Chronic Fatigue Syndrome VS. Fibromyalgia

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome VS. Fibromyalgia

Some of the immune disorders associated with CFS are:

• elevated levels of antibodies to various viruses.

• altered helper/suppressor T-cell ratio.

• decreased NK cells or activity.

• decreased levels of circulating immune complexes.

• low or elevated antibody levels.

• increased cytokine levels.

• increased or decreased interferon levels.

• fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivities.5

Chronic Viral Infections and CFS

Individuals who we suspect have chronic fatigue syndrome will have an Epstein Barr Virus EBV and or Cytomegalovirus CMV blood panels drawn. This is to see if there is a virus lingering in the body that is weakening the immune system. These blood tests measure the antibodies immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG). A test for IgM antibodies measures the acute (recent infection) phase of the virus. A test for IgG antibodies measures the dormant (inactive) phase of the virus. Our tests also measure Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen (EBNA) antibodies.

►  You don’t have to have a blood test to diagnose CFS. If you’re patient has chronic fatigue (hard to get out of bed each day), achy diffuse pain, and a lowered immune function (chronic infections,) then they either have CFS or they are at high risk of developing the illness.

Due to weakened immunity, individuals with chronic fatigue have terrible problems with energy as well as reoccurring bouts with the flu, colds, sinusitis, and other immune problems.

 As with so many complex chronic illnesses, CFS may be aggravated by a wide variety of environmental and physiological challenges. Food allergies, environmental sensitivities, heavy metal toxicity, yeast overgrowth, intestinal dysbiosis, parasites, and vitamin/mineral deficiencies can all contribute to CFS.

The syndrome’s principal causes are a weakened immune system and a reactivated virus.

All of us have been exposed to mono or the Epstein-Barr virus at one time or another (usually as teenagers), but our bodies are usually strong enough to overcome it. Individuals with CFS have been exposed to the Epstein-Barr virus or mono from some other source, and it has now returned. Its return has either caused the immune system to be compromised or has taken advantage of already compromised immune system.

How to quickly distinguish between FMS and CFS patients.

►  A quick way to distinguish between the two syndrome. 

A positive EBV panel showing elevated antibodies, especially IgM is clear indicator that someone has CFS.

ŸThe CFS patient usually has chronic infections (sinusitis, upper respiratory, UTI’s, colds, flu, etc.) and is sick several times a year. They get at least 2 or more (bad) infections a year. They will usually have chronic or intermittent sore throats, swollen lymph nodes, and periodic fevers. They usually ache all over. 

FMS patients may ache all over as well but usually have specific areas (neck, low back, etc.) that are the most troublesome. 

ŸCFS patients may not have a low serotonin state (“S” on Brain Function Questionnaire, see my book) and will have no problems falling and staying asleep each night.

ŸNote-some of these individuals have a low body temperature (suggestive of low thyroid). They may have a fever when their temperature is at or below 98.6.

Many of these individuals will have a sluggish liver (higher incidence than those with FMS). Clues that would lead you to suspect someone has a sluggish liver include, funny or negative reactions to medications (take something to put them to sleep and it wakes them up or a little goes a long ways), intolerance to caffeine, alcohol, or odors (longer they’ve had illness more sensitive they become to odors, perfumes, gasoline, smoke, cleaners, etc.), and a history of elevated liver enzymes on past blood work. Of course anyone with hepatitis or fatty liver has a sluggish liver. Long term prescription medication therapies can also create a sluggish liver.

True chronic fatigue syndrome patients are a real challenge. Their biochemistry is usually totally shot by the time they get to the right doctor. They can feel better but it requires hard work and requires a lot of patience by the doctor and the patient. 

Fibromyalgia patients aren't easy either but FMS patients respond rather quickly to restoring serotonin levels. Once FMS patients start going into deep restorative sleep, they usually feel better in a matter of days. 

Recommended Disease Allowance

  

RDA Is 50 Years Out Of Date - Could This Be Why America Is So Unhealthy?

The Recommended Daily Allowance is some fifty years out of date.

Many so-called experts will tell you not to worry about taking vitamins if you are eating a balanced diet. Unfortunately, dieting alone can’t provide enough essential vitamins and minerals to promote optimal health.

For instance, you would need to consume 5,000 calories per day (mostly fat) in order to get the recommend minimum (400 IU) of vitamin E, and 12,000 calories per day to get the minimum amount of chromium. Most of our foods are now processed and, therefore, the nutrients have been leeched out of them.  Could this be why pre-senile dementia  and Alzheimer’s is on the rise?

Taking the minimum amount of a nutrient to prevent gross deficiency diseases doesn’t help those people who want to be truly healthy and not just be free of symptoms. 

Almost as unacceptable as not recommending vitamin and mineral supplements is the recommendation of them based on the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA).  The RDA is the measured amount or dosage of nutrient per vitamin and minerals recommend. The RDA or as it is sometimes called the Recommended Disease Allowance, may keep us from getting Scurvy, but it certainly won’t stand- up to the many chronic diseases that continue to plague modern man.

The RDA is inadequate if the goal is for prevention and or treatment of heart disease, cancer, cataracts, depression, senility, diabetes, arthritis and other age related disorders. For optimal health and wellbeing, many health practitioners are recommending many times higher than the RDA on certain nutrients. It’s no secret, for the majority of the U.S. population the diet is poorly lacking in essential nutrients. 

Additionally, nearly all Americans are deficient even in the minimal RDA requirements, and are therefore exposed to premature death.

Take a look at how just one vitamin/mineral deficiency can lead to poor health-

Vitamin D to the Rescue!

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Vitamin D is one of the oldest hormones, having been produced by life forms for over 750 million years. Phytoplankton, zooplankton, and most plants and animals that are exposed to sunlight have the capacity to make vitamin D. In humans, vitamin D is critically important for the development, growth, and maintenance of a healthy body, from birth until death.

The Institute of Medicine brought experts together recently to explore the question of whether the RDA or recommended daily allowance, of vitamin D has been set too low. The impetus for the occasion was the mounting evidence for this vitamin's role in preventing common cancers, autoimmune diseases, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, chronic pain, and osteoporosis.

Studies show that vitamin D deficiency is common in the U.S.

According to Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, of the Boston University School of Medicine
the typical symptoms are aching bones and muscle discomfort, vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Vitamin D has also been implicated in the cause of various other health disorders including influenza, psoriasis, gout, otosclerosis, interstitial cystitis, decreased pulmonary function, thrombosis, chronic kidney disease, pancreatitis, rheumatology, hepatitis B infections, hemochromatosis, and gastrointestinal diseases.

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Research at a Glance
Autoimmune Illnesses
Autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, Reiter’s Syndrome. lupus, asthma, and ulcerative colitis. Researchers are discovering an increasing number of links between the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. Hormones of the endocrine system, such as vitamin D, help the immune and nervous systems defend the body, with defects in this intricate system leading to autoimmune disorders.

Autism
Research has shown that low maternal vitamin D3 has important ramifications for the developing brain. Vitamin D is a steroid hormone with many important functions in the brain, mediated through the nuclear vitamin D receptor (VDR). Dysfunctional VDR demonstrate altered emotional behavior and specific motor deficits.

Cancer
Vitamin D inhibits inappropriate cell division and metastasis, reduces blood vessel formation around tumors, and regulates proteins that affect tumor growth. It also enhances anti-cancer actions of immune system chemicals and chemotherapy drugs.
A four-year study of 1,179 healthy, postmenopausal women showed that taking calcium, along with nearly three times the U.S. government's recommendation of vitamin D3, showed a dramatic 60 percent or greater reduction in all forms of cancer.

It’s estimated that if vitamin D levels were increased worldwide, a minimum of 600,000 cases of breast and other cancers could be prevented each year. Nearly 150,000 cases of cancer could be prevented in the United States alone.

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  Studies show that by taking vitamin D (about 2,000 IU/day) females can cut breast cancer incidence by half!

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Chronic Pain
In a study involving 150 children and adults with unexplained muscle and bone pain, almost all were found to be vitamin D deficient; many were severely deficient with extremely low levels of vitamin D in their bodies.
Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and pain in children and adults. Muscle pain and weakness was a prominent symptom of vitamin D deficiency in a study of Arab and Danish Moslem women living in Denmark (20).

In a cross-sectional study of 150 consecutive patients referred to a clinic in Minnesota for the evaluation of persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain, 93% had serum 25(OH)D levels indicative of vitamin D deficiency.

Osteoporosis
Maintenance of serum calcium levels within a narrow range is vital for normal functioning of the nervous system, as well as for bone growth, and maintenance of bone density. Vitamin D is essential for the efficient utilization of calcium by the body.
A recent study found that supplementation of elderly women with 800 IU/day of vitamin D and 1,200 mg/day of calcium for three months increased muscle strength and decreased the risk of falling by almost 50% compared to supplementation with calcium alone.

Mental Function and Moods
Recent research indicates vitamin D deficiency is associated with low mood and cognitive impairment in the elderly. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in various psychiatric disorders including anxiety and depression.

Diabetes
Vitamin D helps maintain adequate insulin levels. Preliminary evidence suggests supplementation can increase insulin levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Prolonged supplementation may help reduce blood sugar levels.

Immune Function
There is considerable scientific evidence that 1,25(OH)2D has a variety of positive effects on boosting the immune system.
Additionally, there is growing evidence that maintaining vitamin D levels in the body during the winter prevent the flu and other viral infections by strengthening the immune system.

Heart Disease
Activated vitamin D has been shown to increase survival in patients with cardiovascular disease.
Hyperparathyroidism
Low plasma vitamin D3 has been found to be a major risk factor for hyperparathyroidism.

High Blood Pressure
Clinical and experimental data support the view that vitamin D metabolism is involved in blood pressure regulation and other metabolic processes.

Melanoma
An inability to tan is the number one risk factor for melanoma. Those who tan easily or who have darker skin are far less likely to develop the disease. A new theory is that melanoma is actually caused by sunlight (vitamin D) deficiency and that safe sun exposure actually helps prevent the deadly disease.

Multiple Sclerosis
Vitamin D supplementation may help prevent the development of MS as well as provide for additional treatment.

Osteoarthritis
Low intake and low serum levels of vitamin D appear to be associated with an increased risk for progression of osteoarthritis.

Osteoporosis
Vitamin D deficiency is extremely prevalent in the elderly. Most often the first symptoms are muscle pain, fatigue, muscular weakness, and gait disturbances. More severe deficiency causes osteomalacia (bone weakening and loss) with deep bone pain, reduced mineralization of bone matrix, and bone fractures.


How much vitamin D does the average person need?

In the summer, those with at least 15 minutes of sun exposure on their skin most days should take around 1,000 mg of vitamin D3 each day. In the winter, those with dark skin, or those who have little sun exposure on their skin, should take up to 4,000 mg each day. Those who have darker skin, are older, avoid sun exposure or live in the northern US should take the higher amounts, around 2,000mg a day.

Vitamin D is remarkably safe; there have been no deaths caused by the vitamin.
People consuming only government-recommended levels of 200-400 IU/day
often have blood levels considerably below 50 ng/ml. This means the government’s recommendations are too low, and should be raised for optimal health function.

High Dose Vitamin D can be purchased at a number of health food or big name drug stores. However, please be advised that not all vitamin D is equal. I recommend using only pharmaceutical grade, naturally-occurring Vitamin D3.

The Verdict is in-Cholesterol Drugs are Dangerous

Statin lipid lowering drugs including Levacor, Zocor, Pravachol, Lipitor, and Crestor, are some of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. In fact, the propaganda for these medications has been so hyped for lowering cholesterol that some doctors have advocated they should be sold over-the-counter like aspirin or worse placed in our drinking water. Others want children as young as two to be on these drugs as a way to prevent elevated cholesterol!

Before you fall victim to the propaganda, you should know that  scientist’s from the University of California (UC) San Diego School of Medicine have published a review paper setting the record straight.

Analyzing the nearly 900 research studies on statins to see just what the facts are. The verdict? The drugs may predispose many people to serious muscle and kidney problems, potentially deadly heart arrhythmias, depression, fatigue, muscle pain, dementia, and a host of other health problems.

The paper, co-authored by Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of UC San Diego's Statin Study group, and Marcella A. Evans, of UC San Diego and UC Irvine Schools of Medicine, was published in the on-line edition of the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs.

It provides the most comprehensive look to date of not only the reported side effects of statins, but the evidence of how these side effects are caused by the drugs. The paper also offers explanations as to why certain people on these medication are at increased risk for adverse reactions.

For example, the paper points to accumulated data showing higher statin doses and statin drugs with the strongest ability to lower cholesterol are linked to the greatest risk of developing side effects. Certain genetic conditions have also been found to place people at higher risk for serious problems from the prescription medications.

"Muscle problems are the best known of statin drugs' adverse side effects," Dr. Golomb said in a media statement. "But cognitive problems and peripheral neuropathy, or pain or numbness in the extremities like fingers and toes, are also widely reported." In addition, the paper discusses other negative health effects from the drugs, including irregular heartbeats, elevated blood glucose, and tendon problems.

Specifically, the review of statin research found powerful evidence that statins induce injury to mitochondria, membrane-enclosed organelles often described as "power plants" inside the body's cells. They generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used as a source of cells' chemical energy. So by interfering with this pathway, statins may cause many of the adverse effects that occur to people taking the medications. With injured mitochondria, the body produces less energy and more "free radicals" are produced.

As they block the production of cholesterol in the body, statins also block the production of much of the body's coenzyme Q10 (Co-Q10), a compound important to the process of making energy within mitochondria and also to stopping free radical damage. In addition, statins reduce the very blood cholesterol that is needed to carry Co-Q10 and other fat-soluble antioxidants throughout the body.

Hypertension and diabetes -- as well as advancing age -- are independently linked to higher rates of mitochondrial problems and associated with a higher risk of statin complications, too.

"The risk of adverse effects goes up as age goes up, and this helps explain why," Dr. Golomb said in the media release. "This also helps explain why statins' benefits have not been found to exceed their risks in those over 70 or 75 years old, even those with heart disease."

Did you know you are likely to die from all causes with low cholesterol than high cholesterol? Did you know that statin drugs reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by a whopping one percent?

You can read more about the medical myths of hear disease and why the AMA’s propaganda is flat out wrong at the link below-

http://drmurphree.blogspot.com/2010/08/medical-myths-of-cholesterol-what-you.html

Swimming in a Sea of Green

Swimming in a Sea of Green

by Dr. Rodger Murphree, D.C.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PRMA), the industry’s trade association, recently announced new voluntary guidelines concerning direct marketing to physicians. Under the new guidelines doctors won’t be getting pens, pads, mugs, and other gifts that drug makers bombard doctors with on a daily basis. Under the new guidelines these items and other freebies will be forbidden. In order to squelch the groundswell of public distrust for drug company tactics, the PRMA has been cowed into action.

"What took so long?" you might ask. There are millions of reasons that come to mind—all of them green with former presidents on the front of them. The medical institutions and doctors themselves have become addicted to the pharmaceutical industry’s largesse; it’s hard to imagine they can break their addiction.

But, please be aware that these are voluntary guidelines. And they provide no definite limit on the millions of dollars spent on speaking and consulting arrangements that drug makers have forged with tens of thousands of doctors. Nor do they ban the bribing of office staff through office breakfasts and lunches. Nor do they ban the common practice of inviting and paying doctors to attend educational dinners at fancy restaurants.

In 2005, drug companies paid hundreds of millions of dollars and provided for 60 to 80 percent of the costs of doctors’ continuing-education classes.¹

These classes have now become nothing more than a "my drug is best," brainwashing sales-pitch. Medical doctors routinely receive expense-free trips to vacation destinations for these seminars. Many are paid handsomely to speak on behalf of the drug companies at these conferences. We’re talking $750 to $2,000 for a thirty-minute speech.

For instance, drug companies paid the American Psychiatric Association $60,000 for each of its 50-plus yearly industry-sponsored symposia. Pharmaceutical companies paid an additional $200,000 to $400,000 in expenses to host each of these events.²

Pharmaceutical companies often fly doctors to annual 
meetings in exotic locations—free of charge—where they dine on gourmet meals in four-star resorts.

"I’m not that hopeful for any real change," says Dr. Marcia Angell, past editor of The New England Journal of Medicine and author of The Truth About Drug Companies. "They have bought politicians and doctors. They’ve looked at everyone and anyone who could stand in their way and they’ve thrown money at them."

Drug companies have lined the pockets of politicians, universities, and the medical profession (as a whole) for so long and with so much money that real change isn’t even on the radar. In fact, drug companies spend more money on lobbying than does any other industry. There are now two lobbyists for every member of congress.³

Through the promise of increased wealth, the drug companies continue to persuade (bribe) and brainwash the majority of medical doctors about the newest "great" drug. As reported by Melody Petersen in her book, Our Daily Meds, Dr. Martin Keller, the chief of the psychiatry department at Brown University, earned more than $500,000 in consulting fees, mostly from companies whose drugs he touted at medical conferences and in published reports.⁴

And bottom-line results clearly show that free samples, vacation "workshop" retreats to posh resorts, and free educational "classes" over gourmet dinners do, in fact, sway the opinion of doctors. Profits are soaring for drug companies. The top ten companies reported combined profits of $35.9 billion dollars in 2002. That was more than the remaining 490 Fortune-500 companies put together ($33.7 billion) for the same year.⁵

"The result of all those attractive women in short skirts armed with pseudo-science invading the practices of doctors is that Americans are over-medicated, taking far too many drugs, most of which they don’t even need, and they are paying too much for them," says Jerome Kassirer, another former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Americans now spend over $250 billion a year on prescription drugs. In fact, Americans spend more on drugs than do all of the people in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom combined!⁶

Spending on drugs continues to increase by an average of 12 percent each year. Drugs are now the fastest growing part of the staggeringly high American health-care bill, and over $400 billion is spent on prescription drugs worldwide.⁷

Drug companies must aggressively market their wares, lest the public and gullible doctors learn the truth about the drugs they peddle. First, they’re often ineffective. Second, they’re quite dangerous. Drugs aren’t the "magic bullets" that the TV ads would like for you to believe. Far from it, they are often no better than a placebo. Dr. Brian Spear, a scientist at Abbott Laboratories, reviewed the effectiveness of drugs used to treat fourteen different diseases and found that the recommended drugs worked for as few as 25 percent of those who took them.⁸

Dr. Allen Roses, a top executive at GlaxoSmithKline, has reported that some 90 percent of drugs work in only thirty to fifty percent of the people who take them.⁹

Drug companies definitely don’t want you to know that prescription drugs—taken as directed—claim the lives of 300 Americans a day.^10,11

Nonetheless, drug companies are all too happy to provide us with an abundance of synthetic, often worthless, and potentially dangerous drugs for everything that might ail us.

While I applaud the PRMA’s new voluntary guidelines, I don’t think much will change. Doctors will still be paid to attend free seminars at posh resorts while their peers on the drug company payroll deliver highly manipulated data promising what they most likely can’t deliver—a safe and effective treatment.

The American Medical Association and the other drug-company influenced associations have been swimming in a sea of green for so long, it’s hard to imagine their coming ashore.

Dr. Murphree is a board certified nutritional specialist and chiropractic physician who has been in private practice since 1990. He is the author of 5 books for patients and doctors, Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You and Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression with Orthomolecular Medicine. To contact Dr. Murphree or for more information about his Doctors VIP One-on-One Nutritional Coaching Program, visit www.Essentialthera.com or call 1-888-884-9577.

Fibromyalgia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Is There A Connection?

Fibromyalgia  syndrome is associated with chronic severe muscle or soft tissue pain. Fibromyalgia has also been linked to fatigue, sleep problems, headaches, cognitive dysfunction, depression, and anxiety.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder that involves abdominal pain, cramping, bloating, as well as changes in bowel movements – constipation or diarrhea, or alternation of both. People with IBS often experience anxiety and depression.

Millions of people have at least one of these conditions. Fibromyalgia affects over 5 million U.S. adults, and an estimated 25 million to 45 million people in the U.S. have IBS.

Studies are now showing that if you have fibromyalgia or IBS, you may be more likely to have the other one, too.

In one study, 32% of people with IBS also had fibro symptoms compared with 4% of people without IBS. Another study showed fibromyalgia occurring in 20% of people with IBS. And studies have estimated 32% to 70% of people with fibromyalgia also meet criteria for IBS.

I find that about 80% of my fibro patient’s has IBS.

Fibromyalgia and IBS don't always go together. They're two separate conditions.

Pain Processing

Researchers see a possible pain link between IBS and fibromyalgia. In short, people with those conditions respond to pain differently than people without the two conditions.

IBS patients are hypersensitive to intestinal pain; people with fibromyalgia are hypersensitive to skin, soft tissue, and muscle pain. Both have a lowered threshold to pain in general. In fibromyalgia, the central nervous system may be highly sensitive, making someone feel more pain than what someone without fibromyalgia would feel in a similar situation.

The neurotransmitter, serotonin has been linked with both fibromyalgia and IBS.

I find that once I start to return my patients serotonin level to normal their IBS goes away within a couple of weeks.

If you’d like to know more about reversing IBS please see my past article Treating and Beating IBS click on the link below-

http://treatingandbeatingfibroblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/reversing-irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs.html