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Supplements for M.E / CFS and Fibromyalgia

Health food stores and supermarkets are stocked full of high dose vitamins, minerals and plant extracts. It's not my intention to go through these and assess their effectiveness with M.E / CFS but there are four I will mention here because of personal experience.

Dietary supplements for M.E / CFS

Spatone Iron+

Spatone is a supplement high in Iron, a vital mineral in the production of energy. Spatone is unusual in that it's not a tablet but is sold as sachets of mineral water from a Welsh spa where the water is naturally high in Iron. Iron is vital for the body but most Iron supplements are in the form of tablets, which can cause constipation and digestive upsets because the body struggles to absorb it. Because the Iron in Spatone is already disolved the body can more readily absorb it - so you get more Iron and less side effects (if any).

When I was working 12 hour days in a restaurant (pre CFS days of course) the head chef was taking Spatone daily. By the end of the season myself and the rest of the kitchen staff were doing likewise and I certainly felt less drained as a result. Although it's far from being a cure, and simple iron defficiency is certainly not the issue in M.E / CFS, I find it's worth having some around. It's best taken in a glass of fruit juice which greatly reduces the slightly metalic taste.

Spatone is certainly available in the UK through larger branches of Boots. If you want to contact them go to their website www.spatone.com.

Of course you can change your diet to increase your Iron intake, Red meat and Spinach being famously high in Iron. But bare in mind that cooking Iron rich foods can turn the Iron into Oxalic Acid, which in fact inhibits the absorbtion of Iron.

Olive Leaf Extract

This is another supplement I've heard about in relation to M.E / CFS. It is claimed to help strengthen the immune system and certainly some people have found it of value. I personally didn't experience any effects from taking it, but then my CFS came from an injury - it was not post-viral. I've included it here because the Bach remedies, a range of Homeopathic remedies that take the patient's emotional state as their main diagnosis, have one Remedy which is for exhaustion, (physical and emotional) - and that is Olive. So maybe there is something in the Olive plant that specifically relates to energy and so could help with M.E / CFS.

For more on olive leaf extract go to www.immunesupport.com and search for Olive Leaf. There are a number of articles there.

Magnesium.

Some M.E / CFS patients have found Magnesium injections help their condition, in relation to energy and muscular tension. The trouble is your doctor can test you for Magnesium, but there are two different tests for Magnesium, and the it's the red cell Magnesium test that is relevant here.

As with most essential minerals the digestive system can have problems in both finding enough Magnesium in your diet and absorbing it into your bloodstream. Epsom Salts are one way to get a little extra Magnesium, (follow the instructions) but too much will just result in diarrhoea as Epsom Salts are a remedy for constipation - (too much and you'll learn the meaning of the phrase, 'going through you like a dose of salts'!). Maybe talk over Magenesium injections with your doctor, or add a handfull of Epsom Salts to your bath, which could be as effective as it needs to get to your muscles. Again injections didn't work for me, and actually made me feel a little worse, but there is research that indicates if your Magnesium levels are low such injections could help.

As with all minerals the tanine in tea inhibits absorption, so supplements, (and really meals if you're using diet to increase your mineral intake) should not be taken with tea.

NADH - Nicotinamide adene dinucleotide

NADH is a co-enzyme of vitamin B3, which means it is what your body tries to turn B3 into, and appears to be an important constituent in the production of energy. When it was first tested a few years ago it seemed it could be the 'magic bullet' for M.E / CFS, with claims of 80% success rate. The more people who have tried it the more the annecdotal evidence suggests that for some people it will have no effect and can occasionally lead to a worsening of symptoms. But double blind trials and annecdotal evidence indicate it helps some sufferers of M.E / CFS so it's worth looking at.

I was recently e-mailed by a friend who has had real benefits from taking NADH. It has reduced his muscular stiffness by half within 3 days of taking 10 mg a day. A walk that should take 5 minutes but with CFS took 30, suddenly took only 15 minutes - not a cure, but a significant change none the less. However when discussing it with his GP she told him that in her experience it doesn't work for everyone. Like most things with M.E / CFS, different approaches work for different people.

What could be a problem with NADH is that it occurs in the muscles and so is at the end of the energy production cycle. So taking such a supplement could be like opening the hood of your car and pouring petrol directly into the engine, instead of fixing a leak in the fuel line or the fuel tank - namely dealing with the symptoms rather than the cause. Also I haven't yet found any research on what happens when people stop taking NADH after a long period. Does it have a lasting beneficial effect? Does a person return to their previous state? Or does the body even become dependent on it and less able to produce it's own NADH? For the moment nobody seems to know.

If you do a search on NADH you'll probably find several sites selling NADH, and most of them quote the Georgetown University, Washington trial of NADH which has been the most encouraging study for NADH so far. It lasted 3 months, and showed 31% of patients had improved symptoms (at least a 10% reduction in symptoms), opposed to 8% in the control group. A longer term study suggests 73% of patients experienced some improvement over time,(more than a year). However one study of 26 patients can never be seen as definitive. And remember although 73% sounds great, it is 73% who had some improvement. It doesn't mean 73% of patients got 73% better!

I believe NADH may be worth considering but if you feel worse or feel no improvement I would save myself the money, (£10+ a week at 10mg a day!).

The Enada brand is the only licensed brand of NADH available. Several health food stores stock it. Online try www.immunesupport.com In the UK the cheapest source I've found is www.supportme.co.uk

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