Mystery malady

IMAGINE waking up every morning feeling like you have a hangover combined with the flu, and even the smallest amount of activity leaves you exhausted.

That's what life is like for almost a quarter of a million Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) sufferers in the UK. Also known as Myalgic Encephalitis (ME), this mysterious illness has only recently finally been officially recognised by the Department for Health.

So what is CFS?

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a devastating and debilitating potentially chronic illness that is characterised by profound exhaustion, muscle pain and cognitive problems such as memory and concentration loss. Other symptoms that are common include sensitivity to light, noise and smell; disturbed sleep patterns and persistent headaches.

These symptoms fluctuate from day to day.

What are the warning signs?

Fatigue is the principal symptom. It is severe, disabling and affects physical and mental functioning. Other typical symptoms include muscle pain and aching on minimal exercise, as well as mood and sleep disturbance.

If any of this rings true for you then you should see your GP, as it is important to have other disorders ruled out such as abnormal thyroid function and depression amongst others.

Symptoms need to have been present for a prolonged period of time for a true diagnosis to be made.

If your GP makes the diagnosis what should you do?

Finding the best balance between rest and activity is essential, remembering that most people do improve over time to a significant degree.

Rest from mental activity and emotional stress is also very important, particularly in the early stages of the illness, however it is possible to rest too much as your muscles may become de-conditioned.

"Pacing" means alternating activity with rest, also alternating different activities e.g. mental work with physical tasks, stopping each before you become exhausted.

You may find it helpful to keep a diary, and a good healthy diet is particularly important.

Conventional doctors will often recommend one of three treatments. These are antidepressants, Graded Exercise and /or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Is there an alternative?

At the Winchester-based Dove Clinic for Integrated Medicine a novel approach is taken, offering both conventional and complementary medicine for the treatment of CFS as well as other chronic illness.

Patients are offered an individually tailored regime of treatment based on measurements done in the clinic such as electrodermal testing which relies on making tiny electrical measurements over acupuncture points.

We also use Dark Field Microscopy which is a relatively new technique for looking at blood magnified 10,000 times in the living state..

From these pictures we can deduce a number of recommendations for the ongoing care of the patient.

Finally we have access to a range of laboratory blood tests to assess immune function, chronic viral load and vitamin and mineral status.

We believe the reason why chronic fatigue occurs in the first place relates to a failure of the immune system in some way. Our aim is to normalise immune function

Treatment usually includes dietary advice, nutritional supplements, homoeopathic remedies and herbal preparations, as well as conventional approaches.

We work out a diet specific to each patient; commonly it involves eliminating fat, sugar, additives, and animal protein and the increased consumption of high fibre foods and the use of organic produce.

We also use activated Oxygen (Ozone, O3), intravenously using a technique known as autohaemotherapy.

This is commonly used in Germany, using EU approved equipment.

There is a large body of research literature on ozone showing that it stimulates immune function.

For more information please contact Dr Tracey Covell at tracey@doveclinic.co.uk

Telephone: 01962 718000.