Heath & Beauty - Free Fitness Library
Fitness & M.E.
You've simply overtrained. You're suddenly completely run down, the doctor says it's M.E. What is it really? We ask Nutritional Therapist Linda Lazarides.
The energy-producing parts of the muscle cells are called the mitochondria. This is where glucose from food is turned into energy, requiring a range of B vitamins plus magnesium, iron and other nutrients for the process.
The mitochondria are subject to toxic damage and this is when chronic tiredness (ME) can set in, especially when the necessary vitamins and minerals are in short supply, as they so often are in modern junk diets, and when the resources of the mitochondria are stretched, as in athletes.
Toxins come from environmental pollution, from natural metabolic processes (e.g. acetaldehyde), from protein breakdown (ammonia), from natural vegetables (natural insecticides and other plant toxins), from infections and from bacteria permanently resident in the gut, where undesirable species can be encouraged by taking antibiotics. The role played by vaccinations such as polio in ME is also under investigation.
ME is not really a single disease, since a single disease should have a single cause. It is a term doctors use when they are baffled and do not know how to treat a patient. Saying "you have ME" is tantamount to washing your hands of them. In fact chronic tiredness can have many causes. Nutritional therapists treat it by investigating food intolerances (which often result in debilitating fatigue as a symptom), nutritional deficiencies, and by assisting the body in the elimination and excretion of toxins. In a survey carried out by the charity Action for ME, most ME sufferers reported that "diet and supplements" helped them most. Nutritional therapists are experienced in the use of special diets and dietary supplements and can design tailored programmes for the individual. These are not static programmes, but are fine-tuned over a period of time as the practitioner works with a patient. They do not just involve vitamins and minerals, but many other specialist nutritional products which are not available in the shops, including those for the treatment of dysbiosis (imbalance of intestinal bacteria).
The Society for the Promotion of Nutritional Therapy (SPNT) provides
lists of therapists according to area, asking enquirers to send £1
plus sae to:
SPNT, PO Box 47, Heatfield, East Sussex, TN21 8ZX