Alcohol : How Badly Can It Affect Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers?

The wonders of alcohol.

The achilles heel for many people. The 'norm' for some others. And poison if you have CFS/PVFS/M.E....

I remember when I first got Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome/CFS back in 1995, I thought that having a drink or two wouldn't affect me any differently to my PRE-CFS days.

Unfortunately I didn't realise what I was doing to myself.I didn't know how badly alcohol can affect the severity of CFS...

Nowadays I don't touch alcohol at all, and haven't done so for a few years now. I'd rather see at least a few hours in the day instead of being bedridden for weeks on end because of one alcoholic drink!

Because when you have CFS/M.E., you might as well be pouring arsenic down your throat...

------SIDE NOTE-------
Okay - so that comparison might be a little 'dramatic', but you get what I mean right?
------SIDE NOTE-------

You see when you have CFS/M.E., you are likely to develop **alcohol intolerance**...

The smallest alcoholic drink - even a tiny bit, can send you into a relapse - as I learnt the hard way many years ago.

Having an alcoholic drink now and again was enough to tip the severity of my CFS over the edge and put me in bed indefinitely.

When a **normal** person gets drunk they may feel a bit bad for a day or so, after which, they're back to 'normal', bouncing back and raring to go.

But when a person with M.E./CFS gets drunk - or even has just one drink, they're likely to feel like 'death warmed up' for what seems like an eternity!!!

Personally, I don't actually like alcohol much so I don't miss it. But even if I did, I have realised that alcohol no longer makes me feel the way it used to before I had CFS...

Drinking alcohol now feels like I'm feeding myself poison, and my body reacts accordingly - i.e. a relapse - and I suffer the consequences for a long, long time afterwards.

Unfortunately, us CFS sufferers are just not strong enough to resist the poisons of alcohol. So it's unfortunately a case of accepting it, or getting much, much worse.

As Dr Shepherd writes in his book 'Living With M.E.':

"Some people who previously enjoyed and tolerated regular consumption of alcohol without any adverse effects, now find that even small amounts make them extremely unwell."
-- p214, Dr Shepherd, 'Living With M.E.' --

So if you have M.E./CFS, it is likely that you may have developed an intolerance to alcohol.

And that's not forgetting that alcohol also affects the effects of antidepressants (often prescribed to CFS sufferers to treat their fatigue and to help sufferers sleep)! So if you're taking antidepressants, it's definitely something to bear in mind.

Having CFS/FM can be a very lonely and devastating experience and depression can be a very real and serious symptom for many CFS/FM sufferers.

So the last thing you need is to take substances that make you feel worse.

And guess what?

Yep, you've guess it, alcohol is also a depressant. So it's not a great thing to drink if you're depressed! And according to Dr Shepherd, many sufferers sadly do turn to alcohol...

But alcohol is no answer.

Apart from probably making you feel depressed, you could also develop an alcohol dependency!

What's more, if you **are** alcohol intolerant, then it would make it much harder for yourself to recover from M.E./CFS (pretty much impossible even), while you keep putting alcohol in your body.

And here's some more 'food for thought'...

When you think about how badly a CFS sufferer can be affected by **one** alcoholic drink, then how badly could alcohol be affecting you if you're drinking more???

So there you go - a whole list of reasons why you might think twice about drinking anything remotely alcoholic while you have CFS/M.E.

While you may no longer be alcohol intolerant once you have recovered from CFS/M.E., it may well be a major culprit for preventing you from **recovering** from your CFS/M.E while you still have it.

I didn't know about the possible effects of alcohol when I first had CFS/M.E...

... and I suffered the consequences. My M.E./CFS got worse. A lot worse. And I was only having a couple of drinks now and again!

So I hope this article arms you with enough info for you to make an educated decision about alcohol either way.

You never know - it may well make the difference...

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Inflammatory Arthritis: Alternative Treatments

There are two main types of arthritis: inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis. Inflammatory arthritis can be treated naturally without drugs. Inflammatory arthritis' symptoms (such as Rheumatoid Arthritis) are exactly what they sound like: inflammation, redness and swelling in the joints. Sometimes there will even be a temperature change in the area affected. Also, in the hand, you may notice that some fingers may look like they are turning away from the thumb (ulnar deviation).

This type of arthritis is primarily an auto-immune response. This means that the body believes it is under attack by an invader, such as an infection of some kind. However,this is not the case and the body ends up "attacking" the toxins that have built up in the joint capsules. Alternative treatment for this type of arthritis is fairly simple. Since the problem is caused by toxins in the joints, then the solution is to remove these toxins.

There are actually several ways to detoxify the body. One of these is fasting. Using juice fasts,fruit fasts or other types of fasts can be very effective. However, it takes a very disciplined individual to actually finish one of these programs. There are several good books to help you if you planon doing a fast, one of my personal favorites is "Dr. Jensen's Guide to Better Bowel Care"", by Bernard Jensen.

Another way to detox is cleansing the colon with a colonic irrigation or similar procedure. This procedure should be done by a professional since there are some minimum hygiene standards that should be followed. In this procedure, a tube is inserted into the rectum and filtered water is constantly irrigated into the colon-and fecal matter and other wastes flowing out at the same time. People that have this performed often report they see waste products from foods they have not eaten in years.

A third way to cleanse is by supplementing your diet with large quantities of fiber and herbal supplements. This method is probably best for most Americans. Not because it is more effective than the other two, but because of it's ease of execution.

One good way to see if this type of treatment will help is to buy an inexpensive psyllium supplement and take it three times per day for two days. If you do notice an improvement in your symptoms,then go ahead and purchase a complete cleanse program of some kind.

If you are performing a cleanse you should modify your diet in several ways: increase the consumption of leafy green vegetables, decrease the consumption of dairy, red meat and other mucus-producing foods. And probably the most important-increase your intake of clean filtered water to at least a gallon per day.

One note of caution: when doing any type of cleanse, you may experience a healing crisis. On the third or fourth day or a cleanse regimen, you may experience symptoms such as sore throat, headache, lightheadedness, bad breath or pimples. Don't panic! this is a normal response and indicates that the cleanse is working and the toxins are beginning to leave your body. Depending on your toxicity level, you may experience some relief by simply having a bowel movement.

If the healing crisis becomes too uncomfortable, then be sure to discontinue the program and consult a health care professional. The goal is to find the type of treatment that is correct for you and see it until the end. You will find that these treatments are more successful in helping arthritis than the traditional medical solution of pain killers and drugs.

© 2000 Daniel DeReuter, D.C.

Daniel DeReuter, D.C. is a chiropractor practicing in Dalton, GA. He operates a website http://www.deepdownwellness.com that provides alternative health tips and information.