How it went
Did it last?
- 13 of 66 said the benefit wore off (including the 4 who relapsed).
- 12 of 66 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 9 | 14% |
| Near-full | 9 | 14% |
| Substantial | 20 | 30% |
| Partial | 21 | 32% |
| Relapsed | 4 | 6% |
| No benefit | 3 | 5% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 5 | 0% | |
| Severe | 27 | 26% | |
| Very severe | 11 | 55% |
23 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
Who published these accounts
Right-hand number: share describing a full or near-full recovery. Pages that sell something, and advocacy sites, tend to publish only the successes.
How often it comes up
Posts that mention Herbal and Chinese medicine, per 1,000 posts each year. Hover a point for the count.
Show as a table
| Year | Posts mentioning it | All posts | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 0 | 184 | 0.0 |
| 2010 | 7 | 682 | 10.3 |
| 2011 | 18 | 704 | 25.6 |
| 2012 | 9 | 1,491 | 6.0 |
| 2013 | 8 | 1,708 | 4.7 |
| 2014 | 15 | 2,352 | 6.4 |
| 2015 | 63 | 2,158 | 29.2 |
| 2016 | 24 | 1,431 | 16.8 |
| 2017 | 18 | 3,110 | 5.8 |
| 2018 | 13 | 2,201 | 5.9 |
| 2019 | 2 | 1,075 | 1.9 |
| 2020 | 18 | 2,581 | 7.0 |
| 2021 | 5 | 1,867 | 2.7 |
| 2022 | 5 | 1,166 | 4.3 |
| 2023 | 5 | 1,000 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 1 | 1,237 | 0.8 |
| 2025 | 11 | 1,019 | 10.8 |
| 2026 (so far) | 1 | 840 | 1.2 |
Posts in the forum threads we archived, 26,806 in all, counted per year. A mention means the post names the treatment, not that the writer took it. These threads all contain a recovery story, so they show what those communities discussed, not everyone with ME/CFS or long COVID. All trends
All 66 accounts
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Treatments. Yes, they do exist.
In this follow-up post, Encephalogirl (Michelle) lists an expanded regimen: low-dose naltrexone, low-dose Abilify, guanfacine, about nine months of tenofovir as part of a planned minimum one-year antiviral course, six weeks of low-dose rapamycin at 1mg once…
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Severe ME/CFS 2013, Remission 2017, Relapse, Remission Dec 2022
Treating what she frames as underlying candida/parasite causes with a long, MD/PhD-supervised rotation of antifungals, antiparasitics and herbs, GlacierBloom reached remission by December 2022 after being severe/bedridden from 2013-2017 and again after a…
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Radical Rest and Beyond
The author of Encephalogirl (who signs as Michelle) treats her ME/CFS-related dysautonomia and POTS with guanfacine and low-dose Abilify (titrated from 0.5mg down to 0.25mg after migraines, then back up to 0.5mg), an increased dose of low-dose naltrexone, a…
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My experiences with apoptosis treatment for HHV-6b, EBV subgroup ME/CFS
Built a long-running self-treatment stack over 15 years - artemisinin, galangal and magnolia bark to unblock apoptosis, a sublingual terpene mix (pinene, beta-caryophyllene, limonene) dosed 20-60 drops, curcumin, and doxycycline for the bacterial component -…
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Why Dragons' Den star is at centre of controversy over ear seeds
Self-administered acupressure via ear seeds, combined with diet changes, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs, over about a year rather than acupressure alone. She was diagnosed with ME at age 26 and was mostly housebound and unable to walk far beforehand.…
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List of ME/CFS recovery and improvement stories
Treated with Kampo herbal medicine after developing ME/CFS following a SARS-CoV-2 infection, with no formula, dose or duration recorded. The patient is described as having recovered after treatment, with nothing said about how long the recovery held. Readers…
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Our brains are physical and they play a big part in how we react to viruses and diseases
Trained in and credits MindBody Reconnect, developed by its founder Clare Caldwell, who also treated Alice personally, as a successor to Mickel Therapy, after acupuncture, herbal medicine, vitamins and meditation had not helped. She had ME/CFS symptoms for…
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Esther
She recovered after listening to a Nicole Sachs podcast and then beginning expressive writing about her feelings, which she says produced an 80% drop in symptoms that same day, followed two weeks later by starting Dr. Howard Schubiner's Mind Body Program and…
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The Remission Biome Project: Two ME/CFS Patients Begin a Gut Reset Effort to Regain Their Health
Bifidobacteria: a multi-strain probiotic blend of Bifidobacterium breve, B. bifidum, B. infantis and B. longum together with Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Saccharomyces boulardii, given as one part of a wider protocol that also included mold avoidance, B…
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Success keeping EBV in check with Tagament and/or a herbal protocol
Used Tagamet against recurring mouth sores and flu-like symptoms, but wary of long-term use over dementia-risk concerns, and describes an herbal stand-in - monolaurin, olive leaf extract, oil of oregano, raw garlic, cat's claw, reishi and andrographis taken…
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Berberine helped me
DrUniverse reports simply taking 5000mg of berberine daily and getting "also improvements," without further detail on what changed or how long it lasted.
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Berberine helped me
After 8 months in a severe state, Elike reports that four weeks of berberine and curcumin brought her back to her "pre-severe" baseline and that she no longer feels constantly in PEM mode. She notes that when she tried to replicate the protocol a few months…
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I realized there was nothing spectacularly wrong with my body. My fear of never getting better had kept me from getting better!
Esther's breakthrough came after hearing a podcast featuring psychotherapist Nicole Sachs and "Lieke from Amsterdam," which led her to journal about her emotions and read books by Dr. Sarno and Nicole Sachs, following roughly eight months of illness that…
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Recovery stories: parasites cleanse
In 2006, took Paragone (an herbal antiparasitic supplement) for a couple of months alongside a very-low-carb diet, and reports it "cut the brain fog I'd grown up with by about 70%." Explicit that this did not touch the underlying ME/CFS, which they attribute…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (page 6 discussion)
msf went from mostly housebound to functionally healthy - full-time work, a social life and strenuous exercise with minimal PEM - crediting a combination of KDM-directed treatments, trazodone, a low-FODMAP diet, ALA and Chinese skullcap. No single component…
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How I solved my neuroinflammation
Built up to pramipexole 2mg nightly over four weeks alongside LDN, as-needed ibudilast, ALCAR and curcumin, reporting about an "80% improvement" in neuroinflammation symptoms -- migraines down from 3-4/week to at most one, and PEM severity/duration cut by…
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Cured of PEM
Has used a long-term combination of turmeric with black pepper, ashwagandha, Ceylon cinnamon and paprika. Illness duration and severity are not detailed in this post. Says these have been a staple and have helped him tremendously, and reports ordering cumin…
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Chinese skullcap seems to correct PEM/the energy problem in ME
msf reports that after more than a month on Chinese skullcap root tea he no longer has to be careful about exertion and that working out "actually feels healthy now," describing himself as functionally normal. Exact dosing isn't given and the post is only…
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Pulsed high dose methylprednisolone + inosine + inositol = cured?
Replying in the same thread, Martin reports moving from "very severe to severe" on a corticosteroid infusion but says the inflammation is "not very easy to keep in check afterwards," requiring ongoing herbal management - an explicitly partial and fading…
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Adrienne Dellwo Shares Her Fibromyalgia Remission Story
Adrienne Dellwo's regimen included low-dose naltrexone at 3mg (compounded, versus a standard 30mg dose per the article), plus rhodiola rosea, L-theanine, vitamin B and D, a custom herbal blend and acupuncture from her rheumatologist, meditation, yoga, a…
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Never, never give up hope that you can make progress towards your goal of recovery
Credits the Lightning Process, which he took in 2005 after eight years of illness and many prior approaches including acupuncture, juicing, meditation and yoga, nutritionist-prescribed supplements, herbal medicine, naturopathy, Chinese herbs, functional…
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3 Decades of ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, MCS, Lyme End Fast
Claudia treated chronic Lyme disease from 2012-2015 with three years of low-dose Byron White herbal protocols plus a strict elimination diet, then in 2019 did the three-month ANS REWIRE nervous-system retraining program alongside naturopath adjustments that…
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Treatment with KDM Miraculous So Far, Need Help with Dysbiosis Though
After roughly 30 years of suspected chronic Lyme/ME-CFS that left him "near totally bed-ridden and almost not being able to speak," he began a multi-part KDM protocol in 2018 including subcutaneous Gammanorm, alternating Normix/Mutaflor, B12 injections, an…
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Remission success. How?
Underwent a roughly three-week Ayurvedic panchakarma detox program (escalating ghee oleation, steam, purgation, deep-tissue massage, nasyam, herbal medicines) at a Kerala clinic after about 7 years of ME/CFS. Two days after finishing, reported riding a…
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Anyone else here have MCS too?
Took a more absorbable Turmeric Curcumin Complex supplement (Sam's Club brand) for ME/CFS, MCS and systemic candidiasis. Illness duration and severity are not detailed. Says he has been very pleased with it, and that his MCS improved as the candida was…
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Gaps diet put me in direction to recovery
After repeated antibiotic courses over the years triggered his illness, he adopted a GAPS-like diet along with herbs for dysbiosis and probiotics, describing himself as "making good progress" in his recovery without claiming it complete.
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M.E., My Mold, and I: A Story of ME/CFS and Toxic Mold
Over nearly seven years of ME/CFS beginning in late summer 2010, she tried pacing with a heart-rate monitor and many supplements, including herbal antivirals, for about a year, then added neurotransmitter support (dopamine, GABA), an ATP Fuel supplement,…
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Need to delete this. [Deleted]
Was diagnosed with ME/CFS first, then four years later diagnosed with Lyme disease and treated with a combination of pharmaceutical and herbal antibiotics under a Lyme specialist, and separately started cholestyramine with EPA/DHA fish oil after also…
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3 kings to lift you
From sleeping 22 hours a day and considering suicide about six years into illness, this poster describes a large, years-long stack - pulsed steroids, noopept-based nootropics, experimental NSI-189, and roughly twenty daily supplements - restoring the ability…
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Traditional Chinese Medicine Works
After 3.5 years of ME/CFS with respiratory symptoms severe enough that working required "extreme effort," did six months of Traditional Chinese Medicine -- acupuncture plus herbal tea and dietary changes. Reports being able to "breathe freely for the first…
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Hematologic Ozone put me in remission
Underwent hematologic ozone therapy (about 200cc of blood drawn, treated with ozone, and reinfused), nine treatments by the time of posting, alongside curcumin 1000mg and acetyl-L-carnitine 100mg twice daily. Had been completely incapacitated and…
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Licorice and its pharmacology
Whole licorice root, dose and duration unspecified, was taken by an ME/CFS patient who described their adrenals as already cooked beforehand. Rather than helping, it accelerated their metabolism and pushed their adrenals further, causing sweating and…
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I feel a lot better after drinking this tea - which ingredient(s) are likely to be responsible?
Two cups a day of a commercial bedtime herbal tea blend left this poster feeling "the most content I've felt in at least 4+ years," with a possible small cognitive lift, taking about 30 minutes to kick in each time. The report comes from very early in the…
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Long Treatment Regimen Reaps Dividends for Irene
Started taking herbal antivirals after 20 years of illness. Says simply that she is getting her life back thanks to herbal anti-virals. No specific herb names, doses or treatment duration are given in the post, and no further follow-up appears later in the thread.
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Whats FINALLY worked for me.
After eight years severe enough that she could stand only minutes and needed help toileting, and with co-diagnoses of babesiosis, candidiasis, leaky gut and POTS, this poster spent about a year on IV/oral artemisinin and curcumin, 4.5mg LDN and 450mg/day…
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Monet finds relief from mind/body practices plus homeopathy
Monet developed ME/CFS and fibromyalgia after a reaction to a vaccination, becoming wheelchair-bound within nine months and mostly bedbound for over a decade. She pursued homeopathy, dietary change, herbal supplements and extensive spiritual and…
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Siberian ginseng
Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) was taken as part of a Chinese herbal formula alongside astragalus, with no specific dose stated. No detail is given on how long she had been ill or how severe her ME/CFS was. She reported "I love Siberian…
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A Story of Survival: How Diet Saved a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Patient's Life
Naomi narrowed her diet to ten foods she did not react to and stayed on that restricted diet for five years, alongside deliberate stress reduction and faith practice, a later shift to organic food, and unspecified herbs and vitamins. Her pain and migraines…
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successfully treated SIBO with herbals
Tested positive for SIBO in April 2015 with a lactulose breath test so high the test was stopped early at a reading of 100. After a 6-week course of the herbal antimicrobials FC-Cidal and Dysbiocide (2 tablets of each, twice daily) plus rotating high-strain…
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I start to relapse every time I come off equilibrant
Equilibrant, a supplement combining shiitake mushroom with selenium, astragalus, sophora flavescens, olive leaf and licorice, was taken daily for over a year, working up to six pills a day. They had a severe bacterial infection that nearly killed them,…
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My Full Recovery By TCM + TCM issues Q&A
After about a year of conventional treatment failed to help CFS-like symptoms (rashes, fatigue, 2-3 hours of sleep a night, photosensitivity, unable to attend school), tried Traditional Chinese Medicine -- herbal formulas and diet changes -- switching…
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Do People Really Recover From ME/CFS and/or Fibromyalgia? An Inquiry (Alice)
Alice commented that after six years of fibromyalgia she felt much better than she had in years for about six weeks after starting a herbal antimicrobial protocol, a mushroom combination, megadose vitamin C, ashwagandha and L-phenylalanine. The improvement…
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Do People Really Recover From ME/CFS and/or Fibromyalgia? An Inquiry (Sandrine)
Commenting on this inquiry post, Sandrine described about two years of severe fibromyalgia so bad she was once unable to brush her teeth and would scream from pain. She credits essential oils taken internally and topically, liposomal vitamin C, MSM, olive…
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Doing So Well On Modified Cowden Protocol
Nineteen years after a suspected tick bite left her unable to walk more than 10-20 minutes, a UK woman in her late 60s started a modified Cowden herbal protocol (Banderol/Cumanda, Andrographis 4/day, Japanese Knotweed 12/day for about three months, teasel…
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Reverse Therapy Reverses Four year Illness
Matt, 30, developed severe ME/CFS after a jaw-breaking injury and within four years was sleeping 20 hours a day with a permanent headache, dizziness and overwhelming fatigue. Cranial osteopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine and kettlebell exercises gave only…
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Multidimensional program is the ticket for Michelle
Tai chi and qigong practice, described as vital for immune function, balance and heart functioning, was one element of a long-term multidimensional program that also included an elimination diet (no dairy, most grains, fermented foods, alcohol, MSG, sugar or…
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Sulforaphane, Nicotine Gum, Curcumin and VNS
Sulforaphane, taken as broccoli extract capsules starting at a low dose and increased gradually to 2.8 grams daily over a three-week trial. The author, who has chronic fatigue syndrome, does not state how long they had been ill or how severe their case was.…
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what has worked for you
Took olive leaf extract for a suspected herpes-family infection; symptoms cycled for about six months before "one day I woke up feeling good." He calls the initial worsening "part of the healing process" and plans "a maintenance dose for the rest of my life…
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what has worked for you
Starting from only managing to get dressed once a week, she used an unspecified herbal list, a strict pacing protocol and twice-weekly oxygen therapy at an MS therapy centre. She now works 2.5 days a week doing "easy office stuff," presented as a sustained…
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The Woman Who Healed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Naturally
Edie used a wide-ranging natural protocol: topical arnica gel, papaya and devil's claw for inflammation, Cell Food (a liquid oxygen supplement), homeopathic thyroid, adrenal, hypothalamus and pituitary remedies, spirulina, herbal melatonin and 5-HTP for…
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CURED CFS/ME? PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY HERE.
Unable to work or grocery-shop for about ten years, this poster describes roughly eight years of intensive rest combined with Armour thyroid, herbal hormone support, magnesium and low-dose Effexor, after which she functioned normally for over sixteen years -…
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Has anyone on this site cured him or herself of CFS/ME? Did I?
Used a mix of doxycycline (which finally knocked out a persistent fever), roughly 20 doses of dexamethasone borrowed from a friend (temporary but "phenomenal" relief), Isocort, daily hydrocortisone gel, raw herbal teas, green powders, methylation support,…
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An Herbal Approach to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome That Worked
St John's Wort was one component of a multi-herb tea, taken as part of 25ml doses five times daily alongside chamomile, ginkgo, lemon balm, mistletoe, nettle, rooibos, skullcap, valerian and vervain, plus a separate ground-herb mix with ashwagandha and…
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Any Improvement with Astragalus & Ligustrum?
Astragalus: a low dose of astragalus combined with other herbs in a tincture, taken for a couple of years. She had previously been very ill with ME/CFS before starting the herbal regimen. On the tincture her immune function improved, with infections dropping…
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Some things that have helped me
A ten-month combination of Lugol's iodine, desiccated thyroid, an elimination diet, monthly liver flushes and an antiparasitic herbal mix brought "much more energy and much less pain" after 9.5 years of CFS/fibromyalgia, with symptoms shifting within a day…
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Successful Treatment of CFS - Oriental Medicine
After 30 years of illness described as "sheer agony," started a traditional Chinese spleen tonic together with CoQ10 and alpha-lipoic acid. Says that within days she felt "much more energetic" and within one to two weeks felt "the way I'd always thought…
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Anyone improve from bed/housebound to high level of functionality?
Mostly bedridden (occasionally a little more functional) for years after a 1982 onset, she did colonic irrigation, acupuncture and Chinese herbs from 1986-1988 and rose to near-normal activity with only mild symptoms, holding that level for about 15 years…
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Successful Treatment of CFS - Oriental Medicine
After about two years of acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatment (following Giovanni Maciocia's TCM approach), reports being "90% recovered," adding that this level of improvement "stayed that way for most of the next 12 years" - one of the more durable…
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Successful Treatment of CFS - Oriental Medicine
Calls a Chinese herbal mixture "the best medical intervention I have ever taken" for POTS and CFS, but gives no detail on the formula, dose, illness duration/severity, or how large or durable the benefit was, so the claim is notable but thinly documented.
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What Treatments Have Cured People?
Doug, misdiagnosed for 7 of his 11 sick years before Chlamydia pneumoniae and EBV were identified, took inosine alone for a couple of short stretches with limited effect, then added DMAE about 1.5 years before posting; he described the fog lifting and…
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What treatments HAVE ACTUALLY helped?
Used acupuncture and Chinese herbs and, after 5 years of illness, recovered fully and stayed well for 8 years before later relapsing. She is explicit that she doesn't claim the treatment caused the recovery, noting she personally knows over a dozen people…
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Anyone recovered after discovering residential toxic mold exposure?
A naturopath-supervised candida-free diet plus mold avoidance and herbal supplements left her "almost symptom free" for about two years, "though not cured." Major life stresses then triggered a relapse and she "became horribly ill again," so the substantial…
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IVIG and Xiflaxan: A Dr. Peterson Patient Improves
With severely swollen intestines, inability to eat or sleep without drugs and severe brain fog, he tried Xifaxan (which caused nausea and dizziness), charcoal tablets, pine cone extract and cat's claw, but reports no improvement and ongoing severe symptoms.
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Ear seeds: what are they and why have they been controversially linked to ME without scientific evidence?
Ear seeds were used as one part of a combined self-treatment approach, alongside diet changes, acupuncture and Chinese herbs, over about a year. Before starting she had gone from working full-time in a busy advertising job to being mostly housebound and…
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What GcMAF dose?
As a patient of Dr De Meirleir, took weekly injectable GcMAF at 50ng in 2012, which she says "normalized my Nagalase and...improved my general condition," alongside separate antibiotic/herbal treatment for Borrelia and Bartonella co-infections between 2012…
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Andrew Chia
Andrew Chia credits his recovery from ME/CFS to the immunomodulator interferon and the Chinese herb Sophora flavescens (contained in the supplement Equilibrant), though the page gives no specific doses or treatment duration. He developed CFS in 1997, in high…