New Hope for Chronic Fatigue and
Fibromyalgia Sufferers
By: Deb Bromley
There are numerous theories with regard to the
causes of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, many of which may be
indeed touching on the truth or at least touching on an aggravator
or contributor to these afflictions. Diseases in general have been
growing in epidemic proportion over at least the past 20 years,
especially in the United States, where our increasingly toxic
environment and lifestyles have drifted further and further away
from what is natural in the name of progress, technology, and
profit. Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia are no exception, the two
often being experienced together, and possibly symptoms of the same
disease. Many agree that having one or both of these conditions
reflects a compromised immune system, but whether this has resulted
from viruses or chemicals or heredity or DNA mutations or other
causes is much debated. As in the question of the chicken or the
egg, I think the answer lies in what came first, at least in terms
of triggering the disease.
We all have unique genetic weaknesses and tendencies, but usually a
disease that we may be predisposed to will not surface unless an
external environmental factor triggers it. Viruses lay dormant in
all of us, as do many bacteria. The body's immune system keeps them
in check unless the body is damaged and becomes weak and imbalanced
to the point that viruses and bacteria grow out of control and
flourish, causing disease. But what external "triggering" factors
came first to weaken the immune system to allow such a systemic
breakdown to occur?
The answer most likely lies in how increasingly toxic and
contaminated our bodies are becoming. This cumulative toxic
overload is the result of the growing number of harmful chemicals
we're exposed to in our everyday life -- over 10,000 in food
processing and preservation alone. We eat chemically-processed
foods that contain preservatives, pesticides, dyes, hormones,
bleaching agents, neurotoxic artificial sweeteners, steroids, and
antibiotics, drink hundreds of chemicals in our tap water, breathe
in fumes from factories, are bombarded with radiation from numerous
and growing sources, and chemicals are outgassed in our homes from
our Teflon-coated pans to our stain-resistant carpets. We are
surrounded with plastics, paints, solvents, cleaners, medications,
and many other toxic chemicals, and when you mix them all together
in our bodies with our own natural chemistry, as in a chemistry
lab, the results can be unpredictable and potentially explosive. In
addition, antibiotics that destroy good bacteria along with the bad
have been dangerously overprescribed, contributing to weakened
immune systems, and expensive unnatural synthetic drugs are being
dispensed in record numbers that do not cure but only suppress
symptoms, while causing a plethora of harmful side effects to the
tune of billions of dollars for the pharmaceutical industry.
Recent studies have shown that antibiotics and chemicals can
permeate cell walls and destroy, damage, or mutate mitochondria,
which most claim cannot be regenerated. What are mitochondria? In
short, they are the powerhouses of our bodies. They assimilate food
and produce critical nutrients, but their primary function is to
manufacture adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a vital component of
life. ATP is believed to provide 90-95% of all cellular energy and
has been found to act as a neurotransmitter extracellularly. Also,
an enormous amount of ATP is required by our energy-hungry muscles.
Unfortunately, the brain does not store ATP, ATP cannot be shared
between organ systems, its supply is very limited, and the demand
for it by the body is very high. Therefore, ATP must be constantly
synthesized to provide a continuous supply of energy or an
ATP-imbalance occurs, which may lead to neuronal cell deaths,
chronic fatigue from lack of energy, nutritional deficiencies, and
muscle weakness and pain as in fibromyalgia, among many other
symptoms. ATP imbalance or poor regulation can be very dangerous
too much ATP in a few areas of the body can actually be just as
damaging as too little, such as in spinal cord injuries.
Scientists have theorized that mutations in mitochondrial DNA also
contribute to aging, and when the production of ATP is interrupted
or stopped for any number of reasons, a cascade of free-radical
damage begins. The key to chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, and
many other diseases, may lie in cellular damage by chemicals, while
the road to recovery may lie in eliminating toxins that cause
cellular damage and pursuing natural courses of treatment that help
the body heal itself.
Although most doctors and researchers do not believe mitochondria
can be repaired or regenerated, they used to say the same thing
about brain cells, and that has since been disproved. The body is a
miraculous creation, and if it is not abused, it has many
self-healing and regenerative abilities. I came across one
University of California-Berkeley research project recently where
mitochondria in rats were able to be rejuvenated with large doses
of acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid, common natural dietary
supplements, which also appeared to make the old rats more
youthful. Also, Cordyceps given to mice caused an increased supply
of ATP in the liver, has substantially benefitted chronic fatigue
sufferers, and when given in human clinical trials, demonstrated
overall improved liver health. And to relieve pain, guaifenesin has
been used successfully by individuals with fibromyalgia. It is
believed that guaifenesin works both by causing urinary excretion
of excess uric acid, phosphate, and other substances that should
have been excreted by the kidneys that have built up in the cells
and tissue to the point that they depress ATP formation, and by
actually reinforcing cell walls to minimize entry by toxins and
further damage to the cells. (There seem to be very few all-natural
products that contain guaifenesin without ephedrine or chemicals. I
found one product made by Naturade called Herbal Expec that I would
recommend)
After "Yuppie Flu" first surfaced in the 1980's, a few progressive
doctors tried giving patients injections of adenosine monophosphate
(AMP), a chemical precursor of ATP, but this was expensive,
inconvenient, difficult to tolerate, and the results were very slow
and gradual. Next, in the 1990's, oral ATP supplements were tried,
and are still available today, but they had side effects and did
not allow the body to naturally assimilate the ATP itself which
makes it less targeted and effective. But more recently, there has
been significant success with another precursor to ATP D-Ribose.
D-Ribose is a complex sugar with no side effects. It goes to work
quickly in the body, effectively fueling the mitochondria so that
additional needed ATP can be produced for many hours at a time. In
particular, it increases ATP production in muscles, including the
heart, therefore besides improving muscle strength and helping
alleviate pain, it additionally benefits individuals with heart
problems, and increases blood circulation, oxygen levels, and
energy levels. Ribose formulas often include creatine, as the two
are believed to work synergistically together to increase overall
ATP production.
With cellular damage, and the accompanying gut damage from
ingesting chemicals, there are also often multiple nutritional
deficiencies that result from poor absorption and assimilation,
regardless if you think you have been eating well, therefore a
potent vitamin and mineral supplement and an immune system builder
are also recommended, preferably liquid sublinguals (under the
tongue) to enhance absorption. Since our soil has been damaged from
chemicals, and thus much of our food is lacking in vitamins and
minerals, the vitamin/mineral nutritional supplement should be the
one thing you take for life to maintain health even if you feel
fine. For those who can afford it, a new spectroscopic test is
available from Spectracell that examines white blood cells, which
help protect the body and combat disease, and can pinpoint your
specific and unique cellular deficiencies.
Although the natural supplements mentioned above may be extremely
helpful in repairing cell damage over time, increasing energy, and
may potentially help alleviate symptoms in the short-term, in order
to foster long-term healing and maintenance of health, it is
critical that toxins that store in fatty tissue be removed from the
body, such as with binding whole grains, natural detoxifiers, and
chelation therapy, and further toxic exposure that contributes to
cellular damage and other health problems be avoided. Since your
body is likely chemically addicted to many substances, a natural
course of treatment that involves the elimination of chemicals
often results in short-term withdrawal symptoms or temporary
exacerbation of symptoms where you feel worse before you feel
better, but this stage passes quickly.
The more you understand what you're fighting and your options, the
better armed you will be to battle it. And half the battle is
knowing and eliminating what caused the disease in the first place.
Although there are supplements that may help, natural steps to
better health do not have to cost a fortune. There are many
inexpensive dietary measures that can be taken. To learn more about
the thousands of harmful toxins in our food and everyday
environment and how to avoid them, how to bind toxins and remove
them from your body, how to treat symptoms of disease naturally,
and how to adopt a non-toxic chemical-free diet and natural
lifestyle that will help your body heal itself, please visit the
NatureGem website at http://www.naturegem.com. From the home page,
you can also link to a copy of this article with active links to
helpful resources.
About the Author: Deb Bromley is a science and
technology researcher and the President of NatureGem Nontoxic
Living, an organization devoted to promoting awareness of toxins in
our food and environment that can cause disease, and providing
access to nutrition information, natural remedies, and alternative
health resources.
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