Online Recovery Programme Session 21

Welcome to your Practitioner Recommended Session

An Internal Global Warning - Patrick Holford

Before you get going, watch this short video message from Elaine.

Follow the link to listen to the audio version of session 21:

Listen to Session 21 Audio

Meet Patrick Holford

M.E. is a Kind of Internal Global Warming

Welcome!

This session is dedicated to the renowned and insightful work of one of the world’s leading authorities on new approaches to Health and Nutrition - Patrick Holford.

Patrick believes that M.E. is a kind of Internal Global Warming, which is a perfect analogy for the chaotic and distressing myriad of things that go haywire inside our bodies when we have chronic exhaustive conditions.

‘Internal Global Warming’ means that we lose the luxury of ‘predictability’. Things are no longer how we expect them to be and we need to make changes if we are going to protect ourselves in the future.

As author of an impressive 34 books, Patrick's enthusiasm for what we do shines through and this interview is a fantastic coup for us at The Chrysalis Effect because I discovered his work when I was on my personal healing quest.

I will tell you later how his work was a fundamental part of my recovery.

Interview - M.E. is a Form of Internal Global Warming

(There is an audio download of this interview however there was a technical gremlin that caused a little feedback on the soundtrack so the interview has been fully transcribed for you over the following modules.)

I was so excited when Patrick agreed to meet me, because nutrition was a massive part of my recovery journey. I share this with you later in this session, but first here is Patrick's interview when I spent a couple of hours with him in his London home.

The audio interview is also available to download on the right or listen to online here.

Patrick - "First of all I haven't worked with anybody with an M.E. diagnosis, who hasn’t got better. The M.E. diagnosis itself is a slightly strange term which means Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - in other words, inflammation of parts of your brain causing pain, and I haven’t met anybody diagnosed with M.E. who’s had that tested.

So in a way, I prefer the title chronic fatigue syndrome and it’s a very real condition and one that causes a massive amount of suffering. And any search for a single cure, be it a drug or a vitamin, I think is likely to be destined for failure, because where I've got to, is understanding that it is to do with a ‘systems breakdown’.

So you hear about global warming, it’s sort of like, internal global warming. And you have to understand what in the fundamental biological systems go wrong, and they are not always the same from one M.E. sufferer to another

TCE: Absolutely, and we believe that there are lots of underlying causes and triggers for M.E. and CFS , what are your thoughts around that?

Patrick: Yes, well certainly I always start by looking at digestion, because there are 3 parts to your digestion.

First is literally 'are you digesting your food well?'
Second 'are you eating food that you may have become intolerant or allergic to?'
Third 'is there some level of dysbiosis? (having microbial imbalances on or within the body)

And we're talking here about effectively some kind of infection or the wrong balance of bacteria and so on. And what very often happens, for one reason or another in the M.E. sufferer, is that they end up with a more permeable digestive tract.

The digestive tract is the size of a tennis court and about the thickness of a quarter of a sheet of paper, and is very easily damaged by alcohol, by antibiotics and in fact the biggest single cause of damage is by painkillers.

If the gut becomes more leaky, then food can get through, incompletely digested, which causes the immune system to react. So very often what we find is that most M.E. sufferers have what’s called Leaky Gut Syndrome, this is a real thing, and there are hundreds of papers published on this in medical journals.

You can test it, there is a test where you drink something and you measure what goes in the urine and you can tell if there is an increased leaky gut. This is a very common cause of becoming more and more food intolerant, and then there is a knock-on effect of this because it means that there is more stuff getting through into your blood than there should be, which then creates more work for the liver.

So the next step in this part of the process is poor liver detoxification. So there's digestion and there's liver detoxification and then there's another part of the process: these are often interlinked and that’s why it’s quite a complex condition that won't dissolve by a single vitamin or drug and that is literally how cells turn food into energy.

So for example, in a lot of Fibromyalgia sufferers, what happens is, is that they don’t completely turn food into energy, and you start to get a build-up of certain chemicals that shouldn't be there if the process was working properly.

The one most people have heard of for example is lactic acid, so when you exercise, you don’t have enough oxygen so you make more lactic acid that makes the muscles stiff and tired.

But very often there is a block in the way the body turns food into energy and in one of the most critical paths, this path will involve magnesium, and also something called malic acid which is what’s in apples and cider vinegar.

Magnesium malate for some people is amazing because it unblocks the ability to turn food into energy. So you can see that if a person has compromised liver detoxification, has developed intolerances, or is not properly able to turn food into energy or even deal with the breakdown products of exercise, then what happens is eating food, eating too much food, eating different food, doing a little bit of exercise or strenuous activity, all of these make you feel so much worse.

Interview - Vitamin B and Methylation

TCE - Are missing B vitamins and poor Methylation Keys to your symptoms?

Patrick - There is another piece that really relates to B Vitamins. There is a process in the body called methylation. Methylation happens at the rate of a billion reactions every couple of seconds.

For example it’s methylation that makes neuro transmitters, like adrenaline and insulin. And if you don’t have the right B vitamins for you, then methylation doesn't happen properly.

So very often with people with CFS you find a very high poor methylation function which is indicated by having a high level of Homocysteine. So there again these are fundamental pieces that are vital.

Many people also lack essential fats. So that’s a very important area, the omega 3 fats, the fats found in oily fish, and so it’s really a matter of finding which of these pieces aren't working, and then unblocking the lockdown, so to speak.

TCE - That’s really useful information. Also IBS and Candida are really big issues for M.E. sufferers. What are your thoughts on that?

Patrick - Yes, you see Candida, as I was saying earlier, is an infection of the gut. It's one of the ways you can have this virus or infection, and Candida is a yeast organism that exists in all of us, so it's meant to be inside you, largely in the large intestine and has a very important function which is that when you die it will digest you!

So it’s meant to be there. But it’s not meant to be in the small intestine in large quantities, so a lot of M.E. sufferers do have an overgrowth of Candida called Candidaitus.

And there are all sorts of strategies that help to eliminate that including cutting right back on sugars and things like, acid and oregano and oil, and there are all sorts of natural antifungal agents.

But I do think that one of the oversights in the treatment of Candida is the idea that you can completely eliminate it, because it’s actually meant to be there. So what you often hear about is people having great results on an anti-Candida diet and then a few months later its back, so it sort of keeps coming back.

So recently we've been involved more in strategies that boost the body’s immune system that would naturally keep the presence of Candida at a very low level. And this is to do with a kind of antibody, that’s very important in the gut that’s called FIGA. And if a person’s FIGA levels are very low, then whatever you do to try and eliminate Candida, it’s going to come back, because the body's own immune system is not primed to keep it under control.

So I think the new thinking with Candida is a double-sided attack. One is to eliminate the overgrowth of the Candida organism and two, to get the immune system strong so that it keeps Candida at bay in the future.

TCE - The next thing I want to talk to you about is allowing people to eat right for their type.....

Patrick - Well, I think that maybe ten years ago we were talking about metabolic typing and how you could pigeonhole people into fast metabolisers and slow metabolisers, and we had a nice example of that with the work of Doctor Peter D’Adamo and blood type. Depending on your blood type you would need different foods and so on.

And all of this was obviously true but in a sense it’s starting to be overtaken by our biogenetic individuality. So we have always spoken about bio-chemical individuality and how we are all different, but now we are starting to learn about our genetic differences and there is now a massive amount of research into this area that then create bio-chemical differences, that would have you metabolise food in a different way to me for example.

But ideally, you can kind of go beyond typing people into an absolutely individualised strategy. For example, as you can now do if you take a blood sample (and this can be done on a simple pinprick of blood), and find out if a person is producing antibodies to specific foods, then you can literally identify which foods that person’s immune system likes, and which foods that person’s immune system fights.

So although this isn’t quite there yet because it’s rather expensive, we are moving to the point where you can actually have a swab on the inside of your cheek to identify your specific genetic variations.

So the concept of biochemical individuality, metabolic typing, biogenetic individuality is all important and probably in the medicine of tomorrow, we'll be able to look at very specifically what works for one person as we are all different there's no question.

What we need to discover in those differences is what we need to maintain our health.

Interview - Migraines

TCE - Migraines seem to be coming up a lot with M.E. sufferers. In the long-term how do you deal with the symptoms and getting well from migraines?

Patrick - Once again, migraines can absolutely be a consequence of allergy, and it’s much more common in people who have poor methylation which is indicated by a high Homocysteine level.

We know that deficiency in certain B vitamins, vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, mean more chance of a migraine, when given in significant quantities, less chance. We know that migraines can occur as part of detoxification or liver function issue.

But probably the single most common cause of migraine, and not many people know this, is that the cervical vertebrae are out of alignment, so there is a muscular/skeletal part, which is something I always check for in anybody suffering from M.E. and migraine.

It may be a combination of these, that you may have eaten a food you are allergic to, your blood sugar is low, you haven't been drinking enough water, your neck is actually out of alignment, you’re feeling very stressed: enough of these factors can actually tip you over into a fully blown migraine.

I used to have migraines every week of my life from when I was very young so it’s an area that I have had to explore for my own reasons.

Migraines - Elaine's Story

The Recipe for Migraine

I can absolutely testify to what Patrick is saying here. Migraines were such a major part of my illness. What began as headaches developed into migraines as my condition worsened.

Poor liver function meant my body could not eliminate toxins so chemicals and pain stayed in my body for a very long time. Unfortunately I have cervical spine issues which are made worse when using a computer for long periods of time and are only helped with osteopathic treatment and yoga.

When I added stress, or for more accurately, an emotional upset into the mix - maybe some caffeine or a glass of wine - hey presto a full blown migraine. Migraine medication could make me vomit and the most effective ones are vaso-constrictors which imitated an angina attack in my body and prompted a worrying situation where I was referred to a heart specialist for a series of heart scans and treadmill tests wired up to an ECG machine.

It has taken me a long time to figure out my migraine pattern. So my recipe for staying migraine free is this:

Adequate rest – I don’t do really long working days anymore
Limiting computer exposure
Milk thistle drops for liver detox
Avoid alcohol 99% of the time (I have found one particular organic white wine that I can have on special occasions - Kenderman’s Organic - if I have one I am fine but I would avoid this until you are well recovered)
Magnesium supplement
Drinking plenty of water
Regular Osteopathic treatment for my neck

Even now if I break any of these rules – I can get a migraine. It is a very strong warning mechanism.

Interview - Depression

TCE - Depression is another big symptom of M.E. and I know it is something you have been doing a lot of research into lately.

Patrick - Yes absolutely and you know that the big issue with depression is that when you feel depressed then you don’t actually remember what it was that you were going to do to make yourself feel better.

Even if you do remember, you don’t have the motivation to do it. Your best laid plans just go well off track. And another way of thinking about depression is what I would call the cave syndrome. Animals in the wild when injured, or not feeling well would go and hide in the cave in the same way that we go and hide, until they feel better.

There’s a tremendous link between the gut and the brain, so when the gut isn't working and you’re not feeling good it actually triggers a kind of pressured and introverted state and we sort of vanish down some black hole and don’t want to see anyone and curl up in a ball and don’t want to get out of bed and so on.

The Gut Brain Link in Depression

And if you start to understand that the gut and the brain are actually fundamentally linked then you can understand how this works.

One of the amazing truths is that when you sort out nutrition it has a phenomenal effect on how you think and feel. Even though there may be other issues about which we become depressed, if we sort out nutrition, it’s amazing how quickly that can lift.

Of course being debilitated and maybe not able to work and not able to really function in relationships, all of that is depressing, so one gets into a vicious spiral. Then as a consequence of that we may start taking substances like caffeine to try and give us more energy, or alcohol because we're feeling low and we want to numb the pain in some way.

This just makes everything so much worse and you spiral down and down and down.

So yes, depression is usually part of the syndrome and there is a way out.

TCE - So what are those changes that you need to make?

Patrick - Two of my favourite sayings are “depression is only anger without enthusiasm" and "don’t get sad, get mad!" So in a sense, what you’re angry about, and what’s not working in your life.

And the other thing is that very often when people do feel low it may be because they are not living their life true to who they really are.

So the questions to ask are, "am I betraying myself?" or "am I really living the life that I need to live?"

And generally somewhere between the biochemical/physical imbalances that can generate CFS and the psychological patterns that keep us stuck, somewhere in the process of resolving both of those it is possible to truly become someone that you want to be.

We covered nutrition and seeing a Nutritionist in depth in Session 7 - you might want to revisit that session now after this interview.

Interview - The Essential Vitamin Protocol

The essential Vitamin Protocol - are you taking any of these?

TCE - What would you say are the most important basic supplements for a person's diet?

Patrick: Well I can certainly answer that and say that for most people the most vital is a high strength multi vitamin and mineral not based on RDAs {Recommended Daily Allowances} - because they are irrelevant.

So we are talking about: Vitamins A, B, C, D, E. Also minerals, such as Zinc and Magnesium are especially important for people with Chronic Fatigue.

Vitamin D - A lot of us are lacking vitamin D, which is vital for our immune system and vital for our mood, so a decent multi-vitamin should provide us with at least 15mg of Vitamin D. And very few do.

B Vitamins - And then enough B Vitamins and roughly we are talking about 20mg of B3, B6, B2, B5. Do you know the RDA for B-Vitamins is 2 mg which is simply not enough.

Multi Vitamins - You'll never get enough vitamins in a decent multi-vitamin! 2 grams a day is the equivalent of 44 supermarket oranges. This is actually what gorillas in London Zoo are given to mimic what they would be eating if they lived in a tropical jungle environment, so it can counteract a lot that is actually consistent with our evolution and you simply cannot get that much in a multi-vitamin.

Essential Fats - Omega 3 NA Omega 6 - I also take essential fats, every day I take a capsule that is both Omega3 and Omega 6 but a lot more 3 than 6 because that’s the one that we are lacking. So I'm talking about eating fish oils which is Omega 3 or evening primrose oil which is Omega 6. So that’s important.

TCE - What if you feel worse on vitamins?

Patrick - What is also very important is that if you suffer from CFS then it’s possible that you may have alterations in your biology and that means that what you need is different.

And some people, if their liver function is not working quite the right way actually feel worse on vitamins rather than better. If that happens to you then I think that it is very very important to see a nutritional therapist who can actually work out what you need and what’s going on under the surface.

TCE - I also would like to ask you about mind set. If someone is in a low state it’s very difficult to mentally get out of that, what are your thoughts on that?

Patrick - Well that is true, and also when we become used to functioning in a particular way, and then when that starts to lift it can be quite scary actually, because you have to go back to work and start interacting and engaging, so that becomes an issue.

Expert Interview - Nutritional Therapist, Kate Arnold

Leading Nutritional Therapist Kate Arnold BA(Hons) Dip I.O.N MBANT

Kate trained as a Nutritional Therapist at the renowned Institute of Optimum Nutrition in London, which was founded by Patrick Holford.

She is a member of The British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy and is also a member of the Guild of Health Writers.

Kate is currently continuing her research with an MSc at Middlesex University. Kate has seen thousands of people over the years with a range of health problems, but she specialises in digestive disorders, heart and mental health and fatigue disorders.

With over ten years clinical experience in nutrition, Kate has built up a varied and vast knowledge base and regularly gives advice to the National Press.

For the first time in our interview Kate reveals her background that lead her into working in the field of nutrition after suffering personally with Chronic Fatigue.

She gives some great insights and advice, check out the 'I have tried everything' checklist!

Listen to Kate's Interview

You can listen to Kate's interview online here or download it to your computer from the Downloads section on the right.

Expert Interview - Ruth Tansey

Ruth Tansey is a Nutritional Therapist, Colonic Hydrotherapist, WellBeing Coach and Phlebotomist.

Ruth is passionate about health and nutrition and specialises in gut and digestive health, food intolerances, chronic exhaustive conditions; CFS/ME Fibromyalgia, weight management, skin health.

We are talking to Ruth about the recent controversial research to be released stating that CFS can be overcome by positive thinking and exercise.

You can watch the full webinar in your Webinar Library.

Listen to Interview

You can listen to the audio from the webinar and the interview with Ruth online or download it to your computer from the Downloads section on the right.

Top Tips

This week's Top Tips are brought to you by Patrick

Mind - Be Proactive Sorting Out Psychological issues

I would also say, do explore psychological factors. Partly because if you have been, at any level, disabled for some time it’s going to generate psychological issues in anyone. It’s impossible not to.

But there may be other issues as well that you are not dealing with. And so explore this avenue but it does not mean that all of M.E., CFS and Fibromyalgia are psychological. It can be a key but not the whole thing! It’s not an 'either or'!

What is the first thing I can do? Have hope there is a way through, and in the meantime one of the easiest things you can do is take supplements- whatever else is going on - twice a day down the hatch because that alone can start to give you some of the energy you need to think more clearly and take the other actions that you need to get better.

Body - Address Your Digestion

Always start by focussing on your digestion.

Find out if there are foods that you are allergic to and there are very good laboratories like York Tests who measure IGD food intolerances with a simple pinprick test.

So many people react to wheat; milk etc so really explore digestion. And before you embark on complex diets like the anti-Candida diet it’s actually worth getting tested.

Most Nutritional therapists do this, so find out if you do or don’t have, for example, an underlying Candida problem or leaky gut or liver. So get yourself tested and take each of these areas like digestion individually and do it thoroughly.

It’s better to explore an area thoroughly and find that it doesn’t work because then you can tick it off and say that one does not relate to me.

External World - Work with experts

Don’t give up, know that this is absolutely something that you can come through and you need to work out a strategy working with experts that can help to bring you through it. Know that there is a way through and you just need to be open to learning about the critical pieces.

A Little Spiritual Support

Being angry about being ill or what others do or don’t do is fine if it is short lived and we do something about it. If it is a persistent state it damages our spirit.

So what can we do to release it?

We have chosen some great little words of advice from The Rules of Life by Richard Templar to share with you today – would any of these help you to restore some inner harmony?

Let your kids mess up for themselves - they don’t need any help from you
Have a little respect and forgiveness for your parents
Know when to let go and walk away

We know that there will have been another part of your recovery combination lock revealed this week, so practice this little self-affirmation and have a healthful and peaceful week.

‘I open my heart to myself – I deserve to love myself as I love others’