Vultures who sell alleged "cures" for illnesses such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia make me so mad. Having an illness that is invisible and incurable for years can make you pretty desperate; desperate enough to try anything that promises a cure! These vultures seemingly have no limits to the manipulation they will use in order to sell their alleged remedies. We are told that we should have open minds to alternative therapies. We should be willing to try things that might make us better - or don't we want to get better?
The proponents of these alleged "cures" always seem to have loads of "real" testimonials from people whom they have miraculously "cured". These testimonials can convince a vulnerable, sick and desperate patient to give it ago (often against their usually better judgement). After all, if all of those people has such miraculous success, so might they! These fake "cures" are generally expensive, and they often require lengthy time frames to see their "effects" (although I found one "cure" that apparently worked in just one week!). But you'd be willing to pay anything if it meant that you would be cured, right? It would be worth every penny! The problem with these "cures" is that they don't actually cure.
In my opinion, preying on the desperation of the sick is just disgusting. A simple google search yielded a few prime examples of these "cures". If they were not so despicable, the insanity of these alleged cures would make me giggle! For example, one such "cure", calling itself the "Fibromyalgia Diet" alleges that it can cure brain fog in a single week, and that it is a "reliable Fibromyalgia treatment". It also claims that it can cure your "depression", "despair" and "sadness and tears". Hmm, I read a little further to discover all of the things that the Fibromyalgia Diet promises you:
* "No pain and no need of pain killers"
* "No stiffness but easy and flexible movement"
* "No depression but joy and radiance"
* "No fatigue but gain energy"
* "No headaches any more"
* "Improved memory"
* "You study better for your exams"
* "Improved concentration"
* "You are back to work and full of value - you get financial stability, you can afford your dream holidays etc."
Wow- it must be some diet! I mean, who can argue with "joy", "radiance" and "dream holidays"!? All you have to do is purchase their e-book for $27.50! Oh, and you must "want" to recover (in other words, if it doesn't cure you/let you afford your dream holidays, you didn't "want" to be cured). I don't doubt that changes to diet can improve Fibromyalgia symptoms, but unfortunately I do not believe that it is a cure.
A second fake cure that I discovered in my travels is the CureZone.com protocol. According to this protocol, illness is caused by a combination of "birth trauma", "toxins, vaccination, medications and a lack of body contact", "poor dietary choices and nutritional deficiency". Apparently, these cause "congestion of the ducts and vessels of circulation and elimination". On top of this, "most serious health problems come from difficult relationships between people". So it seems that, according to this protocol, every illness is caused by pretty much everything. Alrighty then! After establishing everything as the root causes of illness, the protocol purports that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome can be cured by a combination of the following:
* Diet (avoiding "Foods that Kill", and including "Foods that Heal" and "Fats that Heal")
* Body cleansing
* Physical activity (they list mini-trampoline jumping, rowing, walking, jogging, aerobics, dancing, gymnastics and weight lifting... Does anyone see a problem with this as a "cure" for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?)
* Sweating (they suggest "exercise with a lot of clothes" - yes, this "cure" is beginning to sound like "How to kill a patient with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in five easy steps!")
* Psychotherapy and spiritual therapy
One approach that I tried was naturopathy (pretty much because my mother insisted, and paid for the "treatment"). In my experience, naturopaths are a bunch of very friendly people who like to sell you lots and lots of pills and potions. None of the alleged remedies that they sold to me worked, in fact, some of them gave me additional symptoms and made me sicker. I tried naturopathy three times with three different "practitioners". After all, several family friends swore that they could cure me (because they had heard about people who had been cured by it).
The naturopaths that I went to were generally convinced that I was secretly allergic to gluten (among other things - despite the fact that I had been medically tested for such allergies). In the vain hope that it might make me better, I agreed to go on a gluten and lactose free diet for several months. Mum prepares all of my food anyway, so I didn't really have to do anything. I didn't think it would work, but I was willing to give it a go, for mum. I got sicker.
The naturopath then decided that my sickness was due to my liver failing (despite my medical liver function tests, enzyme tests etc. coming back as perfectly normal!) So they sold me and mum "liver cleanser". I was told by one to drink what I can only describe as mud. I was given probiotics, and all kinds of supplements. One of the naturopaths that I went to kept insisting that I should stop all of my conventional medical treatments (which were working), and try more of their potions and pills (which weren't working). Insanity.
My experience with homeopathy was very similar, but to a lesser extent. I only had to buy three or four different kinds of pills from him. It did not cure me, and I stopped going. Anyway, the last fake cure I am going to write about is "Mickel Therapy", via a practitioner who calls herself Self Help Mate. This woman's constant untrue allegations about ME/CFS and other illnesses on the social networking site Twitter, quite frankly makes me see red. I am enraged by the things she says because I feel it is simply repulsive to blame the ill for being ill, and I believe that it is irrational to say that people who are ill "want" to be ill. I do not believe her view that "positive thinking" alone can cure ME/CFS, or Fibromyalgia (although I believe that it can improve quality of life for sufferers).
Mickel Therapy is a so-called "Talking therapy". Over 2000 patients have apparently been "cured" by this therapy on one page of their website, while over 3000 patients have been cured on another of the sites subpages! The website uses the word "accredited", and the therapy is endorsed by a doctor who calls ME/CFS "Hypothalamitis", which I can't decide whether it sounds medical, or just slightly silly. Anyway, this miraculous therapy costs "clients" 80 pounds per session, or 600 pounds for a "course of sessions". Each session lasts 75-90 minutes (which is more time than I could personally sit up and concentrate for in my current state of illness). What I see as the evil part of this alleged cure is that it blames the victim of these illnesses, making claims such as "symptoms only arise in the body to alert us that we are not being our authentic selves".
The owner of this business believes that "positive thinking" cures disease. She likes to use Twitter to tweet about her alleged cure, using the ME/CFS hashtags. She considers ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia to be "mental illnesses", and alleges that people who are sick do not "want" to heal (and people who are not cured by her therapy do not want to get better). She frequently tells seriously ill people that they are sick because they lack "self worh" and "self-esteem", accusations that have absolutely no truth whatsoever. She has also alleged that ME/CFS is an "established pattern" that sufferers have fallen into, rather than a physical illness.
I am inclined to believe that views such as these that blame the victim are a defence mechanism. After all, if you staunchly believe that people bring on their own illness, pain and suffering, and that these ailments are easily cured by altering your thinking, you know that illness can't touch you and thus you feel safe. It would be nice if this was true, but unfortunately in real life, this isn't the case. Sometimes bad things happen to good people for no apparent reason, and there isn't an easy fix.
Personally, I have tried many "alternative cures" during the course of my illness, and ill probably end up trying more (if I remain ill) in years to come. My own desperation for a cure, and my acceptance of my illness seems to run in cycles, and these vultures can be very persuasive! Although it might seem a little pessimistic, I am inclined to agree with the medical profession; there is not yet a magical cure for ME/CFS or Fibromyalgia.
The fact that there is no cure does not mean that there are no treatments or tools for managing these horrible illnesses. My treatment over the last six and a half years has focussed on alleviating or managing symptoms, and increasing coping strategies so that I can better deal with the symptoms of my illness (and the effects that being chronically ill has on my life). For me, that includes regular testing to make sure that no new medical problems are cropping up on me, pacing my activity levels and making sure that I get enough rest, light exercise (when possible), antidepressant and pain-killing medication, vitamin supplements, counselling, and support from family and friends.
People like Self Help Mate will erroneously say that I remain ill with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia because I do not "want" to get better. This could not be further from the truth. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that I am sick because I got sick - it's not my own fault, and it's not anyone else's fault either! There is no miracle cure that will fix the complex neurological conditions from which I suffer. Despite this, I am managing my illnesses, I am living an awesome life, and I haven't given up hope that one day I will get better.
~Adrielle =)
