Metals: Lead, mercury
Chemicals: Pesticides
Foods: Any foods that cause negative
reactions
Lifestyle habits: Overwork, persistent worry
Fibromyalgia - triggered by
Chemicals: Pesticides
Metals: Mercury
Chemicals: Industrial
pollutants
Foods: Any foods that cause allergic reactions
pages 32-33, 7-Day Detox Miracle by Peter Bennett, N.D., Stephen Barrie, N.D., with Sara Faye
My experiences may apply to other people who are suffering CFS. My experiences do not necessarily apply to everyone who suffers CFS.
Here are the indicators I suggest looking for in forming your own hypothesis about how low level mercury poisoning may be affecting your health.
Do you have numerous large, silver / mercury amalgam fillings in your teeth?
Does your CFS include a sequence of events where dental work involving silver / amalgam fillings precedes the development of symptoms?
Have you ever worked in a dentist office or dental lab?
Can you think of any other ways you may have been exposed to mercury?, for example: a broken thermometer? or skin lotion from Mexico? or eating fish from a volcanic or mining area?
If you can answer a definitive no to all of these questions, then my experiences probably don't apply to your health problems.
If the answer to any of these questions is yes or maybe, then it's worth your time and effort to have your mercury levels tested. You may have elevated mercury levels, and may be suffering from low level mercury poisoning.
http://www.u-net.com/four-d/cfs.htm
... (either a potent virus, a chemical toxin, or perhaps another microbe, such as pathogenic yeast) damages the immune system. Other latent viruses usually held in check then start reproducing rapidly. These include viruses in the herpes family (Epstein-Barr, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex 1 and 2, and human herpes virus 6) and enteroviruses (Coxsackie virus and echovirus). Most of these viruses infect us in our childhood, and our bodies learn to keep them in check. Ninety percent of human beings have at least one herpes family virus in their body."
From Tired All the Time by Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D. (pub 1993) - page 212
...have demonstrated conclusively that behavioral and emotional disturbances can result from adverse reactions to toxic and nontoxic substances found in our everyday environment.
"Symptoms may include depression, anxiety, cognitive malfunctions, perceptual disorders, suidcidal feeling, hyperactivity, and lethargy.
"This same range of symptoms can occur with illnesses such as Epstein-Barr virus, Candida albicans, parasitic or bacterial infections, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. One may react to the organism itself, to the toxins it releases, to debris left by the dead organism, or to one's own immune response tot he organism. - page 261
"Allergy Relief & Prevention by Jacqueline Krohn, MD
"Reliable sources now indicate that a secret electronic file exists listing 1,521 post-Gulf War veterans that have deceased primarily from congestive heart failure, and to a lesser extent, from cancer. Up till now, this alarming fact has been obscured from public view....No tests have been developed to confirm the theory of chemical sensitivity because the VA is convinced the problem is caused by stress or something else, says Dr. Edward Young...Clearly these are not centers of excellence, but centers of 'setup,' a staged medical charade to create the impression of quality work - how stupid does he think we are?"
Major Richard H. Haines, United States Army, quoted in The Environmental Physician 27:14;1993
"Chemicals damage the immune system and the liver, and suppress cellular mediation that controls the way the body protects itself from foreign materials. These chemical compounds are particularly difficult to metabolize and excrete accumulating in the body and leading to an elevated total burden."
"Dr. Heuser, who primarily works with people with chemical injuries, noted at an annual CFS conference, "We conclude that toxic chemical exposure can cause CFIDS.'" - page 52
The Rebellious Body, Reclaim Your Life from Environmental Illness or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Janice Strubbe Wittenberg, R.N.
http://www.ncf-net.org/library/neurotoxinPR.html
Press Release
National CFIDS Foundation Inc. - Needham, Massachusetts
Contact
Information:
Gail Kansky 781-449-3535
Jill McLaughlin
978-475-0232
Needham, MA November 17, 2002 -- Research sponsored by the National CFIDS Foundation was formally announced at the International Symposium on Toxins and Natural Products in Okinawa, Japan on November 17-19, 2002 by Dr. Yoshitsugi Hokama. The research, for the first time, discovered ciguatoxin, a potent neurotoxin, [A toxic substance accumulated up the food chain in the flesh and viscera of some fish.] in the blood of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients.
"Chronic ciguatera poisoning has already been suggested as a scientific model for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)," stated Dr. Hokama. Ciguatoxins are potent, heat stabile, non-protein, lipophilic sodium channel activator toxins and are recognized as some of the most potent biological toxins known. They produce dramatic neurological manifestations, such as peripheral sensory or motor symptoms (including paresthesias, pain, burning, tingling, numbness), central symptoms such as headache, autonomic dysfunction and also affect multiple body systems (gastrointestinal, immune, hepatic, cardiovascular) and the muscles.
Many CFS patients in the study had higher levels of the toxin than the patients with cancer, hepatitis or acute ciguatera poisoning.
Quantitative assay results range from 1:5, the lowest toxin level, to 1:160, the highest toxin level. All CFS samples gave titres of at least 1:20, with the majority of titres from 1:40 to 1:160.
Dr. Hokama presented his preliminary findings in a lecture titled "Acute phase lipids in sera of various diseases: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ciguatera, hepatitis, and various cancer with antigentic epitope resembling ciguatoxin as determined with Mab-CTX."
Dr. Hokama is a Professor in the Department of Pathology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is a world expert in the area of fish toxins with hundreds of peer reviewed publications to his credit. Hokama developed the Membrane Immunobead Assay test for patient sera, using a specific monoclonal antibody for ciguatera toxin (Mab-CTX). His current research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a ciguatera toxin connection was funded by the National CFIDS Foundation's research grant program.
Gail Kansky, President of the National CFIDS Foundation, said, "We believe this to be a significant breakthrough. CFS, which has come to include myalgic encephalomyelitis, is a very severe illness that has not receivedadequate funding or appropriate medical attention. Although there are still many unanswered questions and much work to be done, research efforts will ultimately turn the tide in the understanding of this disease and allow patients to receive appropriate medical therapies. We are indebted to Dr. Hokama and his colleagues for providing this monumental first step."
For more information on this study or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, please contact:
The
National CFIDS Foundation
103 Aletha Road
Needham, MA 02492
phone: 781-449-3535
fax: 781-449-8606
The National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. has been inundated with questions about ciguatera poisoning after their press release on the international conference in Japan that announced the preliminary findings of the study. The information below may help to answer many physician as well as patient questions:
There is no commercial laboratory test for ciguatera toxin that currently exists in the world. Patients, until this study, have been diagnosed clinically only. A test will be available within the first two weeks of the new year at the University of Hawaii's John Burns Medical School and physicians may get in touch with the school for specifics at that time.
The paper was very well received by those at the conference and attendees from different parts of the world greeted the news gratefully.
Those patients in the study were from different parts of the United States. Some were from the Incline Village Outbreak while others were in the Lyndonville, NY outbreak. There were both acute onset and gradual onset patients tested, all ages, and of varying lengths of illness duration. Every sample sent for this study was found to be positive on a variety of laboratory tests.
The poison is thought to be part of an ongoing disease process that is being manufactured in the body. Titers were found to be higher in patients with CFS than those with hepatitis.
The published paper is expected to be in print within the next 6 months. Copies will be available to all members of The National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. free of charge as has been our policy on all our materials that we offer.
The announcement can be found at our Web site: http://www.NCF-NET.org and there is a link at the end of the announcement to a paper that explains the neurology of ciguatera poisoning.
The winter edition of our newsletter will have more information for our members.
For better health,
Gail Kansky
President, National CFIDS Foundation,
Inc.
103 Aletha Rd.
Needham, MA 02492-3931
http://www.NCF-NET.org
One person in a on-line discussion group said that he started to lose his finger and toe prints until he found that his illness was affected by extremely low levels of toxic mold. His fingerprints returned after he avoided all mold sources.