Article: “It’s Time Doctors Apologise to Their ME (CFS) Patients”.
Doctors Finally Beginning to Acknowledge that CFS or ME is not a Psychological Condition.
Linked below is a great article on CFS or ME.
Having suffered from CFS and having been told that I was making it up, or it is all in my head, I definitely feel the frustration that many or most of the clients I treat with CFS, Fibromyalgia, Adrenal Fatigue experience when they are told similarly by their doctors or apparent ‘learned’ friends or family.
And like me, most of the clients that I encounter or speak to experience a low mood, depression or serious and chronic frustration as a result of no-one being able to acknowledge or relate to what they re going through and the inability of the medical fraternity and many natural health practitioners to provide a solution to their ailment.
A quote from the article highlights this: ‘And a major report from the prestigious US Institute of Medicine has recently concluded that ME is a “serious, chronic, complex, systemic disease that can profoundly affect the lives of patients”. ME is not a psychological problem’.
This is at least an acknowledgement from the medical field that ME or CFS is a real, physical ailment.
As to the solution, this comes from understanding cause, and there has been much speculation about the cause – mental illness, post infection (virus, gut bacteria), chronic stress, adrenal exhaustion, dysfunctional mitochondrial energy production. Most treatments focus on one or more of these suggested causes.
The article suggests; “the time has come for doctors and scientists to apologise for the very neglectful way in which ME has been researched and treated over the past 60 years. Doctors need to start listening to their patients and there must now be increased investment in biomedical research to gain a better understanding of the disease process and to develop treatments that these patients desperately need.”
It is great that more doctors and recognising the need for biomedical research tying to identify physical cause rather that writing CFS off as a psychological condition, however it has been my experience and that of many colleagues and experts worldwide that this approach is also near sighted, or is missing the actual cause at a higher level.
In my clinical practice, the more I investigated more effective solutions to CFS, ME, fibromyalgia etc, whilst I saw some great results by focusing physical interventions via nutrition and fasting, herbal medicines, sauna therapy, graded exercise and more, they were rarely complete or 100% resolutions. And the more I began to feel that the cause and solution to these ailments lies at a higher level in the body (or brain).
I was fortunate to discover the wok of Scottish GP and psychiatrist, Dr David Mickel who suggests that the actual ‘root’ cause of CFS, ME and fibomyalgia lies at the level of how we process primary (pre-thought) emotional communication, or stress, from our body at higher levels, and the impact of this on our hypothalamus – a gland in our brainstem that regulates many (or most) body functions; including sleep cycles, many cognitive functions, neurotransmitter function, how we process stress, our immune system and digestive systems, all automatic functions, our endocrine system amongst other things.
The role of the hypothalamus is to keep us regulated or alive via homeostasis and could be described as ‘the general’ of the body. In a way, it is the link between our brain and our physical bodies.
D Mickel found that there was increased blood flow in the hypothalamus of chronically ill patients, and speculated that this indicates that it is in overdrive.
And a hypothalamus in overdrive, as is the case with those suffering from CFS, ME, Fibromyalgia and many other chronic ailments, will cause multiple areas of the body to be poorly regulated and lead to a vast array of varying symptoms, depending on the genetic make up and circumstances of each individual client.
With Mickel Therapy we target the hypothalamus and aim to take it out of overdrive by focusing on how we process stress (or primary emotions) internally using a methodical, talking based approach that does not require any or excessive amounts of drugs or supplements to implement change. This is a radical shift in thinking and practice. But the results are surprisingly potent.
The results of Mickel Therapy really need to be seen to be believed.
My experience since taking on board Mickel Therapy has been that this is the most potent or successful treatment for chronic illness that I have witnessed or heard of. The results I have witnessed have echoed those experienced by Dr Mickel and many colleagues, have led to many, many complete resolutions in clients who have suffered from CFS, ME and fibromyalgia (as well as anxiety, depression and IBS) for many years (in some cases several decades) and had previously tried many, many treatment solutions, all focusing either a mental or purely physical cause, without success.
A quote from a fellow colleague of mine and senior Mickel Therapy trainer, Kim Knight of NZ, pretty much sums up my feelings on this article and the general medical approach to CFS:
“It still STAGGERS me that despite the fact that the real cause of ME, CFS and other related chronic illnesses are now well evident and understood by therapists such as myself, the medical community is STILL looking for a physical solution to a non-physical cause. Staggering. But at least we are making some progress.”
I am available for Mickel Therapy with clients in person in Torquay, Geelong and Melbourne (by appointment) and via phone or Skype for anyone around Australia or overseas.
Contact me via tim@timaltman.com.au or 0425 739 918.