Google Website Translator Gadget

donderdag 20 september 2012

ME is no more 'in the mind' than Multiple Sclerosis.

http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/09/me-no-more-in-the-mind-than-multiple-sclerosis.html

thank you sooooo much Sonia Poulton

19 September 2012 9:03 PM

ME is no more 'in the mind' than Multiple Sclerosis. When is the world going to get that?

Ever since I first wrote on the subject of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - or to afford it a more user-friendly title, ME - earlier this year for MailOnline, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2141230/All-mind-Why-critics-wrong-deny-existence-chronic-fatigue.html  I have been overwhelmed by the response from patients and their loved ones.
The over-riding message I have received has been one of gratitude. I can tell you that this is something of an unusual experience for a journalist writing for national newspapers.
These people have Facebook-ed and Tweeted me. I have received calls and e-mails. There have been forums addressing the article and pictures and cards received which outlined a sense of relief for millions of people.
Many of these voices – including some of the greatest scientific, legal and academic minds in the ME world – have echoed a collective sigh to see their illness validated in the media.
The very notion that the media, and the press in particular, can actually serve a positive purpose in society may come as a surprise. But sometimes it does. And my piece, according to the phenomenal response that greeted it, was just one of those times.
Here's why. For decades, people who have suffered the debilitating – and sometimes fatal – condition of ME have been forced into a type of denial.
They have been told that their illness doesn't really exist on the scale that they claim to experience it (due, in part, to it being labelled a 'chronic fatigue syndrome'. A highly controversial description because it creates an image of something substantially less than what ME actually is).
They have been told, repeatedly, to 'pull themselves together' and to 'G.E.T. A G.R.I.P.' (a vile acronym actually used to describe the graded exercise prescribed, wrongly, to ME patients).
In short, it is not enough for people to have to endure serious multi-system issues that can leave them bed-bound for months at a time, but they are also made to feel bad for, well, feeling bad.
What an injustice. 
...


For full article and comments see the website
http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/09/me-no-more-in-the-mind-than-multiple-sclerosis.html





woensdag 19 september 2012

Sinusitis

Er is misschien hoop voor de vele mensen met een chronische snotneus (sinusitis voor de geleerden onder ons). Uit recent onderzoek blijkt dat er een huidbacterie woekert in de neusholtes. Deze zou men niet hoeven te doden met antibiotica of ander zwaar geschut, nee nee een spray met probiotica (meer bepaald Lactobacillus sakei) zou volstaan om de bacterie de kop in te drukken.

Och was alles maar zo eenvoudig op te lossen ...

http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20120918_00300735
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/151/151ra124

donderdag 13 september 2012

The fall of the biopsychosocial model

While both CBT and GET are not often discussed directly in biopsychosocial terms, its alluded to frequently.
GET is of course the bio- part;
CBT (under a presumption of a psychosomatic illness) is the -psycho- part,
and denying patients support and benefits that will enable their illness is the -social part.

Source: http://forums.phoenixrising.me/entry.php?1347-The-Rise-and-Fall-of-the-Biopsychosocial-Model

woensdag 12 september 2012

One Link Established- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Autoimmune disease and Chronic Lyme Disease

http://www.envita.com/lyme-disease/finally-one-link-established-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-cfs-lupus-fibromyalgia-autoimmune-disease-chronic-lyme-disease

An Easy Explanation to Idiopathic (unknown Cause of Disease) – But is it the Right One? 

Idiopathic disease is defined as one that develops without any apparent or known causes.  That is the term used for fibromyalgia, autoimmune diseases, including Lupus and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. While many of these diseases have recognizable signs and symptoms, the lack of causality haunts medical schools, doctors, practices, and hospitals. The only one benefitting from the lifelong symptom treating associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, Autoimmune disease, or Fibromyalgia are the pharmaceutical companies who sell billions in medication to treat them. A long list of pain medications, sleep-aids, anti-depressants and anti-inflammatories is not sufficient because the diagnosis is incorrect. So let’s look at what the possible causes are to these diseases.

Here is the conventional Scientific Overview of What Causes (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) CFS and Fibromyalgia

Below, is a quick list of causes and we will give a clinical review and explanation as to what takes place.
  • Brain abnormalities
  • Genetic factors (HPA) axis
  • A hyper-reactive immune system
  • Viral or other infectious agents like (Chronic Lyme disease Complex)
  • Psychiatric or emotional conditions

Are Genetics to Blame? Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia have been linked with genes involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system. These genes regulate response to trauma, injury, and other stressful events. 10 years of Envita’s clinical experience shows that while such traumas could play a role in the etiology (the trigger to exhibiting symptoms) of the disease, they are not likely the causes of these conditions.

What is the HPA (Hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis)?  Does Lyme Disease Play a Role?

HPA makes up a multi-set of direct influences and feedback interactions among the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland (a pea-shaped structure located below the hypothalamus), and the adrenal, also called “suprarenal,” glands which are small, conical organs on top of the kidneys.
The interactions among these organs constitute the HPA axis, a major part of the neuroendocrine system that controls reactions to stress and regulates many body processes including digestion, the immune system, mood, emotions, sexuality, as well as energy storage and expenditure. Infectious disease, such as chronic Lyme Disease Complex, impacts the HPA-axis via neurotoxins that compete for the same receptor sites used by the HPA-axis. In fact, such infections can bring about identical symptoms of some idiopathic diseases listed above and many of the symptoms associated therewith. This should bring our attention to the Lyme Disease Complex, which is composed of a number of infections and neurotoxins that bring about even more symptoms than those listed earlier in this article.

Does HPA Affect Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Abnormal levels of certain chemicals regulated in the HPA axis area of the brain system, have been proposed as a cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and also have some influence in Fibromyalgia. This system controls important functions, including sleep, stress response, and depression. Of particular interest to researchers, are the chemicals and other factors listed below that are controlled by the HPA axis.
The HPA axis is involved in the neurobiology of mood disorders and functional illnesses, including anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, major depressive disorder, burnout, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and alcoholism. Antidepressants, which are routinely prescribed for many of these illnesses, serve to regulate HPA axis function. All of these conditions and their symptoms are commonly seen in Chronic Lyme disease patients that contain a host of infections and neurotoxins that block serotonin receptors in the brain.

How Can Chronic Lyme Disease Complex or Infectious Disease Affect HPA?

Patients may have contracted an infection at any point in their life-time; however, the symptoms of Chronic Lyme disease Complex or its co-infections may remain unseen or dormant until the individual is weakened by a trauma or trigger. This could be anything from child birth or a car accident to the death of a loved one, a divorce, or even a vaccine as seen among children with weakened immune systems.
In the etiology of chronic infectious disease, the traumatic event is a trigger but not the cause of autoimmune disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or Fibromyalgia. Nevertheless, treating these triggers is critically important to the new patient’s care. What we find is that infection and not genetic defects are at the root of HPA axis disruption in the brain itself.

The Major Impact of Epigenetic Changes

A number of studies have found that alterations in genes are caused by infections involving immune function, intercellular communication and energy transfer.
Researchers have identified many different genes in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that relate to blood disease, immune system function, and infection. However, despite these identifications, there is no clear pattern to them and it is quite possible that it is the infections alone that are altering these genes and are responsible for impacting mental and emotional health as well. It is very possible that the infections can alter these genes that impact mental and emotional health as well.

Important Neurotransmitters Changed by Neurotoxins Competing for Receptor Sites

Some patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome have abnormally high levels of serotonin – a neurotransmitter (chemical messenger in the brain), and also show deficiencies in dopamine – an important neurotransmitter associated with feelings of reward. In some cases there is also a demonstrable imbalance between norepinephrine and dopamine.
A number of studies on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome have shown patients with lower cortisol levels, a stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It has been suggested that such cortisol deficiencies are responsible for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients having impaired or weakened responses to psychological or physical stresses like worry, infection, or exercise. However, administering replacement cortisol improves symptoms only in some patients. Why? Infection and their toxins (neurotoxins) must be cleared before hormone replacement can begin to be effective in these patients. It is also common for these patients to have thyroid, testosterone and cortisol issues.

Idiopathic Diseases are at the Root of Many Psychological Disorders: Sleep disorders Explained

Evidence suggests that certain CFS, Fibromyalgia, and Autoimmune patients have disturbed circadian rhythms (disorder of the sleep-wake cycle), which is regulated by the so-called circadian clock, a nerve cluster in the HPA axis. These are commonly seen in Lyme Disease Complex along with a number of other neurological symptoms.
A mentally or physically stressful event, such as a viral infection, may disrupt natural circadian rhythms. An inability to reset these rhythms results in a perpetual cycle of sleep disturbances. Medications that improve sleep can be very helpful for certain patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Autoimmune diseases. But, until the infections are cleared and hormones are rebalanced, long-term improvement is unlikely.
Psychological, personality, and social factors are strongly associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Autoimmune disease like Lupus. There is a distinct complex relationship between physical and emotional factors.

What Specific Infections are Responsible

Because most of the features of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome resemble those of a lingering viral illness, many researchers have focused on the possibility that a virus or some other infectious agent, in some cases, causes the syndrome.
At Envita, we have clinically determined that these patients usually have a group of viral, bacterial, parasitic, and fungal infections that make up what we call Lyme Disease Complex. Some patients may or may not have actual Lyme disease but may have another type of tick-borne illness along with a host of co-infections that have brought about immunological, hormonal, and neuroendocrine changes.
Still, not all Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients show signs of infection. And although experts have long been divided on whether infections play any role in this disorder at all, it does seem clear that subtypes of both viral and non-viral Chronic Fatigue Syndrome exist. That being said, researchers have seemingly overlooked the complexity of mute-infections, multi-toxins, and heavy metal components that complicate these conditions making them extremely difficult to diagnose on a case to case basis. When a complex of infections exists, they can affect the activation and replication of each other via biofilm communities. To be certain, most patients are never tested thoroughly and correctly for all the infections that make up, chronic Lyme Disease Complex.

Infections, Looking More Like the Cause

The theory for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome having a viral cause is not based on hard evidence, rather, on an ever-growing series of observations that suggest this association:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as well as Fibromyalgia and Autoimmune disease patients are often found with elevated levels of antibodies to many organisms that cause fatigue and other Chronic Fatigue Syndrome symptoms. Such organisms include those that cause Lyme disease, Candida (“yeast infection”), herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6), human T cell lymph tropic virus (HTLV), Epstein-Barr, measles, coxsackie B, cytomegalovirus, or parvovirus.
Many of these infectious agents are very common; however, none have emerged as a definitive cause of CFS. Well-designed studies of patients who met strict criteria for CFS without any known cause have not found an increased incidence of any specific infection(s).
In up to 80% of cases, CFS starts suddenly with a flu-like condition. In the U.S., there have been reports of cluster outbreaks of CFS occurring within the same household, workplace, and community (but most have not been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). However, most cases of CFS occur sporadically in individuals, and do not appear to be contagious. These all have the pattern of infections and more importantly, complexes of infections taking over the patient’s immune system, which is clearly seen in the depressed CD57 markers found in almost all of this population.

Infection Complexes Leading to Immune System Abnormalities and Immuno-Compromised States

CFS is sometimes referred to as “Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome.” In many cases, studies have detected many immune system irregularities. Some components appear to be over-reactive, while others appear to be under-reactive, but no consistent picture has emerged to explain CFS as a disease of the immune system in conventional medical practices. Chronic Lyme Disease patients almost always have depressed CD57 marker called the striker panel and this is almost never run on chronic fatigue patients when they go to their doctor. Almost 100% of the time we find decreased key immune function in all CFS patients because we are running the correct diagnostics.

Environmental Toxins Impact Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia

Some studies have reported that a majority of CFS patients have allergies to foods, pollen, metals (such as nickel or mercury), or other substances. One theory is that allergens, like viral infections, may trigger a cascade of immune abnormalities leading to CFS. However, most allergic people do not have CFS. In our clinical setting, patients often have pesticide, heavy metal and chemical toxicity along with chronic infections which explains the abnormal and inconstant responses to allergies. Environmental toxins complicate these conditions and require targeted treatments to overcome them.

Autoimmunity Overlaps with other Conditions

The risk profile for CFS is similar to the risk profiles for a number of autoimmune diseases. Studies are inconsistent with regards to the presence of auto-antibodies (antibodies that attack the body’s own tissues) in CFS, so the disease is unlikely to be due to auto-immunity – making it more likely connected to infectious disease. In Lyme disease patients, we typically see that the patient was diagnosed at one time or another with several autoimmune diseases but almost certainly the previous physicians were confused.

Where Can You Find Help?

Envita Medical Centers has been leading the way in comprehensive, personalized patient care.  Contact us for more information. We will answer any health questions you may have.

http://www.envita.com/lyme-disease/finally-one-link-established-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-cfs-lupus-fibromyalgia-autoimmune-disease-chronic-lyme-disease

donderdag 6 september 2012

The Invitation by Oriah


It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.


It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.


I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.


I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.


It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.

If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.


I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.


I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”


It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.


It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.


It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.


I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.


By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation
published by HarperONE, San Francisco,
1999 All rights reserved

http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/

dinsdag 4 september 2012

Chronic diseases can stem from infectious agents

full paper
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291059/

zaterdag 1 september 2012

Potential Pathogens cause of Fibromyalgia



Fibromyalgia (FM) is a commonly misunderstood, sometimes misdiagnosed rheumatic disease. The main symptoms are achiness, pain (more in the muscles than in the joints), stiffness, fatigue, accompanied by headaches, depression, sleep disorders, Raynaud's and irritable bowel syndrome. The sites of pain are located in specific areas called tender or trigger points.

The painful tender points are located where the ligament attaches the muscle to the bone. There are 18 tender point locations. Sensitivity at 11 points defines a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. FM is not life threatening nor does it cause physical deformities. Many lab tests are within normal range. In fact, most patients look extremely well and fit, making it difficult to account for the degree of clinical suffering they are experiencing, yet 10-30% of fibromyalgia patients are disabled to some degree because of their disease symptoms.
It is 9 times more common among women than men, usually between the ages of 40 and 60, is more common in Caucasians than other races, and is the second or third most common disorder treated by rheumatologists.

Potential Pathogens
As is the case of most forms of "arthritis," no known cause has been established, but a number of possibilities are mentioned in the medical literature. Like many forms of arthritis, the cause of FM is probably not limited to one single factor.
1.      55% of patients identify a "flu-like" or viral type illness,
2.      33% physical trauma/injury and
3.      14% emotional stress as a precursor to the onset of symptoms. 

The connection of FM to infections is well documented in the literature, especially in relation to Lyme disease, mycoplasma, Chlamydia pneumoniae., Hepatitis C, Parvovirus B19, HIV, and Epstein-Barr.

Source: www.cpnhelp.org