End Fatigue

New This Week — CFS/Fibromyalgia News: January 7, 2009

Treating Excessive Sweating, Night Sweats, Hot Flashes

Dear Readers,

Excessive sweating (which can occur both at night and/or during the day) is a very common part of CFS & fibromyalgia, and is also very common even in those without CFS/FMS. This problem reflects poor functioning of the "autonomic nervous system" (which controls blood pressure, pulse and sweating) which is controlled by the hypothalamus in the brain. Other common causes of sweats and/or hot flashes in addition to CFS and fibromyalgia include:

	Estrogen and progesterone deficiency with menopause and peri-menopause.
	Testosterone deficiency in men (including drops in levels when testosterone treatments wear off).
	Infections of many types.
	Drops in blood sugar caused by a low adrenal.
	Acid reflux being inhaled (especially at night while sleeping).

Evaluating for and treating the above problems will often help the sweats to lessen or go away. In addition, the herbal Black Cohosh (Remifemin — take 2 caps 2x day for 2 months and then it can often be lowered to 1 twice a day) has been shown to help stabilize autonomic nervous function and decrease the sweats and flashes in menopausal women in a number of studies — and may also help in CFS/FMS. Give it 2 months to see the full effect.

Read more »

RESEARCH BRIEFS

This week we will look at 3 other issues that can cause sweats as well. These are autonomic dysfunction with dizziness, opiate withdrawal, and yeast overgrowth.

POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) Common in CFS

In addition to causing sweats, the autonomic dysfunction in CFS/FMS can cause dizziness and fatigue as blood pressure drops (called NMH or neurally mediated hypotension) or pulse shoots up (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS). As we have noted for years, these are common in CFS. In this study, 27% of those with CFS also had POTS — which worsened their fatigue. Read more »

Acetyl-L-Carnitine Effective in Treatment of Opiate Withdrawal

Although most pain can be effectively treated without narcotics (opiates), most physicians are simply not trained in pain management and will (often from compassion) use these as they are not aware of alternatives (see my book Pain Free 1-2-3 for how to eliminate pain without narcotics). Weaning off narcotics can be hard, but natural supplements, like Acetyl-L-Carnitine, decrease withdrawal symptoms significantly. Read more »

Antifungal Treatment May Help Asthma Patients

Prescription antifungals have been shown by clinical experience to be very helpful in CFS, fibromyalgia, sinusitis and spastic colon. This placebo controlled study showed it can help in asthma. Read more »

FEATURED QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Q: Much less pain on Ribose and Anti-Yeast herbals, but now with severe sweats. Read more »

Q: Treating light and sound sensitivity. Read more »

JOKE OF THE WEEK

New Definitions

Adult: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

Beauty Parlor: A place where women curl up and dye.

Cannibal: Someone who is fed up with people.

Chickens: The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead.

Committee: A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.

Egotist: Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.

Handkerchief: Cold Storage.

Inflation: Cutting money in half without damaging the paper.

Mosquito: An insect that makes you like flies better.

Secret: Something you tell to one person at a time.

Toothache: The pain that drives you to extraction.

Tomorrow: One of the greatest labor saving devices of today.

Yawn: An honest opinion openly expressed.

Wrinkles: Something other people have, similar to my character lines.