MY HEALTH RIGHTS » Chronic

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME)

admin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:06:59 +0000

How Does Chronic Fatigue Syndrome come about ?
A Brief Outline of Integrative Medical Approaches.
Executives Stress, Fatigue and Serious work Disability/ Long-term disability
A Patient Interview
A Working Diagnosic & Treatment Model
Contributing Factors to the causation of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or M.E. immune dysfunction.
Thyroid Problems
Adrenal Gland Problems
Depression & Brain Chemistry
How Does Chronic Fatigue Syndrome come about ?My experience points to a disorder of mixed causation where the initial insult may have been stress, infection, an accident, an operation an illness, a bereavement, a messy divorce ( and what divorce is not messy ?) and the list goes on. These are generally situations which most individuals can usually survive and bounce back from but people with CFIDS or ME will often say “this time there was just too much and I just didn’t bounce back.” Other times the reason for not bouncing back is the extremely busy, stressed business person on a treadmill who just “cannot” take any time off. Another scenario is the individual who suffers an illness at a time which coincides with a time of great personal stress and strain e.g. the serious illness or death of a parent or perhaps severe marital problems. In quite a lot of cases the actual trigger is very difficult to pinpoint. All the patient knows is that they went into that health nosedive.

Why do some individuals get Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other individuals, who have been through almost identical circumstances, escape apparently unscathed ?

Each person’s individual biochemistry is different with all that implies: slightly different enzyme systems, a different genetic makeup and a different immune system. Some people just never seem to get ill no matter how hard they try to! We all recognise the individual who drinks like the proverbial fish, smokes like the proverbial chimney, works early and late, travels incessantly and is hardly ever ill. On the other hand we are also familiar with people who have one glass of dry sherry at Easter, another at Christmas (if they are feeling truly daring), whose lives are relatively stress-free but who are always adept at picking up whatever bug is going despite their excessive moderation.
Some scientists have referred to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers as ‘human canaries’
In the old days the miners took canaries down the mines with them. If toxic gases were escaping the canaries, whose biochemical systems were unable to detoxify poisonous gases as efficiently as the miners, would demonstrate the signs of toxic gas poisoning before any of the miners were affected and the birds would become unconscious. This would, hopefully, alert the miners that it was high time to get out of the mine before they suffered any ill-effects themselves. The canaries were more vulnerable to the toxic gases because their detoxification enzyme systems were not as strong as the miners’ and this afforded the miners a valuable few minutes warning about the presence of poisonous gas before they, too, would be overcome. They knew that it was time to leave the mine as quickly as possible. Some chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers will have enzyme systems that are sluggish and just cannot cope with the amount of detoxification that our drinking, smoking, hard-working, early-and-late, seriously celebratory friend’s system can happily process.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome often occurs when there is an unfavourable combination of circumstances and an individual’s system is pushed just a little too far beyond his or her physical or emotional (e.g. bullying at work) limits.

Chronic Pain

admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:07:13 +0000

Chronic pain implies pain that is ongoing – which persists after the original source of pain or injury has stopped but where full healing and a full return to health has not occurred.
It is important for anyone suffering from chronic pain to obtain an appropriate medical opinion which will usually include an opinion from both their General practitioner and a consultant neurologist or neurosurgeon or other medical specialist as appropriate.Getting the emotions and stress management right is also important.
For some patients there is a definite benefit from a consultation involving a multi-disciplinary team which will usually include a behavioural psychologist and / or a psychiatrist. This is not to imply that chronic pain is purely psychological but rather to recognise that, if we learn to relax our minds in a deep manner, our sense of relaxation will affect our body chemistry positively. This ‘relaxation response’ is well recognised scientifically and will have a positive effect on neurotransmitters and brain chemistry in general and frequently will contribute very positively on the mind & on the body.
My approach to chronic pain involves looking very broadly at anything in the body which may be prolonging inflammation or preventing healing and this would include looking at nutritional status, possible food intolerances, any possible role being played by ongoing bowel problems, any evidence of sluggish liver detoxification, hormonal aspects of well-being which may be involved etc. I will also, usually, use advanced acupuncture techniques both to address physical aspects and also ‘mind-body’ aspects (this would include individual tension holding patterns etc.) of the persons pain.
Acupuncture, used at an advanced level, is very potent in chronic pain. For some people who have already tried the ‘talking cure’ sometimes the more direct access to the emotions provided by subtle acupuncture techniques is immensely helpful.
My experience is that this holistic approach frequently has much to offer .
I would like to stress the importance of the patient being guided by their general practitioner and specialist (if also under consultant care). I do not see it as my role to prescribe any analgesic drugs or opiates – the prescribing of any pain-killing drugs is left solely to the patient GP or pain-management doctor.

Back Pain

admin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:09:04 +0000

Many people suffer from ongoing back pain and the general approach to ongoing pain is described below. For patients with longstanding back pain there is a an additional emphasis on treating the soft tissue structure associated with back pain including muscle trigger points and the use of acupuncture to deal with local tissue inflammation. This is in addition to the biochemical and other interventions described below.Chronic Back Pain
Chronic back pain implies that the back pain is ongoing pain – pain that persists after the original source of pain or injury has stopped but where full healing and a full return to health has not occurred.
It is important for anyone suffering from chronic pain to obtain an appropriate medical opinion which will usually include an opinion from both their General practitioner and a consultant neurologist or neurosurgeon or other medical specialist as appropriate.
Getting the emotions and stress management right is also important.
For some patients there is a definite benefit from a consultation involving a multi-disciplinary team which will usually include a behavioural psychologist and / or a psychiatrist. This is not to imply that chronic pain is purely psychological but rather to recognise that, if we learn to relax our minds in a deep manner, our sense of relaxation will affect our body chemistry positively. This ‘relaxation response’ is well recognised scientifically and will have a positive effect on neurotransmitters and brain chemistry in general and frequently will contribute very positively on the mind and body.
My approach to chronic pain involves looking very broadly at anything in the body which may be prolonging inflammation or preventing healing and this would include looking at nutritional status, possible food intolerances, any possible role being played by ongoing bowel problems, any evidence of sluggish liver detoxification, hormonal aspects of well-being which may be involved etc. I will also, usually, use advanced acupuncture techniques both to address physical aspects and also ‘mind-body’ aspects (this would include individual tension holding patterns etc.) of the persons pain.
Acupuncture, used at an advanced level, is very potent in chronic pain. For some people who have already tried the ‘talking cure’ sometimes the more direct access to the emotions provided by subtle acupuncture techniques is immensely helpful.
My experience is that this holistic approach frequently has much to offer.
I would like to stress the importance of the patient being guided by their general practitioner and specialist (if also under consultant care). I do not see it as my role to prescribe any analgesic drugs or opiates – the prescribing of any pain-killing drugs is left solely to the patient GP or pain-management doctor.