There's something else I wanted to share about a really effective treatment that helped me a lot with digestive issues, which I had for many years due to candida overgrowth. Many folks with CFS, due to being immune compromised, have candida, so this may be helpful for some of them.

I spent over a decade attempting to "kill candida," and had only minimal results with assorted anti-fungals, until I took measures to improve my digestion. This was the KEY for me.

My digestion was so poor that food literally putrefied in my gut. I could not digest protein at all. In fact, I spent several nights a week puking my guts out with horrible migraines, that were the result of the putrefication. This went on and on for years, because NO DOCTOR/PRACTITIONER GOT IT what the core issue was. I tried digestive enzymes with meals (only minimally helpful), and ginger tea with each meal, and other herbal digestive formulas... etc. I had one practitioner insist that I chew each mouthful of food 100 times before swallowing, which I actually attempted with ZERO results... and another one who told me I needed to pray before each meal... as if this was medical advice! After a while I began to believe I was allergic to animal protein, and tried to revert to eating only rice and vegies. But the more I avoided the protein, the skinnier and weaker I got. And with all this, the candida proliferated.

Then one day, a friend of mine let me try a digestive aid of hers, which contained Betaine HCl. I had feared taking it, because I thought, like many people, that I had TOO MUCH acid in my stomach. (OH SO WRONG!) As it turned out the that Betaine HCl was the miracle of miracles for me. My digestion changed literally overnight. After years of torturous nights beside the toilet, my migraines and vomiting came to an abrupt end. And now that I finally digested my food, the candida began to become much less of an issue. With a few rounds of L-glutamine to help heal the gut lining and GSE (grapefruit seed extract) to put a dent in the candida population, I got it down rather painlessly, to a nearly non-existent level.

I had had a very limited diet up to this point, with MANY food allergies, which now began to disappear. Within a few years I could eat raw food again and even a little fruit, which I hadn't been able to do for a decade. Over time the candida did not re-infiltrate. I have not had any serious candida issues since.

As a final note I want to add that to get the appropriate AMOUNT of HCl, I followed the directions of a holistic MD. He told me to add one cap (of HCl) with every meal, until I began to have some stomach discomfort. Then to lower down from that by one. I found that 5 caps of HCl was the ONE-TOO-MUCH and so I lowered that down to 4 caps. This is my usual dose with average sized meals. Less for a smaller meal, up to 5-6 for a REALLY BIG meal--like Thanksgiving.

Betaine HCl was the one thing that really worked for me, without a doubt, with clear instant results.

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My GP offered them to me probably about 5 years ago, at a much lower dosage than is used for depression. I had read about this as being a possible treatment. But I turned it down.

I figured, I had a condition where we didn't know what was wrong or what caused it. It didn't make any sense to me to start throwing guesswork like drugs at it when we didn't know what kind of effect they might have. Heck, half the time they don't know what effect antidepressants will have on people who don't have major neurological, endocrinological, immunilogical, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular dysfunction.

That has been my base-line concerning all drugs. If I don't know what's wrong with me, and therefore don't know what effect this drug might have, I am not going to take it.

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Thanks Susan.

I'm glad to see something good coming from all the years' experience with this condition. I'm happy to pass on anything I've learned.

I remember all too well what it was like to not know where to turn or what to do to find some relief. Groups like this help people find their way.

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I'd been sick for many years without any treatment that helped, other than bed rest and sleep. Eight years ago I tried a low carb diet, and found that it reduced many symptoms and erased a few of them.

I was still sick though and in some ways continued to get sicker over the next couple of years. Three years ago I found a naturopath who's been treating me and I have been getting better.

As a general overview, she has focused on liver detoxification; building up my immune system with natural antivirals and antibacterials to get rid of toxins; omega 3 oil for pain and for central nervous system healing and dry skin/itching among other things; Vitamin D helps vertigo and POTS, panting for air and feeling like I can't keep on my feet, as well as fuzzy brain; adaptogens (I take ashwagandha, my son who has CFS takes siberian ginseng, and there are others as well); assorted natural supplements.

Alot more but that's a start. :)

Built up my im

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