Hair Alternative Medicine

Alcohol : How Badly Can It Affect Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers?


The wonders of alcohol.

The achilles heel for many people.  The 'norm' for some others.  And poison if you have CFS/PVFS/M.E....

I remember when I first got Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome/CFS back in 1995, I thought that having a drink or two wouldn't affect me any differently to my PRE-CFS days.

Unfortunately I didn't realise what I was doing to myself.I didn't know how badly alcohol can affect the severity of CFS...

Nowadays I don't touch alcohol at all, and haven't done so for a few years now. I'd rather see at least a few hours in the day instead of being bedridden for weeks on end because of one alcoholic drink!

Because when you have CFS/M.E., you might as well be pouring arsenic down your throat...

------SIDE NOTE-------
Okay - so that comparison might be a little 'dramatic', but you get what I mean right?
------SIDE NOTE-------

You see when you have CFS/M.E., you are likely to develop **alcohol intolerance**...

The smallest alcoholic drink - even a tiny bit, can send you into a relapse - as I learnt the hard way many years ago.

Having an alcoholic drink now and again was enough to tip the severity of my CFS over the edge and put me in bed indefinitely.

When a **normal** person gets drunk they may feel a bit bad for a day or so, after which, they're back to 'normal', bouncing back and raring to go.

But when a person with M.E./CFS gets drunk - or even has just one drink, they're likely to feel like 'death warmed up' for what seems like an eternity!!!

Personally, I don't actually like alcohol much so I don't miss it. But even if I did, I have realised that alcohol no longer makes me feel the way it used to before I had CFS...

Drinking alcohol now feels like I'm feeding myself poison, and my body reacts accordingly - i.e. a relapse - and I suffer the consequences for a long, long time afterwards.

Unfortunately, us CFS sufferers are just not strong enough to resist the poisons of alcohol. So it's unfortunately a case of accepting it, or getting much, much worse.

As Dr Shepherd writes in his book 'Living With M.E.':

"Some people who previously enjoyed and tolerated regular consumption of alcohol without any adverse effects, now find that even small amounts make them extremely unwell."
               -- p214, Dr Shepherd, 'Living With M.E.' --

So if you have M.E./CFS, it is likely that you may have developed an intolerance to alcohol.

And that's not forgetting that alcohol also affects the effects of antidepressants (often prescribed to CFS sufferers to treat their fatigue and to help sufferers sleep)!  So if you're taking antidepressants, it's definitely something to bear in mind.

Having CFS/FM can be a very lonely and devastating experience and depression can be a very real and serious symptom for many CFS/FM sufferers. 

So the last thing you need is to take substances that make you feel worse. 

And guess what?

Yep, you've guess it, alcohol is also a depressant.  So it's not a great thing to drink if you're depressed!  And according to Dr Shepherd, many sufferers sadly do turn to alcohol... 

But alcohol is no answer. 

Apart from probably making you feel depressed, you could also develop an alcohol dependency! 

What's more, if you **are** alcohol intolerant, then it would make it much harder for yourself to recover from M.E./CFS (pretty much impossible even), while you keep putting alcohol in your body.

And here's some more 'food for thought'...

When you think about how badly a CFS sufferer can be affected by **one** alcoholic drink, then how badly could alcohol be affecting you if you're drinking more???

So there you go - a whole list of reasons why you might think twice about drinking anything remotely alcoholic while you have CFS/M.E.

While you may no longer be alcohol intolerant once you have recovered from CFS/M.E., it may well be a major culprit for preventing you from **recovering** from your CFS/M.E while you still have it.

I didn't know about the possible effects of alcohol when I first had CFS/M.E...

... and I suffered the consequences.  My M.E./CFS got worse.  A lot worse.  And I was only having a couple of drinks now and again!

So I hope this article arms you with enough info for you to make an educated decision about alcohol either way.
 
You never know - it may well make the difference...

===========================================================  

** Reprinting of the article above is welcome! **

The article above may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to a 100% opt-in list.

Here's the resource box to use if reprinting the article above:

------

Claire Williams is editor of sleepydust.net ...

Helping You To Deal With Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, M.E. and Fibromyalgia

"From Solving Your Money Worries To Recovering From Your Condition"

http://www.sleepydust.net

To subscribe to the newsletter in which this article was published, please go to:

http://www.sleepydust.net/ezine

------


MORE RESOURCES:

The Gazette (Montreal)

Alternative therapies up close
The Gazette (Montreal), Canada - 11 hours ago
From homeopathy and acupuncture to chiropractic and herbal medicine, alternative health care has grown into an $80-billion-a-year industry. ...


Holistic health show set for Saturday
Pembroke Daily Observer,  Canada - Jul 4, 2008
She said that holistic and alternative health care is important for people to get complete health care. Although traditional medication is still important ...


Front Desk/Data Entry - Alternative Health/Education
Seattle Times, United States - Jun 30, 2008
An awareness of, and appreciation for, alternative health would be helpful, as well as a desire to make a positive difference in people's lives. ...


The Age

Time to call purveyors of false cancer hope to account
The Age, Australia - 5 hours ago
Faced with such a verdict, some people cling to hope in the form of alternative and complementary therapies. Many terminally ill patients derive much ...
It's a cancer clinic called Hope. But critics accuse it of preying ... The Age
Preying on the hope of cancer patients The Age
all 7 news articles


Ramadoss meets Ramadev, discusses alternative health care
Press Trust of India, India - Jun 18, 2008
New Delhi, Jun 18 (PTI) Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has met Yoga Guru Ramadev and discussed ways to popularise alternative health care. ...


Doctors in for a dose of alternative medicine
The Age, Australia - Jul 4, 2008
Others welcome it as a timely recognition there's more to health and wellbeing than old-fashioned and dictatorial prescription of pharmaceuticals. ...


goodtoknow

Alternative and natural health guide
goodtoknow, UK - Jun 24, 2008
Sometimes people refer to alternative health as complementary health, meaning alongside (complementary) traditional medicine. There are lots of rules that ...


Meditation Good For Psychiatrists' Mental Health
Medical News Today (press release), UK - 12 hours ago
A new meta-analysis of 823 randomly controlled trials of meditation, conducted by the US National Institute of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, ...


New clinic opens
The Register-Guard, OR - 9 hours ago
... a major source of patient referrals, but more and more consumers are seeking out alternative health care services such as physical therapy on their own. ...


HealthNews

Alternative Cancer Treatment: The Hard Questions
HealthNews, CA - 2 hours ago
If you have any health or illness related questions you would like me to answer, please feel free to leave a comment below. My answers to your questions ...

Alternative Health - Google News

home | Iridology | "Mind Machines" | "Alternative Health" site map | Iridology Site Map | "Alternative Botox"
© 2000 - 2008