Getting Rid of Chronic Fatigue and Other Chronic Diseases

By Hugh D. Riordan, M.D.

Editor’s note: Last month, Dr. Riordan discussed the difference between standard and alternative medicine using the diagnosis of ADHD as an example. This month, he discusses the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome showing The Center’s approach to chronic disease. The remarks are from a recent Lunch and Lecture.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a level of tiredness and weakness that interferes with normal functioning.ltis serious enough that The Center’s definition of health cannot be achieved.

We define health as having the reserves to do what you need to do and want to do with energy and enthusiasm.

I would like to make it clear that the key to our approach to chronic disease and all other sustained illness is to understand what you can easily observe by looking at the other human beings in this room. What do you see?

The people in this room are all different. Even though we are from the same species of Homo sapiens, we all look different. Our fingerprints are different. Our organs, including our hearts, brains, thyroid glands, adrenal glands, bladders, and bowels, have different masses and different capacities as do all the organs in our bodies. We are all different and our parts are different.

CFS was originally characterized by the fact that no significant medical findings could be consistently linked with the diagnosis. If some relevant problem was detected, the diagnosis would no longer be chronic fatigue.

Symptoms related to CFS may include the following:
• History of flu-like symptoms before feeling fatigued
• Low grade fevers
• Suboptimal temperatures
• Lesions in the mouth
• Bothered by bright lights
• Enlarged lymph nodes
• Multiple tender points in the body
• Intermittent skin rashes
• Mind “fog”
• Less well organized brain function
• and many others

But, while there may be some similarities in the symptoms, not everyone will have the same problems. That again is because each of us is totally unique with different genetics, different nutritional needs, and different levels of immune system functioning.

We can assume that anyone who has not been feeling well for some time has an immune system inadequate to handle the stressors that are affecting that individual. At the same time, we can assume that anyone alive has a partially functioning immune system because without our immune systems we would succumb to rampant bacterial infections in a matter of hours.

Our job is to serve in ways to assist people who come to The Center to enhance their immune systems. We do this by detecting nutritional inadequacies, genetic differences, bacterial, viral, or micoplasm infections, toxic responses whether from adverse food reactions or environmental contaminants, a presence of excessive yeast, or parasites. We are looking all the time for the underlying factors.

In my opinion, whenever people in diagnostic categories like CFS are thoroughly evaluated from biochemical and bodily invader perspectives, many underlying causes are detectable. In fact, if a dozen people with the diagnosis of CFS were thoroughly evaluated, dozens of factors would be detected which may point to underlying causes of the problem.

Here is a partial list of the laboratory results of the last nine individuals that came to The Center with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:
Gender          Age              Urine C      Indican        Pyrroles       GLA     Candida      EBV/CMV      Parasites      Cytotoxic
Male              13                     0                 +2                   32             Low                                                     +yeast           >10 positive
Female         43                     0                                         21                               54                                                               Aspergillus +4
Female         47                     0                 +3                   35                               44                                       +yeast
Male             49                                                                 24             Low          25                 342
Male             51                    10                                                           Low          54
Male             31                                                                  29             Low                                399                                      Nutrasweet+3
Female         65                                                                                                     33                                       +yeast           >4 +3
Male             47                     0                                          30                                                                                                  coffee +3
Female        18                                                                   37             Low                                1.9                                        multiple
Five of the nine were low in vitamin C, seven had elevated urinary pyrroles, three had on-going viral infections, five had yeast overgrowth, and six of nine had adverse food reactions.
Lessons:
• We all are different.
• There are multiple factors that impact our health and well being.
• It is not a single thing that causes chronic fatigue, but multiple factors that prevent better immune responses.
So how do we treat CFS or any other chronic or sustained illness? We:
• find the causes
• maximize the nutrients
• eliminate toxins
• enhance liver function
• stimulate the immune system Usually those with chronic fatigue have been sick a long time. It is going to take a while to get well again.

The Goal: To change CFS from meaning Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to Can Function Satisfactorily!