Newly Discovered Infectious Virus "XMRV" May Be Cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The news story below is both fascinating and scary. I'll tell you in a moment why I think it's scary.

Medical authorities have announced they've found a new virus -- get this, it's called the xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMRV for short -- that is supposedly the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Not the First Time

Of course, this isn't the first time the medical authorities have claimed to have found the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. Ten years ago they thought Epstein-Barr virus was the cause. Then it was Cytomegalovirus. A few years back they thought mycoplasmas infection was the cause. Then it was the HHV 6 virus. Today it's XMRV.

The problem with all of these claims of finding the "cause" of CFS is that most people are riddled with opportunistic viruses and other pathogens anyway. But they never know it, because the human body, through the immune system, keeps the pathogens in check as long as we don't allow ourselves to become unnecessarily weakened or overly stressed.

But if we allow ourselves to get overstressed or otherwise weakened, one of more of these opportunistic pathogens that inhabit our bodies as a matter of course tries to take advantage of the situation and establish a stronghold. And once that stronghold is established, the pathogen then begins to sap the body of its energy and immunity.

My Story (In a Nutshell)

I've battled with CFS since the mid-70's. For years I bounced from doctor to doctor. Not one of them could figure out what the heck the problem was. It wasn't until '93 that I finally decided to chuck modern medicine to the wayside (after all, they'd had over 15 years to cure me, and had only succeeded in making things worse) and go to a naturopath.

The naturopath, Dr. Brian McCoy, did the proper blood tests and found that I had extremely high blood titres of Epstein-Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus. "Most people who come into my clinic with viral blood titres this high," he told me at the time, "come in horizontal. I'm surprised you can even walk."

Dr. McCoy diagnosed me with CFS, which at the time was formally called Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Indeed, it is because of this disease and the diagnosis that I first began studying and writing about natural healing.

Fortunately, Dr. McCoy taught me how to boost my immune system with natural substances, so that my body got back on top of the viruses, rather than vice-versa.

My point is this: Healing chronic fatigue isn't about "killing" any particular pathogen. You're going to have pathogens in your body, no matter what you do. The idea is to strengthen your body nutritionally, so that it naturally overcomes the opportunistic pathogens, and restrains them from gaining a stronghold in your body.

Medical Fallacy

What's more, I don't think the medical authorities can legitimately pinpoint any single opportunistic pathogen as "the" sole cause of CFS.

All opportunistic pathogens rob the body of energy (and thereby create a condition of physical malaise and chronic fatigue) if they can establish a good, solid foothold in the body when it becomes weakened or overly stressed.

Ask any horticulturist: Before a tree can become riddled with opportunistic parasites, it must first become weakened or stressed in some other way. Only then can the parasites that feed off the tree's growth and energy systems establish a stronghold and begin to take over. Otherwise, the tree's "immune system" keeps the parasites in check by allowing the tree to manufacture substances that repel parasties.

It's the same with humans. We're riddled with opportunistic pathogens. It's just a fact of life. But as long as we don't overextend ourselves, and as long as we feed the body the proper nutrition it needs to ensure healthy immune system function, our immune system functions wonderfully, keeping the pathogens securely at bay.

The opportunistic pathogens only "come out" so to speak, and begin to multiply and take over, when the body becomes malnourished or otherwise stressed or weakened. That's why they're called "opportunistic" pathogens. They await the proper opportunity, and then they take advantage of it.

Is Big Pharma Trying to Sell More AIDS Drugs?

My deepest fear regarding the current publicity surrounding the discovery of this new virus is that Big Pharma is getting ready to use the finding as a means of getting everyone who has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome onto the AIDS drugs cocktail, as implied in the article below.

As the news article below points out, one of the doctors studying this novel virus is already planning to test AIDS drugs against it. "XMRV is a retrovirus, a member of the same family of viruses as the AIDS virus...Dr. Mikovits said she and her colleagues were drawing up plans to test antiretroviral drugs — some of the same ones used to treat HIV infection — to see whether they could help patients with chronic fatigue."

The reality is, the medical establishment has despised the "chronic fatigue syndrome" diagnosis ever since it first surfaced back in the 1980's. Indeed, every doctor I've ever seen since 1993 has called the diagnosis of "chronic fatigue" a "trash can diagnosis," meaning it's the diagnosis medical doctors give only when they can't figure our what else to say.

Most doctors back in the late 70's, 80's and even into the early 90's have considered chronic fatigue syndrome to be a psychiatric illness. In my own experience, every doctor I ever saw tried to put me on antidepressants instead of recognizing the problem as an infection.

Of course, I turned them down flat. I knew I was depressed. But I was depressed because I couldn't function for lack of energy. Sometimes I could barely walk from the bedroom to the bathroom and back, without becoming utterly exausted. I couldn't do my work. And I loved my work. That's why I was depressed.

The doctors just couldn't get it. I wanted to resolve the cause of my overwhelming fatigue and the accompanying depression -- not merely suppress a symptom with drugs. Lack of prescription antidepressant drugs was not the cause of the debilitating fatigue and accompanying depression I was experiencing.

But now, it appears the medical establishment is going to reverse course. Based on the news article below, my guess is that they're going to try to legitimize the chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis with the finding of this new virus. Why? Most likely, in order to sell AIDS drugs to sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome. It would be a phenomenal opportunity for AIDS drugs manufacturers to expand their market to millions more people worldwide.

Don't Fall For It!

I hope my fellow chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers don't fall for this obvious ploy to expand the market for AIDS drugs.

Listen, I know what it's like to be in the throes of a long-term chronic fatigue spiral. I know the overwhelming sense of desperation and despair. And I know people are willing to try anything in hopes of being able to pull out of that awful downward spiral.

I wish more people would read Dr. Jacob Tietelbaum's book, From Fatigued to Fantastic, and learn how to conquer chronic fatigue naturally.

Or, just learn more about key energy-producing nutritional supplements such as D-Ribose (boosts cellular energy) or Vinpocetine (boosts energy to the brain) or Pregnenolone (boosts hormonal energy, reduces stress).

Another good supplement for chronic fatigue is the immune system energizer called beta-1,3-1,6-glucan (NSC-24 brand), which restores energy and vigor to a suppressed immune system.

And still another extremely important supplement is vitamin B-12 in the easily assimilated methylcobalamin form, rather than the common cyanocobalamin form. B-12 methylcobalamin restores lost energy to the body's nervous system. Interestingly, it is the nerve cells in which many of the viruses linked to chronic fatigue syndrome like to hide. So the nervous system is often the first system in the human body to be damaged by the infectious agents most often associated with chronic fatigue.

Finally, taking a small daily dose of colloidal silver has been remarkably helpful in controlling the pathogens that create such havoc in the bodies of those who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome.

Use of these supplements -- sometimes together, sometimes separately -- has pulled me out of a chronic fatigue tailspin many times over the past 16 years. And because of these supplements, for the past 16 years I've been able to do 8, 10, 12 and even 16 hour workdays with ease, when for many years before that there were long periods of time during which I was extremely fortunate if I could do a 2 or 3 hour workday.

In fact, if you want to take a natural "cocktail" of immune-boosting and energy-restoring substances, skip the AIDS drugs and consider trying my favorite fatigue-busting all-natural energy cocktail:

D-Ribose (one of two 700 mg. capsules)

Beta-1,3-1,6-glucan (one 3mg. capsule)

B-12 Methylcobalamin (one 1,000 microgram tablet)

I don't take this cocktail of energy-boosting supplements every day. Only when I really need it. And I'm not prescribing, of course. Just mentioning what has helped me so immensely well over the years since I first came to discover the fact that natural health all too often beats the traditional medical paradigm hands-down.

The bottom line is that if you'll take the time to look into it, you'll discover there are some remarkable drug-free approaches to chronic fatigue syndrome that really work for most people -- approaches that can restore your life to normal in a very short period of time.

It's all about getting your body back on track by nourishing it enough to gain the strength and immunity it needs to prevent opportunistic pathogens from spreading.

If you have suffered with chronic fatigue, as I have, I sure hope you'll think about what I've said before considering allowing Big Pharma and its pushers (called M.D.'s) to put you on AIDS drugs.

Here's the article about the XMRV virus some researchers are not trying to link to chronic fatigue syndrome:

-- Spencer

---

Virus Is Found in Many With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/health/research/09virus.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

by Denise Grady

Many people with chronic fatigue syndrome are infected with a little known virus that may cause or at least contribute to their illness, researchers are reporting.

The syndrome, which causes prolonged and severe fatigue, body aches and other symptoms, has long been a mystery ailment, and patients have sometimes been suspected of malingering or having psychiatric problems rather than genuine physical ones. Worldwide, 17 million people have the syndrome, including at least one million Americans.

An article published online Thursday in the journal Science reports that 68 of 101 patients with the syndrome, or 67 percent, were infected with an infectious virus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMRV. By contrast, only 3.7 percent of 218 healthy people were infected. Continuing work after the paper was published has found the virus in nearly 98 percent of about 300 patients with the syndrome, said Dr. Judy A. Mikovits, the lead author of the paper.

XMRV is a retrovirus, a member of the same family of viruses as the AIDS virus. These viruses carry their genetic information in RNA rather than DNA, and they insert themselves into their hosts’ genetic material and stay for life.

Dr. Mikovits and other scientists cautioned that they had not yet proved that the virus causes the syndrome. In theory, people with the syndrome may have some other, underlying health problem that makes them prone to being infected by the virus, which could be just a bystander. More studies are needed to explain the connection.

But Dr. Mikovits said she thought the virus would turn out to be the cause, not just of chronic fatigue, but of other illnesses as well. Previous studies have found it in cells taken from prostate cancers.

“I think this establishes what had always been considered a psychiatric disease as an infectious disease,” said Dr. Mikovits, who is research director at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, a nonprofit center created by the parents of a woman who has a severe case of the syndrome. Her co-authors include scientists from the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Mikovits said she and her colleagues were drawing up plans to test antiretroviral drugs — some of the same ones used to treat HIV infection — to see whether they could help patients with chronic fatigue. If the drugs work, that will help prove that the virus is causing the illness. She said patients and doctors should wait for the studies to be finished before trying the drugs.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, said the discovery was exciting and made sense.

“My first reaction is, ‘At last,’ ” Dr. Schaffner said. “In interacting with patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, you get the distinct impression that there’s got to be something there.”

He said the illness is intensely frustrating to doctors because it is not understood, there is no effective treatment and many patients are sick for a long time.

He added, “This is going to create an avalanche of subsequent studies.”

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