Summary
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), as the name implies, is
generally diagnosed when there is continual fatigue or
extreme tiredness that is not coupled with a recognized
medical condition and is not consistent with physical
exertion. That is, fatigue or extreme tiredness
without heavy physical exertion. For a medical
diagnosis of CFS it appears this symptom must persist for 6
or more months and is accompanied for that period with four
or more of these additional symptoms: 1) concentration or
memory problems, 2) sore throat, 3) tender lymph nodes, 4)
muscle pain, 5) joint pain, 6) headaches, 7) sleep that is
not refreshing, and 8) no refreshment after exercise.
Some also report confusion, depression, headaches, vision
problems, and/or increased sensitivity to temperature
changes, allergies, foods, or odors.
This condition is not easily diagnosed and the root cause
many times is difficult for medical professionals to
identify leading to increased frustration. Many
suggest that the difficulty may lie in the fact that the
symptoms may result from more than one root cause and/or are
the result of compound factors working together. Those
with reported success with essential oils have coupled the
cleansing properties of essential oils with great attention
to diet and nutrition, including supplements, to assure the
body has all of the foundational nutrients required.
See more very helpful information under the general
category of auto-immune
diseases.
Oils, blends & products
recommended:
Oils & Blends:
Frankincense, On Guard, oregano, peppermint, thyme
Essential oils based
products: GX Assist, PB Assist
Also consider:
Suggested protocols:
Consider the GX Assist/PB Assist
cleansing protocol.
Julia submitted this compelling protocol (see the Diet &
Nutrition tab for a more complete discussion):
Use a combination of raw foods diet,
green drinks, juices, essential oils and coconuts which are
natural mold and fungus killers.
A typical green drink:
· 1 young coconut including the meat and water
· 1 orange
· 2 cups organic spinach
· Blend until smooth. You may also add a hand full of
blueberries.
Essential oils:
· frankincense
· oregano
· peppermint
· thyme
· On
Guard
Diet is important:
· Avoid:
Sugar and any sugar substitutes. Anything processed or
canned. Anything with food colorings. Re-heated foods. Dairy.
Fungus, mold, and yeast products such as mushrooms bread, and
cheese. Meats and processed meats. Rule of thumb, all the
whites: white flour, milk, white sugar, and white rice.
· Eat:
Lots of fruits and vegetables, solid and juiced (green
smoothies). Brown rice, young thai coconuts (check out
your local oriental store, nuts, seeds and grains in their
closest form to how they came out of the ground, consider
sprouting). Test yourself for grains.
Don't get discouraged because you have to temporarily adjust
your diet in such a strict way. You need to let your system
heal, and then adopt a healthier way of eating.
Experiences and Testimonials of others
Rob - Archived information on
Mononucleosis (includes comments on CFS).
Mononucleosis or Mono is caused by the "Epstein-Barr
Virus (EBV)" where as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is not
caused by a virus. There is a blood test for Mono called a
"MonoSpot", but there are no tests to diagnose Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome. Unfortunately, no one truly knows much
about CFS nor how to truly treat it. Mono is a very
debilitating illness with can last anywhere from weeks to
months. I am very familiar with this as I had had Mono in
the summer before my Senior year in high school. I was ill
for three months and when I returned to school, my
activities were restricted for another 6 months. Now, there
is some thought that people who have had Mono can possibly
be prone to CFS later in life. So far, that has not happened
to me! Much of the information that Dr. Hill has shared
with us can be used for either of these conditions. With
CFS, it is extremely important for emotional support to be
used to help alleviate the stress, depression, etc that tends
to come with CFS. Mono does have to be watched and treated
very carefully as it can enlarge the Spleen. This is one of
the reasons for extreme bed rest and limited physical
activities. Sometimes corticosteroids may have to be used
in extreme Mono cases. In my case, I was lucky that my
grandmother's personal physician believed very highly in
holistic methods, so I was treated with various herbs, high
doses of vitamin C and Iron. Another frustrating thing
about CFS is that many other health problems that involve
extreme tiredness, joint pain, muscle pain, headaches, and
so on, are classified as CFS when it truly is not. But, of
course in light of those types of symptoms, we are very
lucky to have the benefits of healing from doTERRA!!
Diet and Nutritional
complements to essential oils
Julie - CFS can be related to an
overgrowth of Candida Albicans. Candida Albican is a
fungus (yeast) that is found naturally in the body but with a
weakened immune system it can multiply without proper checks and
detrimentally effect the body. This can come from improper
diet, over use of antibiotics, and birth control, just to name a
few. CFS, normally in the gut, with the overgrowth
condition can move into the muscle and skeletal systems.
I healed my CFS infection with a controlled raw foods diet,
green drinks, juices, essential oils and coconuts which are
naturally mold and fungus killers. The goal is to get your
system from acidic to ALKALINE. For sure check out greendrinks!
My favorite is:
· 1 young coconut including the meat and water
· 1 orange
· 2 cups organic spinach
Blend until smooth. You may also add a hand full of
blueberries.
The essential oils I used were frankincense, oregano,
peppermint, thyme and the blend On Guard.
Diet is important.
· Avoid: Things to cut from your diet today: Number 1
sugar and any sugar substitutes. Anything processed or
canned. Anything with food colorings. Re-heated foods. Dairy.
Fungus, Mold and yeast products such as mushrooms and bread and
cheese. Meats and processed meats. WHITES (white flour,
milk, white sugar, white rice)>
· Eat:
juiced vegetables and fruit, green smoothies, plenty of
fruits and veggies, brown rice, young thai coconuts (check out
your local oriental store, nuts, seeds and grains in their
closest form to how they came out of the ground (see sprouting).
Test yourself for grains. I had to cut grains for a while
until my system healed ( I now use sprouted grains, wheatgrass,
and whole wheat flour) but I was able to eat quinoa in place of
grains.. I still love that grain.
Don't get discouraged because you have to temporarily adjust
your diet to such a strict diet. You need to let your system
heal, and then adopt a healthier way of eating using plenty of
fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains in their closest form
to the earth. I can sometimes eat fish when I need meat which
isn't very often. Usually when it gets cold. I now avoid beef,
chicken and all processed meats. I don't miss them.
I feel wonderful eating this way, and now enjoy freedom from
feeling like road kill every day.
If you are suffering from this hang in there, there IS an
answer. I felt crazy for so long when no one had the answer for
me. Then I found the raw food diet and essential oils.
What Science & Research are saying
Candida, Inflammation & Auto-Immune Illnesses
Kathy - This summary is based on Dr. Bruce Semon's book
An Extraordinary Power to Heal (2003). This summary
gives general explanations about how yeast can cause
so-called autoimmune illnesses and chronic disease. For
detailed explanations, including an extensive chapter on how
the immune system is supposed to work--and how yeast prevent
it from working correctly--we recommend that you read
An Extraordinary Power to Heal.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Crohn's Disease,
Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Lupus, Multiple
Sclerosis, Numbness in the hands, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and
Ulcerative colitis: What do these have in common?
They all respond to dietary intervention and anti-yeast
treatment.
Why might chronic diseases ranging from psoriasis to
ulcerative colitis to arthritis respond to dietary
intervention and anti-yeast treatment? These diseases are
all marked by the body appearing to attack itself. They are
called "auto-immune" diseases.
I have always considered the idea of the body attacking
itself as a strange idea. Why should the body do that? In 40
years of research, the biomedical research community has
been unable to come up with any answer. Maybe the concept is
wrong.
Maybe the body is not attacking itself primarily. Maybe
the primary target is not the body but the yeast Candida
albicans. To understand how such terrible diseases can
occur, we need to look at the interactions of Candida
albicans and the immune system.
Yeast are normal residents of the intestinal tract. After
antibiotics, yeast grow to fill in the space left by dead
bacteria and the yeast continue to grow at this higher
level. The body still must contain the yeast so that the
yeast does not invade the rest of the body. If Candida
invades the body, the result is often death.
The best way to look at the immune system is to
understand that the immune system has both defensive and
offensive weapons. The main defensive weapon is
inflammation. Inflammation is like putting up a wall, a hot
wall, which makes it difficult for invading foreign
microorganisms to get through. Inflammation will occur
anytime the immune system contacts a foreign invader. But as
you know the inflammation is painful. Along with the
inflammation, should come the offensive weapons which kill
the foreign invader. The problem is that Candida has many
tricks to evade the offensive weapons of the body's immune
system.
Candida is a very difficult organism for the body's
immune system to clear. Why?
Yeast have a capsule on the outside which prevents the
first line (phagocytic) white blood cells of the body from
engulfing the yeast and killing it. So the body must rely on
the other parts of the immune system.
Candida has other tricks to evade the body's immune
system. One of these tricks is to change its outside. The
immune system recognizes the outside receptors of the
invading organism and then sends out signals to start an
immune response. Some of the immune responders then look for
cells with those receptors. Candida albicans can change the
receptors which it is displaying, making it difficult for
the body's immune cells to react appropriately. In essence,
Candida albicans is a moving target, which changes its form.
The most important thing to know about Candida is that
Candida albicans can make factors which suppress the immune
response to itself. These factors can be found in the
circulation of people with significant Candida infections.
When these factors are purified and placed in cultures of
immune cells, these immune cells do not develop the
responses to Candida which they are supposed to develop. In
other words, Candida can make factors, which prevent the
body from reacting to and killing the Candida. These factors
prevent the total eradication of Candida from the body.
The Candida can suppress the offensive weapons of the
body's immune system. But the inflammation will still be
generated because when the immune system detects a foreign
invader, there will always be inflammation. The problem is
that the foreign invader, the Candida, is not going away,
because the immune system's offensive weapons are
suppressed. The inflammation will remain and inflammation is
painful.
In the intestinal tract, there is Candida, which tries to
invade the intestinal wall, and the immune system responds
with inflammation. The problem is that the Candida
suppresses the immune system's offensive weapons, so the
Candida stays and the inflammation is prolonged. This
prolonged inflammation is called ulcerative colitis if it
occurs in the large intestine and it is called Crohn's
disease if it occurs in the small intestine. These disorders
are prolonged inflammation resulting from the immune
system's inability to clear Candida.
In ulcerative colitis, there is painful inflammation of
the intestine rather than regulated containment. As the body
fights the yeast in the intestine, some of the cells
fighting the yeast circulate and come into contact with
yeast on the skin and start an inflammation there, leading
to eczema and psoriasis .
Candida causes autoimmune problems such as lupus and
rheumatoid arthritis in this way. Candida puts out receptors
on its cell surface which are actually human receptors for
connective tissue and the immune system. If the body attacks
the Candida in the intestinal tract, the body's immune
system will attack anything which looks like the Candida.
Because of the connective tissue receptors on Candida, the
body's immune system may attack other cells in the body
which have these receptors.
Many tissues such as the joints have connective tissue
and as the body attacks the Candida, the body will also
attack these cells. The result is painful joints or other
inflamed tissues.
Candida also has receptors which are similar to those in
the brain. When these cells are attacked, the result is
multiple sclerosis.
In other words, Candida acts as a long term vaccination
displaying the body's own cellular receptors to the body's
immune system. When the immune system sees such receptors
for a long enough time, it will attack cells which display
such receptors, which includes the cells of the body. There
is research which shows that such immune system reactions
occur. The yeast Candida is the primary target. If the
Candida is removed the body stops attacking itself.
Ready, Set, Grow
