What Is Fibromyalgia/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Treatment Intervention: A New Model Part 2

Malignant Toxic Stress. Lymphatic And Mitochondrial Failure

Extreme Case Study: Gulf War Syndrome.

All Fibromyalgia/CFS/GWS patients do have one major factor in common; Pre and post trigger infection they are/were also suffering from chronic toxic stress.

All human beings have a different genetic make up.

Most will also have the musculoskeletal issues which prevent them from effective detox as I discuss in my book.

Basically every human being has a different level of stress/toxic stress which they can cope with while remaining well. This is best illustrated using an extreme example.

Gulf War Syndrome (GWS)

1/ In the first gulf war, thousands of highly trained soldiers, mostly fit young men, were all exposed to massive programmes of vaccination in advance of entering theatre.

2/ Shortly afterwards while in the field, they were exposed to uranium tipped warheads, biological and chemical agents.

3/ To increase the toxic cocktail, massive oil fields were set alight around them by the fleeing Iraqis.

4/ It is a less documented fact that during tour of duty, soldiers ration packs contain insufficient nutrients to provide for many essential body function over an extended period. They concentrate mostly refined simple carbohydrates with protein.

5/ It is also the case that some of the food products delivered to the soldiers were in unsuitable packaging and stored in excessively hot conditions which may have released excessive quantities of heavy metals into their diet.

6/ Naturally it is reasonable to assume the extraordinary levels of stress that are created in all individuals in difficult war scenarios.

The results: A staggering 15% of these soldiers went onto develop Gulf War Syndrome which is basically a chronic version of Fibromyalgia/ CFS, as measured by CDC requirements.

Most of these soldiers were fit and strong at the time, so we can see that simply their genetic ability to detoxify in one of the most severe toxic environments on earth, varied to such an extent that 1 in 8 were so susceptible that they developed these long term conditions.

This of course is an extreme example of toxic stress.

The first gulf war represented the most toxic war in history and lessons have been learned.

Factors that are particularly relevant to this example would include genetic make up, state of health and lifestyle prior to going to war, health of the immune system and its innate ability to withstand toxic insult.

Age is a factor, fitness and even fat content are all relevant factors, but the biggest determinant for the Gulf War victims appears to be simple genetic make up.

So what would we consider are the external lifestyle factors that could affect an individuals level of toxicity, and insult the blood brain barrier to such a degree that one could develop Fibromyalgia/CFS/GWS?

Here is my list of the main offenders that I have found over the last 5 years.

They are listed in no particular order. They are all "malignant".

1. Smoking cigarettes: 600 known toxins including Acetone, Ammonia, Arsenic, Benzene, Benzoapyrene, Butane, Cadmium, Formaldehyde, Lead, Propylene Glycol, Turpentine. Benzene is possibly the most linked toxin to cases of Fibromyalgia and CFS.

2. Excessive alcohol consumption: particularly yeast based drinks. Intolerance to the toxins produced by alcohol consumption is a recognised feature for these patients.

3. Volatile Organic Compounds: These include wood filler, car filler, but a lot of DIY products contain VOC’s. All products are required to advertise their VOC content.

4. Food additives: Cadmium. Allergies to wheat and dairy based products. Also aspartame, E951.

5. Environmental disasters: Burning of the Kuwait oil fields, uranium tipped warhead (anti tank missiles,) radiation leaks, chemical leaks from power stations etc.

6. Respiration: Glues, paints, white spirit, detergents, bleach. Anything containing benzene.

7. Heavy metal poisoning: These metals can accumulate in the blood and be stored in tissues. Worst offenders include aluminium, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, copper, copper, iron, lead, mercury , nickel. Mercury from amalgam fillings is the most cited example, but as I have discussed one should not have them removed unless a blood test shows leakage, and they should be removed very carefully under strict medical conditions. Aluminium from old pots and pans can also be a serious problem. Food storage containers as indicated in GWS.

8. Pesticides and organophosphates: Implicated in Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and CFS/Fibromyalgia.

9. Solvents: Implicated again in MCS, CFS, and FMS.

10. Hair sprays, deodorants, spray paints: All contain chemicals whose long term inhalation has never been tested by humans and are linked to CFS/ FMS.

11. Anti baldness/ alopecia products: There has been a rise in the number of men who use products such as minoxidil/ spironalactone and the oral based finasteride a DHT inhibitor. Ketaconazole based dandruff shampoos. The long term effects of applying chemicals to the scalp has never been tested. Due to their proximity to the blood/ brain barrier, use of these products should be stopped immediately.

12. By products of exhaust fumes: Particularly diesel. Just as the toxins created by burning crude oil in the gulf affected hundreds of young American soldiers, atmospheric toxins are created every morning that 190 million Americans turn their cars ignition.

13. Vaccinations: Gulf war veterans having two or more vaccinations at the same time, particularly the anthrax vaccine, appear to be the ones most susceptible to go on to develop Gulf War Syndrome. Some vaccinations were produced with a mercury based agent included to improve delivery. This indicates that there is a connection between the level of toxic insult at a given time and the subsequent immune system dysfunction.

A feature of all the 13 toxic sources listed, is that they can cause a range of illnesses associated with various organ systems of the body, affecting and simultaneously damaging the kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, spleen etc.

Fibromyalgia/CFS/GWS Are indeed only one of the groups of conditions most associated with toxic exposure.

The most common effect of these toxic insults is a subtle brain damage which leads to the fatigue spectrum illnesses and associated symptoms of cognitive impairment, autonomic nervous dysfunction, headache, exhaustion, memory loss, insomnia, which activate the later detrimental effects on other organ systems including muscles and eventually the deepening and damaging long term impact of total mitochondrial failure.

Neurological Dysfunction and Intervention:

So what is actually happening in the brain, in the lead up to the “trigger” infective illness.

As toxins enter or are created within the body they begin to build up in the brains blood supply system, which is extremely sensitive to toxic insult.

The first port of call is the hypothalamus. This is consistent with all our scientific evidence because we know that the Hypothalamus is poorly protected by the blood brain barrier.

Why is the hypothalamus so important in Fibromyalgia/CFS?

Well the hypothalamus actually controls hormone production by continually checking blood levels of the various cocktail of hormones that are needed for different organ functions.

As it needs to monitor the blood so carefully and regularly it needs to be in very close proximity to it and this is the reason that “by design” it cannot be protected so well behind the blood brain barrier as other areas of the brain.

Once hormonal control is affected a whole range of things start to go wrong.

For example, the hypothalamus controls the pituitary gland, which in turn acts as the thermostat for the thyroid gland.

The thyroid gland basically runs the body’s entire metabolism.

If signals reaching the thyroid gland are incorrect then all the problems associated with incorrect thyroid function will begin to become apparent.

As the body’s metabolism fails it is at this point that a Fibromyalgia/CFS trigger infection will most likely attack. And it is also at this point that you will likely identify yourself as becoming “ill”.

As stress levels increase rapidly during the initial infective illness, it can be seen that a negative feedback cycle is initiated.

This is where ideally my protocol combination would be initiated to break this downward cycle and limit the damage potential of your spiralling condition.

It is unfortunate that normally this does not happen.

As you will most likely already have discovered it may be several months before you have the faintest idea what has happened to you, you will have been through numerous diagnoses and doctors, and will have decided that it is only by your own intervention and dedication that you can recover.

And with my new model for intervention we can achieve precisely this.

In Part 3 we discuss the necessary interventions.