As we all know, there is no cure for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Neither is there any treatment which can alleviate the main symptoms of the illness. The current conventional medical approach is to focus on management of the illness, through rest and gentle exercise where appropriate, lifestyle modification, and treatment of symptoms where possible. Problems such as sleeping difficulties, headaches, muscle pain and depression can be treated with medication, with varying success. After taking these measures, conventional medical advice is then simply to be patient and wait until the illness recedes or goes away.

However, many people are not satisfied with such a passive approach, and quite understandably want to be more active in their search for health. And so they turn to alternative medicine (which I define here as anything outside the conventional approach), in search of something which will at least speed up the healing process.

The field of alternative medicine is large, varied and often very confusing. People with CFS/ME can find themselves confronted with unfamiliar concepts and strange treatments; navigating a course through this maze is not easy. To help make the journey as smooth as possible, I have compiled a list of points which I believe are the basis of a sensible approach to alternative medicine.

Remain positive
Always maintain a positive attitude, firm in the belief that you will eventually recover from CFS/ME, regardless of what treatments you try.

Do yourself no harm
Avoid treatments which you think have the potential to harm you, or which do, in fact, worsen your condition. Having CFS/ME is bad enough; you don't need extra problems.

Stay within your budget
Alternative therapies can be very expensive. Allocate an amount of money you are prepared to spend, and stay within this budget. Over-expenditure can cause personal and family stress, and is a burden that is especially heavy in a time of ill-health when a normal level of income may not be available to you.

Have an open mind
Once you have decided to try a particular therapy, have an open mind about what the results are likely to be: don't believe the treatment won't work, and don't believe it will work - just let the results speak for themselves.

Don't forget that you are in uncharted territory
Many claims will be made by different practitioners about the cause(s) of CFS/ME, and about treatments. Remember that no objective evidence has ever been produced to support any of these claims. If there was an effective treatment for CFS/ME, we would soon know about it. A healthy dose of scepticism will help you to keep things in perspective.

Be aware of conflict of interest
There is a potential conflict of interest when someone offering an untested treatment for a disease also earns his/her income from providing that treatment. In other words, the person offering the treatment may consciously or unconsciously make exaggerated or false claims about the treatment in order to induce you to spend money on the treatment. Being aware of this will also help you to keep things in perspective.

Remember, time is the best healer
This is very true with CFS/ME. Although no good information is available yet, it is probably safe to say that most people with CFS/ME make substantial improvement over time, and many recover completely from this illness. Time and good illness management are usually the major factors in recovery, rather than which treatment you tried.
Good luck!

Reprinted from Emerge, March 1994.