for patients. I would recommend cultivating "flow" experiences, as that appears to be one of the factors behind my own recovery, and that of other patients I have seen. Mindfulness is more suited to stress, but most CFS patients aren't under significant stress. The problem is low stress tolerance, so if you find ways of increasing your stress tolerance that will likely lead to recovery.