CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME / M.E.

This is a condition which has interested me significantly in recent years.  It is actually very common and affects up to 3% of the U.S. population. It is frequently but not always associated with a viral infection and should only be diagnosed when significant fatigue is present for at least 6 months. Other symptoms may include impaired memory, sore throat, tender glands, muscle pain, multi-joint pain, new headaches, unrefreshing sleep and post-exercise malaise. 

My treatment for  it has been to use low-dose naltrexone and fish oil and this has been quite successful and sometimes very successful indeed. Recently I attended a meeting in Dublin where a presentation was made by Professor Basant Puri of London University,author of "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". He suggests using 8 capsules daily of VegEPA as his choice of treatment.This contains EPA,a type of fish oil and also Evening Primrose oil. I now recommend that plus naltrexone 3 to 4.5mg at night. This drug is only available on prescription.

The combination of these two should give a  good response in most cases and I am quite hopeful that many people will improve significantly.However do not expect an immediate response. It may take 3 months or more before you see the benefit. It will not cure the problem,merely improve it. For those who have fibromyalgia, a severely painful condition that is often associated with chronic fatigue, the results are sometimes very impressive with the above combination but again it takes time. I have seen some of them well enough to stop taking analgesics entirely where before even opiates were not very effective. Incidentally it is posible to have the level of fish oil and evening primrose oil in the body measured. The results of this essential fatty acids test shows that most patients I see in Dublin have low levels of fish oil and quite often low levels of GLA, the active chemical in evening primrose oil. 

Useful websites incluse www.vegepa.com   ,  www.lowdosenaltrexone.org and www.hammersmithpress.co.uk , the  publisher. Incidentally low dose naltrexone is useful in a whole range of conditions and it may be worthwhile to have look at it.

_________________________________________________________

           Fish oil and bypass surgrery

Fish oil given to patients having bypass surgery reduces the amount of irregular heart beats known as atrial fibrillation from 33% to 15% according to Journal of American College of Cardiology May 05. On the other hand fish oil has no benefical effect on those who have implanted defibrillators and may even have a marginal negative effect in another report I read recently. Incidentally less cardiac surgery is being done over the past few years because little tubes called stents can be placed in the arteries of the heart.