How it went
Did it last?
- 17 of 81 said the benefit wore off (including the 8 who relapsed).
- 13 of 81 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 | 7 | 9% |
| Near-full | 7 | 9% |
| Substantial | 31 | 38% |
| Partial | 25 | 31% |
| Relapsed | 8 | 10% |
| No benefit | 3 | 4% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 11 | 9% | |
| Severe | 36 | 25% | |
| Very severe | 14 | 21% |
20 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.
Side effects and harms people mentioned
Found by scanning the summaries for side-effect language, so this list is incomplete and may include a mention that isn’t about Selenium, iodine, minerals itself. Read the story before drawing conclusions.
- Side effects
Initially describes it as having "cured my chronic fatigue," but the same preparation is later reported to have caused a psychotic-seeming episode severe enough to land him in a psychiatric ward, and he says later refined versions gave "little results." The account is thus one of dramatic short-term relief followed by a serious adverse reaction and a fading effect, with an explicit warning to others: "you have been forewarned."
All 81 accounts
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Relief! I still have CFS but am a MILLION times better, takes a lot of work but worth it
Built an extensive daily regimen around kratom (Green Malay strain), weekly B12 injections, magnesium, psyllium fiber, CPAP therapy, an annual course of Xifaxan and a year-long course of itraconazole, plus NAC, glycine, glutathione and BPC-157, for ME/CFS…
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Relief! I still have CFS but am a MILLION times better
julienl42's own title is his hedge: after 13 years and a long, actively-managed stack of prescription, antifungal, sleep and supplement treatments, he has gone from being in bed all day with 3-4 crashes a month to about one crash every one to two months,…
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Blood and circulation
Combined having a problem tooth pulled with a long-running Linus Pauling-style protocol for peripheral artery disease, Ayurvedic remedies, infrared light therapy, a course of 32 magnesium-sulfate infusions, and low-dose naltrexone above 2mg per day. Had PAD…
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Nearly Recovered Me
Rebuilt her gut microbiome with General Biotics Equilibrium and later Seed probiotics, which she calls a turning point, on top of a two-decade stack that included 41 days of Miracle Mineral Solution in 2008 (a self-described game changer), Fredd's B12…
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Low oxalate diet noticeably improved my fatigue and brain fog after 3 days
Hip started a low-oxalate diet plus calcium-with-meals and daily magnesium and reports significant improvement in fatigue, brain fog and mental/anxiety symptoms appearing within just 3 days. He calls the brain fog and "zombie-like mental vagueness" clearly…
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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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[Case study] CFS/ME remission story severe patient [2008]
A severe ME/CFS patient documented in a 2008 case report used a year of tapering immunoglobulin dosing alongside gut-repair supplements and antibiotic treatment for mycoplasma, progressing from severe to mild over the 12 months of treatment. Immunoglobulin…
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My gigantic story going back to 1996, treatment plan included
Five days into a thiamine/magnesium/potassium-focused protocol after nearly three decades of worsening illness, TexRob reports restored temperature regulation, normalized sweating, resumed GI and urinary function, and reduced brain fog/neuropathic pain,…
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My gigantic story going back to 1996 (YippeeKi YOW)
YippeeKi YOW, bedbound and semi-vegetative for over five years and previously suicidal, says magnesium, potassium gluconate, B-complex, electrolytes, ginger, cinnamon and desiccated liver in tea has partly helped, reached only by adding each in tiny,…
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Michelle
Michelle saw more than ten specialists and tried extensive medical treatment: beta blockers, the migraine drug Ubrelvy, meclizine for dizziness, two rounds of prednisone, B12 shots for neuropathy, and Paxlovid taken months after her initial infection, plus…
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Digestive enzymes profound positive effect on me
Started Thorne Bio-Gest digestive enzymes after suspecting poor nutrient absorption, later adding zinc carnosine, whey protein, iron with vitamin C, a multivitamin, vitamin D, iodine and NAC, with no doses specified. He says he can now feel his body "healing…
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Full remission after 7 years of ME/CFS - What worked for me
Followed the Golder Autoimmune Protocol for about three months (roughly 3 liters of water and 650g of raw cruciferous and leafy greens daily, plus chia or flax seed, iodine and B12, on about 1500 calories a day), then added low-dose Abilify at 0.75mg daily…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (page 4 discussion)
marlunette improved from moderate to mild with mold avoidance, then from mild to remission after adding B12 injections and a B-complex/micronutrient regimen, with a 25-year-old exercise-induced asthma resolving as a bonus. Separately, in the…
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Some Patients Are Reporting Recovery from Long COVID (Sherri)
Sherri Klipowicz used a plant-heavy, low-gluten, low-dairy diet, restorative yoga, magnesium and glutathione supplements, and ozone therapy, and worked with an insomnia specialist to fix her sleep. She had been sick with Long COVID since March 2020, and…
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ATP working well for me
After COVID worsened his decades-old condition, Keshav began sublingual ATP and reports dramatic improvement within 3 days, and within 24 hours of his first injectable ATP dose felt his "mind was much sharper," mood and energy much better. Follow-up posts…
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CBT for CFS: Luke Shares His Experience and Recovery
Luke combined self-directed CBT (working through his own negative thought patterns rather than with a therapist) with a methylation protocol developed by Rich Von Konynenburg (B vitamins plus folic acid), guidance from two books -- Kristina Downing-Orr's…
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Preliminary result of furthered improvement obviously leading to health
Following years of self-experimentation with a low-manganese diet plus microdosed vitamins and minerals, percyval577 describes a "rather wonderful summer" (May-September 2020) of being consistently active, calling it tentatively "a cure...though complex." By…
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Oral Rehydration Solution More Effective than Saline IV at Improving Orthostatic Intolerance (comment)
Homemade oral rehydration solution, mixed as half a teaspoon of pink salt and a teaspoon of turbinado sugar per liter of water, drunk at about four liters a day alongside a potassium-chloride supplement taken under a doctor's supervision. Sandra Smith…
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Zinc is reducing my hypersensitivity to smells!
After roughly 10 years of chemical/mold hypersensitivity following a copper IUD placement, she took zinc at 50mg/day for two months alongside magnesium. For the first time since her mold exposure, her "instant sense of inflammation and headache" from…
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Potion that cured my chronic fatigue
After 19 years of severely disabling ME/CFS, formulated and drank a custom trace-mineral preparation (borax around 62mg plus microgram-level lithium, magnesium citrate, potassium, chromium and others, mixed into an 8-liter water tank sipped through the day)…
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ME/CFS Patient Goes into Remission After Taking Elixir of Youth (GDF11)
beatsmyth, bedbound for a decade with CFS/fibromyalgia, had already improved his gut and skin issues on an 8-month antibiotic protocol before adding BPC-157 and LL-37 peptides for three months, which he called "absolutely miraculous": remaining stomach…
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The Temporary ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia Recovery Stories - What Can They Tell Us?
She received Myers' cocktail IV infusions as one of dozens of treatments tried, alongside things like LDN, CBD oil, and hormone therapy, with no specific dose or duration recorded. She had been ill with ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and POTS for over fifteen years,…
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Selenium working for me
Three days into selenium 150mg/day plus zinc, reports a "drastic improvement in my overall energy" and shrinking of longstanding swollen lymph nodes. Posted very early in the trial, mechanism still unclear to her (she was seeking thyroid testing to…
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The Temporary Recovery Stories (Judith)
Commenter Judith described multiple remissions and relapses since childhood, including a Rituximab course that caused complications. She now manages with AHCC, magnesium, Plaquenil and colchicine, and describes the illness as progressive, each relapse…
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Hyperalgesia and pain resolved with INOSINE
A combination of inosine and caffeine with calcium glutarate, several minerals/B6 and later ribose produced "complete reversion" of longstanding neuropathic pain and pain-free mornings, plus better tolerance of B-vitamin injections. She is explicit it is not…
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Instant relief with inosine plus caffeine
pattismith reports that inosine combined with caffeine relieves her muscle weakness/pain and brain fog within about an hour of taking it, and as of a follow-up three weeks later says it is "still working for me." This reads as reliable short-acting symptom…
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Very noticeable improvements in brain fog using transdermal B12 oils
Hip applied a transdermal B12 oil (2.5mg per dose) every 2-3 days from November 2018, getting increased cognitive clarity within 2-3 hours that lasted about 3 days per dose, managing side effects with potassium and niacinamide. The benefit was purely…
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Choline supplement is working for me
Choline bitartrate (20-25g/day, cut to 15g for nausea) initially brought better sleep and dreaming, less muscle tightness and rising energy over the first eight days. Three-plus months later, in the same thread, he retracted it outright: "Yeah choline didn't…
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Iodine - The Biggest Result I've Had So Far (Wishful)
Wishful reports "full remission" with "bouncy energy" the day after his first T2 dose, matching an earlier response he'd had to iodine, and says the effect has repeated reliably on a roughly 21-day cycle ever since. The remission is explicitly tied to…
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Iodine - The Biggest Result I've Had So Far
jtex escalated iodine dosing over 6+ months and says higher doses brought an energy increase "within hours" that let him work out, stay up late and take on more work after roughly a year of severe bed-bound illness. He reports the benefit tracked the dose…
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Anyone else here have MCS too?
Built a detox-focused supplement stack of low-dose liposomal glutathione, activated charcoal, chlorella, R-lipoic acid, magnesium, B vitamins, phosphatidylcholine, milk thistle and acupressure, later adding NAC and turmeric, aimed at underlying infection and…
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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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CFS recovery and blood pressure?
A combined methylation / EDTA-chelation / potassium / Pall BH4 / Yasko DMG protocol brought him to roughly "80%+" function over the preceding two years, after 30 years of CFS that included a period bedridden and "near death" about a decade earlier; he can…
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GREAT Tips to improve (6 years experience)
Six years in, this poster describes a partial turnaround in energy timing and sleep - waking naturally without an alarm - after combining a supplement stack with a self-imposed "dopamine challenge" restricting stimulation after 6pm. He's explicit this is "my…
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My recovery after my one and only crash.
Added iodine supplementation, topical DMSO with magnesium oil twice daily, pregnenolone 50mg per day, and a gluten-free, grain-free diet. Illness duration and severity are not detailed in the post. Reports 2016 as one of his most significant improvement…
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How I solved my b12 deficiency mystery
After about a year of heart palpitations, high blood pressure, vertigo, numb extremities and ER visits — with B12 and methyl-B12 tablets repeatedly triggering crashes — she found topical magnesium oil was the missing piece. She was out of bed the next day,…
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Nutritional Genomics and My Complete Recovery
P5P (vitamin B6) was taken occasionally and in low amounts, specifically when lower-back pain or depression flared, as one part of a broader nutritional-genomics-guided supplement stack that also included biotin 5,000mcg two to three times daily, magnesium…
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Nutritional Genomics and My Complete Recovery
Built a nutritional-genomics-guided regimen of biotin, sublingual flavin mononucleotide, a low-fat diet balanced 3:1 for omega-6 to omega-3, a low-amine diet, and as-needed molybdenum and P5P, adjusting doses as symptoms emerged. Had ME/CFS with about 9…
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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 CFS Recovery
Began with weekly IV infusions of high-dose vitamin C, magnesium chloride, B-complex and liquid glutathione, then moved to a large daily oral regimen including glutathione, acetyl-L-carnitine, MTHFR-targeted methylation supplements and thyroid medication.…
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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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Methylation: From feeling FANTASTIC back to Square One
After years of depression, brain fog and morning "zombie" fatigue since childhood, starting a methylated Thorne B Complex brought what he called "life changing results" within 3-4 days — lifted depression, cleared brain fog, more energy, better memory and…
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Monique finds her rocket fuel
Monique, previously athletic, developed ME/CFS after flu and worsened dramatically after her father's death, by 2004 hardly able to walk and fearing a wheelchair. She pursued an orthomolecular approach, describing two supplements as like rocket fuel,…
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Sleep Cycle Inversion (Awake At Night, Sleeping During Day): A Simple Technique Fixed This For Me
For years of severe middle-of-the-night insomnia, built an evening stack of 3mg sublingual Natrol melatonin, 500mg niacin with dinner (300mg more if woken at night), 100mg 5-HTP, 100mg L-theanine, magnesium glycinate, a calcium tablet, Seriphos for cortisol,…
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Combination of Supplements Allows Me to Work and Exercise - But causes extreme Gastritis
Built a roughly 60-item daily supplement stack (B12, NADH, high-dose antioxidants/glutathione, SAM-e, CoQ10, glandulars, ribose, phosphatidylserine and more) over three-plus years of trial and error for CFS, fibromyalgia and Hashimoto's. Says the combination…
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Boo's Healing with B12 Journal
About two years into B12-deficiency-related neurological symptoms, depression and heart palpitations severe enough to include hospitalization for a suspected cardiac event, she moved to monthly hydroxocobalamin injections alongside potassium, magnesium, iron…
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Methylation recovery survey. Recovery stories here!!
Followed a "Yasko lite" methylation protocol blending Rich Van Konynenburg/Freddd/Ben Lynch approaches for about 1.5 years, including methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin, potassium, magnesium, molybdenum and methylfolate. She discontinued long-term antifungal…
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High-Dose Selenium Significantly Improves My Fatigue and Brain Fog
Hip is a long-standing, moderately ill ME/CFS forum member and prolific self-experimenter who has never found one cure but has documented dozens of individual n=1 supplement/technique trials, each targeting a specific symptom. Notably, high-dose selenium…
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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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Ten Years of healing: No more congestive heart failure, FMS, CFS and minus 100 pounds
Twenty years into disabling CFS, fibromyalgia and congestive heart failure requiring daily diuretics for 85lbs of water retention, he began an injectable methylcobalamin/adenosylcobalamin/methylfolate/L-carnitine protocol (the "Deadlock Quartet," later…
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what seems likely to have improved my gut?
After years of gut pain following nearly every meal, he built up a broad supplement stack and reports his gut pain "starting to improve dramatically in the past week," on top of an earlier partial improvement within the first week of starting magnesium. The…
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CBS success!
Following the same CBS-protocol approach — restricting high-sulfur foods and animal protein, taking molybdenum and yucca, and doing activated charcoal flushes while monitoring urine sulfate strips — she reports "more stamina in a day" and falling urine…
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CBS success!
Seven years into ME/CFS with post-exertional fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, she used a CBS-mutation-targeted protocol of activated charcoal, magnesium, molybdenum, manganese and sulfur-food restriction. Cognition "started to clear" within hours of her…
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METHYLATION, B VITAMINS(ETC), SKIN RASH ITCH RESOLVED
A worsening skin rash and itch on his prior NADH/FADH2/methylcobalamin/Peak ATP protocol led him to stop it and switch to dry skin brushing, coffee retention enemas, TMG and potassium as a detox approach. The itch resolved, but he expected to need ongoing…
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Skyline's Journal: Progress & Experiments
About a week into restarting a full methylation protocol (high-dose methylfolate, dual-form B12, folinic acid and potassium alongside L-carnitine and B-vitamins), this poster's self-rated daily tracking shows energy reaching "10," headaches nearly resolved,…
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Dr. success using higher doses of GCMAF
Became ill with CFS the day after a swine flu infection in April 2010, at times needing a wheelchair in public. Escalating GcMAF from 25ng to 80ng over about 18 months, alongside MAF 878, Heppapressin, daily B12/magnesium shots and taurine, she reports she…
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Magnesium threonate helping with mood, pain, and sleep!
Took roughly two-thirds of the recommended dose of magnesium L-threonate (Life Extension's Neuro-Mag) morning and early afternoon for almost three weeks. The first week brought "wonderful euphoria and a powerful mood boost," settling into a "subtle, even…
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Improving heaps!
Starting from a self-rated energy level of "probably a 3," he added TMG 500mg with L-methionine 500mg once daily, and B6 50mg with zinc 50mg morning and night (later adding B2), over about two months. Mood "increased 50%," energy rose from 3 to 6, sleep and…
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Improving steadily on Regimen, added hormones to the list
Runs a large daily regimen -- sodium ascorbate, glycine, lysine and proline at 2-5g per meal, 40,000 IU beta carotene per meal, Lugol's iodine, malic acid, DHEA, pregnenolone, weekly minerals/B vitamins, plus Tindamax and Benicar -- along with periodic…
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Latested Updated Regimen
Built an elaborate daily/weekly amino-acid, vitamin, mineral and chelation regimen (sodium ascorbate and amino acids with every meal, weekly LDN, sublingual B12 forms, EDTA chelation, periodic Tindamax courses and liver flushes). An earlier version of this…
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Anyone improve from bed/housebound to high level of functionality?
After a year completely bedridden in what she calls a "strange comatose condition" - unable to chew or speak, washed by family - she took megadoses of magnesium, zinc and vitamin C while resting in bed doing nothing, and rose to about level 8 functioning.…
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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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has anyone stuck religiously to Dr Myhill's protocol and hadsignificant improvements?
Following Dr Myhill's protocol for over a year, though not "religiously" due to sensitivities and being vegetarian, this poster reports magnesium clearing cramps and restless legs, vitamin D3 helping cognition, and overall "significant improvements" that…
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Fixing Leaky Gut Helps ME/CFS, and Sometimes Achieves Full Remission
Took a month of Xifaxan for gut dysbiosis after testing positive for leaky gut, enterovirus and H2S overgrowth, and separately tried glutamine, NAG, aloe vera juice, digestive enzymes and zinc. She noticed no changes from the month of Xifaxan alone, and…
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Fixing Leaky Gut Helps ME/CFS, and Sometimes Achieves Full Remission
Took a twice-daily leaky-gut supplement stack (S. boulardii, grape seed extract, zinc carnosine, vitamin E, NAG, triphala, glutamine, slippery elm bark, zinc) after years of severe IBS-D alongside his ME/CFS. Digestion was much improved within 3-4 days and…
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3 Things that Help the Most!!
Manages orthostatic intolerance with midodrine, fludrocortisone, time-released potassium, salt tablets, 3 liters of water a day, deliberately reclining to rest, and a folding cane/stool for standing tasks. Says this combination substantially improves her…
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I found something that makes me feel significantly more energetic and happier
After an earlier, differently-formulated cocoa extract failed him in 2009, he tried a purer cocoa extract capsule (no silica or magnesium stearate fillers), 3 capsules every morning, for about 9 weeks. He reports "significant improvement" in energy and mood…
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Feel much better on methylation and pyroluria treatment, but still weird symptoms
After years of chest pain and anxiety severe enough to require benzodiazepines, combining B12 injections, folate, P5P and a kryptopyrroluria (KPU) protocol of high-dose zinc and B6 resolved chest pain he'd had for over 2 years, sharply reduced anxiety, and…
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Freddd - have increased energy on your protocol!
After 13 years of severe exercise intolerance, including 4 years on the Simplified Methylation Protocol with negative effects, she switched to a carnitine-fumarate-centered regimen with methyl-B12 injections and Metafolin. She initially felt "more normal,…
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Diagnosis Unknown - Story of CFS Recovery
Book-excerpt account (from "Diagnosis Unknown") quoted on the forum describing Linda Smith's illness, which had left her unable to walk unassisted, in constant pain, with swollen feet/fingers and largely bedridden after 5+ years. Following an extended…
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What treatments HAVE ACTUALLY helped?
Combined a large stack of B12 injections, CoQ10, Fibroenergy, amino acids, SAMe, magnesium, prescription vitamin D, Synthroid, three years of low-dose Minocin, three months of antivirals, and a gluten-free diet, without singling out one component as key. Now…
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What treatments HAVE ACTUALLY helped?
Took a mitochondrial-support stack of CoQ10, B3, magnesium and zinc after being, in her words, "totally bed ridden with super low ATP." Reports being "much better than I was," a substantial gain, but says she is "still mostly house bound" and was actively…
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Stages of Recovery - personal experience
Followed Dr Myhill's standard protocol (B3, B12, magnesium, CoQ10, 15g/day L-glutamine, 10g/day BCAAs, 1g/day malic acid) starting Nov/Dec 2007, combined with an elimination diet of mainly white rice and chicken, FIR sauna detox, and Buteyko breathing. Went…
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My complete protocol - recovering well from bad 7 years+ CFS
Ran a broad two-year self-built protocol - high-dose B vitamins, vitamin D3, D-ribose, CoQ10, acetyl-L-carnitine, a sublingual/nasal B12-folate methylation stack, amino acids, Buteyko breathing, infrared sauna and transdermal magnesium - layered onto months…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories
Content_Insurance220 is described eliminating "horrible paralysing fatigue" within 1-2 days of starting very high-dose whey protein and zinc, per the compiled list - a striking but sparsely-detailed single account.
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ME/CFS Patient Eliminates His Fatigue by High-Dose Protein, High-Dose Zinc
This patient, describing "horrible paralysing dehumanising fatigue," started 160-200g of whey protein a day and added zinc (25-100mg) the following day, reporting symptom improvement within 1-2 days and stating the combination eliminated his fatigue over the…
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High-Dose Selenium Significantly Improves My Fatigue and Brain Fog
Index entry credits jmd82 with 400mcg daily selenomethionine, replicating Hip's own high-dose selenium result, for a significant reduction in fatigue and brain fog. No further detail on duration of illness, severity, or durability was available beyond the…
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Water fasting - Can I take my meds?
pamojja had fasted 21 days without problems at age 20, before becoming ill, but a 7-day water fast attempted after developing ME/CFS in their 40s went badly. It left them prediabetic and triggered a severe magnesium deficiency, with painful muscle cramps…
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Anyone on Freddd protocol? (Mary)
Mary's Freddd protocol regimen was methylfolate, started around 1000mcg daily in 2010 and increased to about 3000mcg daily, combined with methylcobalamin liquid sublingual at 5000-10,000mcg daily (which she had already been taking for years), plus potassium…
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Anyone on Freddd protocol? (Riddle)
Riddle followed the Freddd protocol starting around 2013-14: sublingual methylcobalamin, sublingual dibencozide (adenosylcobalamin), and methylfolate, all taken daily at first and later alternated every other day, plus HCl betaine for digestion, omega oil…
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CFS and how i found my way out
Gavin's turning point was Blackmores PPMP (a cellular-dose potassium phosphate/magnesium phosphate supplement), taken alongside years of therapy, meditation, and doctor-prescribed antidepressants; he says he felt well again within 10 seconds of starting it.…