The HFME e-newsletter - December 2009

[Guest guest]

Hello and welcome to the 'Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic

Encephalomyelitis' e-newsletter for December 2009

 

We have just one new project to tell you about this month.

 

-------

 

A new paper is available: High-dose vitamin C and M.E.

 

_http://www.hfme.org/researchvitamincandme.htm_

(http://www.hfme.org/researchvitamincandme.htm)

 

 

What are the benefits of high-dose vitamin C?

What is the appropriate dose, and form, of vitamin C for M.E.?

How safe is high-dose vitamin C and how well tolerated in M.E.?

How does one titrate vitamin C to bowel tolerance?

 

 

An excerpt:

 

High dose vitamin C is one of the most useful and widely-used treatments

for M.E.

 

Vitamin C (in an appropriate dose) is an antioxidant, antihistamine,

antitoxic, antiviral, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, strengthens the

immune system (vitamin C is the master immune boosting nutrient), improves

blood

flow to the brain, supports adrenals (which also supports the thyroid),

improves mitochondrial function, improves general wellbeing, improves ability

to cope with stress, reduces pain, improves asthma, prevents teeth loss,

promotes wound healing, supports healthy joints and improves resistance to

secondary diseases. High dose C can markedly improve your tolerance of

certain chemicals and also has many other additional benefits.

 

 

 

What effects can high dose vitamin C have?

 

Some doctors claim vitamin C taken at a very high dose can greatly affect

the course of a disease or even be curative if taken in very early stages

where the virus infection is still active and there is little long term

bodily damage caused yet. For those who have not been ill with M.E. for very

long, this treatment should be seriously considered and may be of great

benefit or even curative, and the only risk (when the dose is raised slowly) is

temporary mild gastric upset. It's hard to find any reason why this

treatment should not be strongly recommended, or even mandatory, for anyone in

the

acute early stages of M.E.

 

Some long-term M.E. patients report significant improvements with very

high dose vitamin C treatment also. It can cause feelings of intense physical

wellbeing and improvements in many different neurological, cardiac and

other symptoms. In addition to improvements in the condition generally, high

dose vitamin C is also worth considering in M.E. due to its ability to help

fight off secondary infections and reduce cancer risk and chemical

sensitivities. Again, it's very hard to find any reason why this treatment

should

not be strongly recommended, or even mandatory, for anyone with long-term

M.E. There is much potential for benefit and the only risk (when the dose is

raised slowly) is temporary mild gastric upset.

 

Another significant benefit of high dose vitamin C is it may be a useful

treatment for many conditions misdiagnosed as M.E. or given a meaningless

'CFS' misdiagnosis. So it is still one to try where the diagnosis of M.E. is

not 100% certain, or if all a person has as yet is a bogus 'CFS' diagnosis,

while the search for a correct diagnosis continues. (Diseases which may

benefit from high dose vitamin C include Lupus, MS, Lyme disease, post-viral

fatigue syndromes, glandular fever/mononucleosis, Candida, sick building

syndrome, MCSS, hepatitis and cancer.)

 

Vitamin C is involved in almost every bodily process and helps our bodies

maintain homeostasis. Irwin Stone explains in his book on vitamin C that,

 

" Throughout the evolution of the vertebrates, including the mammals,

Nature has used ascorbic acid to maintain physiological homeostasis. In simple

nontechnical terms, this means that when stressful situations arose which

disturbed the biochemical equilibrium of the animal, ascorbic acid was

produced in increased quantities to get things running normal again. The

amount

of ascorbic acid produced is related to the severity of the stresses and

if enough was produced soon enough, then the animal was able to survive the

bad biochemical effects of the stresses. If, however, the enzyme system

for producing ascorbic acid was overwhelmed or poisoned by the stresses and

too little ascorbic acid was produced, then the animal succumbed. Man,

unable to produce his own ascorbic acid, could not take advantage of this

natural protective process. Instead stresses only further depleted his low

stores of this vital metabolite. Now he can easily duplicate this time-tested

defensive mechanism by reaching for the bottle of ascorbic acid and

swallowing additional quantities whenever he is subjected to biochemical

stresses.

In duplicating this normal process for combating stresses, man has one

great advantage over the other mammals -- he can get an unlimited supply of

ascorbic acid without being dependent upon an enzyme system which may not

produce enough, quickly enough. All man needs to know is how much to take.

One of the outstanding attributes of ascorbic acid is its lack of toxicity

even when given in large doses over long periods of time. This has been

recognized since the 1930s, and ascorbic acid can be rated as one of the least

toxic substances known of comparable physiological activity. "

 

Excerpt ends.

 

See: _http://www.hfme.org/researchvitamincandme.htm_

(http://www.hfme.org/researchvitamincandme.htm)

 

Or download the paper, included with 'Treating M.E.: The basics' using any

of these links:

 

_http://www.hfme.org/Word/Treating_ME_The_Basics.doc_

(http://www.hfme.org/Word/Treating_ME_The_Basics.doc)

_http://www.hfme.org/PDF/Treating_ME_The_Basics.pdf_

(http://www.hfme.org/PDF/Treating_ME_The_Basics.pdf)

_http://www.hfme.org/LT/LT_Treating_ME_The_Basics.pdf_

(http://www.hfme.org/LT/LT_Treating_ME_The_Basics.pdf)

 

(For your own safety, please read this full paper, and the important

cautions and details therein, before beginning any new treatment.)

 

 

-------

 

Ongoing HFME projects

 

 

1. M.E. case studies wanted. If your case study isn't already featured on

the HFME site we hope you'll consider writing one - even two or three or

four paragraphs would be fine. For more information please see:

_http://www.hfme.org/newsletterextras.htm#454663978_

(http://www.hfme.org/newsletterextras.htm#454663978)

 

 

2. The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E. is setting up two new memorial

pages. One for M.E. patients and one for all those patients misdiagnosed with

'CFS' who have diseases other than M.E. If you would like a friend or

family member to be included in this memorial list, please see the HFME

memorial lists page at _http://www.hfme.org/mememoriallist.htm_

(http://www.hfme.org/mememoriallist.htm)

 

 

3. Donate 'free' money to M.E. advocacy if you are a new customer at the

iHerb or VRP online supplement and vitamin shops. For more information

please see: _http://www.hfme.org/donatetohfme.htm_

(http://www.hfme.org/donatetohfme.htm)

 

 

----------

 

That's it for this month.

 

 

All the best from all of us, and happy new year (as much as possible at

least), until next month,

 

Jodi Bassett (and the HFME team)