About this Blog

This blog is about my search for an effective treatment protocol for CFS/CFIDS/Lyme with some FM. I have reached the conclusion that this is a complex illness, not a simple infection, and that holistic or integrated protocols provide the best hope for long-term reversal and an eventual cure. While there may be some very difficult infections to solve with this illness, they seem to be interwoven with learned immune responses that also must be corrected before a return to health is possible. Here is a brief synopsis of how I reached that conclusion, and what I am trying to accomplish in my search for a holistic solution.

I first developed low-level fatigue symptoms in 1989. The decline to CFS began in 1996 after a severe bout of bronchitis. At the time I was living a very active professional life as a research scientist. The decline continued, with set-backs following every major stress event over the next four years. I became too fatigued to work, and spent some time at a spa, lots of time in the jacuzzi, which helped. After some research I suspected a mycoplasma infection, and was treated with Doxycycline. The spa and Doxy helped me improve enough that I could work again, for awhile. In 2000 I developed new and more serious complications after a cross-country trip. This included siezures and a decline that led to immune system collapse, when I changed from CFS to CFIDS. I worked for the first year with several medical doctors, including an internist, an endocrinologist, a neurologist, a nationally known immunologist (who has his own radio show), and an infectious disease specialist. They could make no diagnosis, after many thousands of dollars of testing there was no obvious explanation for my condition. I stopped the Doxy and tried several of the treatments they prescribed. Some of the drugs were marginally helpful, but most made me worse, and I had serious reactions to several of them.

The next year I did nothing except another round of Doxycycline, and Minocycline, and the disease remained relatively stable. Then, in 2002 I received a new diagnosis - leaky gut syndrome with Candida. I began learning self-treatment methods, including what is typically called 'alternative medicine.' I found treatments that were slightly helpful, and started using probiotics, but there were no dramatic improvements. In 2003 I received the Lyme Disease diagnosis, and began treatment with natural antimicrobials such as Cat's Claw (Sawmento) and Artmisinin. I tried Doxy again. But sill there was no dramatic improvement, that is, until I discovered the Salt/C treatment in early 2004, and added that to the self-treatments I was already using. At first I did not recognize the changes that were happening, and after a month I stopped the treatment. In the Fall of 2004 I made significant alterations to my life ambitions, and resolved some outstanding emotional issues. I plunged into a deep fatigued state, but felt that something was changing, something was starting to recover. A long-standing tension was lifting. I experienced the worst 'herxheimer' or 'healing crisis' of my life... from an emotional treatment! This opened my eyes a bit to the complex, holistic nature of this disease. It was as if some form of energy was being withheld from my immune system by the emotional dysfunctions, and was released for my body to use when I made the personal changes.

Then in November, I discovered an online discussion group forming to share information about the Salt/C protocol. Now that I was feeling more emotionally able to handle the challenge, I re-started the Salt/C treatment. At about the same time I made an amazing discovery about the use of heat around the neck to relieve stress. The combination of the emotional corrections, the heat, and other treatments I discovered, and the Salt/C finally started a turn-around in my health. This began my ernest search for a more complete healing, and I believed that holisitic treatments would make the difference, including treatments for the conditions that led to the diseased state.