A father brought his 21-year old daughter to my clinic in May, 1999. Eighteen months previously, she had been diagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). In that period, she had seen six different doctors and three specialists who had told her that there was nothing they could do for her, that she just needed time to recover.

This young woman was extremely frustrated. Previously she had been happy, active, involved in lots of sports. Then, all of a sudden, she went down hill and could not get back up again. So unwell was she that she had to defer her university studies: in 1998, she applied to go back but found that she was still too weak.
She described her symptoms: she was sleeping fifteen hours a day, but was always sleepy. She had no appetite, no motivation, no focus, no interest in anything; sore aching muscles; constipation; she could walk for only two minutes, after which she was exhausted.

I performed a haemaview analysis that revealed various underlying causes of her fatigue. She had bowel toxicity, overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria in her bowel. This alone would have depleted her vital force and her immune system. Her immune system was under attack by pathogens, and both vitamin C and zinc levels were very low, which depletes immune function. Levels of iron, B12 and folic acid were poor, her cells were dying quickly from lack of antioxidants, and her liver was under a tremendous amount of stress.

I was able to report to my patient that her condition was not really CFS: that chronic fatigue was the result of her condition, but not the cause. I told her that while her overall health status was poor, it could be rectified quickly. Delighted that finally someone could help her, she promised to fully co-operate with my treatment.
I started with a six-week bowel cleansing and liver support program, along with a low chemical reactive diet plan. She did wonderfully well: the cleansing enabled her body to breathe, and to absorb nutrients from her food. She was much more energized, reporting a 70 per cent improvement.

The next step was a four-week program of supplementary iron, folate, B12, and antioxidant support. After that, I put her on immune support for three weeks with zinc, ultrascorbic acid, Chinese five mushroom extract, and the herb astragalus.
The last few times I saw her, she would run upstairs to my clinic instead of walking slowly, supporting herself on the railing. She started chatting with everyone in the waiting room instead of leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. She smiled, she laughed, she joked around instead of sitting there, looking sad and exhausted. Her improvement was outstanding - and her father was very thankful for her progress.

We did a reassessment of her haemaview, and it showed that she was in good health. I told her that if she could maintain her treatment for at least three months, her health would be perfect.
I see numerous cases like this in my clinic. Women especially are told that nothing can be done to help them: they just have to live with it. Such statements are extremely discouraging: they see no hope, and it’s very hard to make any effort. Day after day, year after year, they become increasingly exhausted and eventually just give up.

The term ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ is used to describe a group of medical symptoms without clear pathological causes. Patients should not just take the practitioner’s word: they need to look into the biochemical function of the body, look into their energy system and emotional aspects.

Even if pathology tests show that a CFS patient suffers from chronic viral, bacterial, mycoplasma, or streptococci infections, my clinical approach is still to clean the physical environment, and support the nutritional system and immune system.