Freedom from ME/CFS - A Specialist Site from The Optimum Health Clinic

To help you understand more about where we are coming from, we have provided the answers to some of the questions new patients ask us.

I’ve tried every treatment already…
ME is not a treatable illness – I’ve been told you cannot get better from M.E...?
People get better spontaneously without treatment – why should I invest in treatment…?
I can’t afford treatment – your treatments should be offered for free on the NHS…
How many patients are getting better with the clinic?
How long will it take to improve?
How are you different from other clinics?
I cannot get to the clinic – how can I receive treatment?
Should I do the psychology or nutrition treatment first?

1. I’ve tried every treatment already…

Although it can often feel like this, it just simply isn’t possible. There are new treatments becoming available all the time as the latest scientific research improves our understanding of this complex illness. There are literally thousands of research scientists around the world researching M.E./C.F.S./F.M. At the clinic we aim to keep up to date with this research and make it available to all our patients. Even we struggle to keep up with all the findings (and we have a team of nine practitioners researching and specialising in this area!), so although you may feel like you have tried everything, the chances are when you speak to us, you will discover there is an entirely new treatment world that can open up.

2. ME is not a treatable illness – I’ve been told you cannot get better from M.E...?
It is so sad that many people still hold this toxic and damaging belief. For accurate information on how treatable this illness actually is, we suggest you look towards qualified world experts on M.E./C.F.S./F.M. who know the area very well, and who actually have clinical experience like ourselves, and to others whose protocols we have integrated; for example Dr S Myhill in the UK, Dr P Cheney and Dr J Teitelbaum, and Dr De Meirleir in the U.S.

The best scientific evidence we have for the fact that M.E./C.F.S. is a treatable illness is the study completed by a C.F.S. clinic in the States, published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Vol. 8(2) 2001. In a study in this clinic of 46 patients diagnosed with severe C.F.S., treatment resulted in complete resolution of fatigue in 57%, and a significant but incomplete improvement in 39% of the patients. Improvement was seen at a median time of seven weeks.

3. People get better spontaneously without treatment – why should I invest in treatment…?

The scientific research shows that for those patients who have been ill for 2-3 years or less there is an increased chance that they will recover naturally but it is still quite rare and unpredictable. For patients who have been ill for a longer period than this, evidence shows that possibly only 30% or fewer people recover naturally.

4. I can’t afford treatment – your treatments should be offered for free on the NHS…

As you probably already know, M.E. is a hugely complex illness; and, as outlined in “M.E. in the 21st Century,” it is an illness where the orthodox approach to illness is hugely limited. The NHS is beginning to recognise that there are treatments that can benefit those with M.E./C.F.S./F.M. beyond what they are able to offer. However, the move from the orthodox approach to actually offering significant funding for such treatment is a number of years away.

We are currently in the process of undertaking clinical trials to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, and we aim to have these published within 2-3 years. This will help the medical community understand that the illness is treatable, and hopefully speed up what will become available for free on the NHS for everyone.

However, in the meantime, we are trying our best to do everything we can to make our treatments as affordable as possible; patients may have as much or as little treatment as they choose to, and we always take financial limitations into consideration when working with patients.

5. How many patients are getting better with the clinic?

We believe around 80% of patients who commit to some or all of our treatment protocols, experience significant improvement. Patients who are the most committed to do whatever it takes, appear to increase their chances of full recovery. We believe that 80% is a realistic and reasonably accurate figure (compared to some “one treatment fits all” approaches that are claiming 90-95% full recoveries, which clearly are unsubstantiated and over-inflated).

Also, bear in mind we have patients ranging in age from a few years old to eighty five. They vary in the severity of their condition; from totally bedbound to pretty much functioning, but not at 100%. We encourage you to have all your questions answered by a practitioner in the clinic whilst you are considering treatment. The best way to do this is by booking a 15 minute chat (e-mail
15minutechat@TheOptimumHealthClinic.com or call 0845 226 1762 to do so).

6. How long will it take to improve?

Patients can begin to feel improvements within two weeks. Most of our treatment protocols covering specific imbalances last about three months, and we would expect the patient to improve noticeably in this time. Other patients take longer to respond and benefits seem to be felt after 6-9 months. This is especially the case where patients are releasing or “detoxing” from heavy metals or other toxins. We know that at the moment, cardio-vascular patients take a full year to recover from mitochondrial malfunction. For patients with this health imbalance, patients should expect this kind of time frame. Recovery time is also dependent on how long you have been ill, how severe your illness is, and your age. Having said that, every case is different, and we have seen people in the latter part of their life, who have been ill for several decades, make dramatic improvements within a short time scale.

7. How are you different from other clinics?

As we are a clinic that specialises in treating M.E./C.F.S./F.M., we go much deeper and have a much broader range of tools and treatments at our disposal than general health practitioners who do not specialise in these areas. Attending a clinic that does not specialise can be useful for a basic treatment, but in our experience, although clients may improve a little, there is often much deeper and more effective work they can do by seeking specialist advice. The experience and expertise gained in treating four or five patients per year with M.E./C.F.S./F.M. at a non-specialised clinic, versus the fifteen-twenty patients each of our practitioners treats each week is incomparable.

Being one of the major clinics in the world that specialise in M.E./C.F.S./F.M., we are also very familiar with treatments at other clinics. We always aim to incorporate successful protocols employed by other clinicians where we find these to be appropriate for our own patients. This is ultimately what makes us different from other specialist clinics treating M.E./C.F.S./F.M. – we are not interested in taking a single approach, such as only treating for a bacterial infection or thyroid problem - we integrate all these approaches and assess which ones fit each patient’s needs. We believe this is the way forward, in terms of preventing M.E./C.F.S./F.M. patients spending thousands of pounds on separate treatments, when we could have assessed what they specifically needed and what was likely to work or not in advance.

8. I cannot get to the clinic – how can I receive treatment?

All our patients have usually been through a thorough physical examination by traditional doctors before they come to the clinic, as most patients are already diagnosed with M.E./C.F.S /F.M. All patients coming into the physical side of treatment at the clinic must submit a further ten recent GP test results before beginning treatment (which also saves the patient spending lots of money on testing which is free through the NHS). With this information, and since most other lab testing that maybe required can be done by post, we are consequently able to offer telephone consultations, both on the nutrition and psychology side of treatment. We have treated patients in over twenty countries around the world so far, and have developed highly effective protocols for working by telephone, using both psychology and nutrition. Please see the following FAQ’s on our two departments for more information.

9. Should I do the psychology or nutrition treatment first?

Most patients find working on both the psychology and the physical side of treatment the most effective path to recovery. Working on both at the same time can be beneficial; work on the psychology side to correct the maladaptive stress response and psychological subtypes (see “M.E. in the 21st Century: You are no longer a mystery”) can make treatment on the physical side much more effective, and boosting energy on the nutrition side by treating the Mitochondria and correcting the physical subtypes, makes it easier to work through psychological patterns.

Often it is down to the patient’s financial and practical limitations as to whether they do both at once, or one side first. Equally, it is also fine to do one side first and then the other. If you start one side first, your practitioner will refer you across to the other department of the clinic when they feel you are ready to move on.