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Dr. Oz June14/16 segment on "chronic fatigue" & "chronic fatigue syndrome": the good & the bad

waiting

Senior Member
Messages
463
Dr. Oz featured a segment on "chronic fatigue" again today.

--> The good: The show differentiated between "chronic fatigue" & "chronic fatigue syndrome". At about the 13 min mark, she mentions a recent Swedish study with 12 female patients who "had CFS, not just chronic fatigue" & had improvement in their fatigue after 2 interventions: B12 injections & folic acid.

--> The bad: The show conflated "chronic fatigue" & "chronic fatigue syndrome" & failed to emphasize the severity & resulting debility. They said 4 million US women had it -- I don't know the source of that figure.

Overall, a casual viewer would probably come away thinking that CF & CFS are the same thing. However, if you listen closely, the doctor does make several statements differentiating the two. I just don't think it was clear enough -- likely a factor of the short segments.

The expert was Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, MD (Integrative & Alternative Medicine Expert).

She initially referred to "chronic fatigue... people who have *A* chronic fatigue syndrome or spectrum." :bang-head:

However, the tips she listed were good advice as helpful things to do -- for anyone, but especially someone with "CFS".

AM rituals
- hot showers in AM are bad because CFS patients already have abnormally low cortisol in the morning & the rapid cooling that takes place after a hot shower drops cortisol levels further. Instead, she suggested a warm bath at night. (She said bath over shower due to "instability"(?) -- assume that's OI.)

- carb heavy breakfasts cause fatigue a few hours later. Instead, she suggested protein heavy breakfast like eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese.

- too much coffee which has a long 1/2 life. Instead, she suggested one is ok, but even better is a "tisane" (herbal tea w/o caffeine like ginger tea with lemon, or peppermint, etc.)

She also emphasized the importance of B Vitamins, esp. B6 & B12 -- B12 shots, 100mg ublingual tablets & sprays. For food sources of Vitamin B, she suggested salmon, tuna, miso, mozzarella cheese, greek yogurt, sunflower seeds & nutritional yeast.

Finally, she mentioned the importance of not getting dehydrated which makes fatigue & headache much worse. She said 11-15 cups of water daily, and suggested making it more palatable by filling a jug of water with pieces of watermelon, cucumber (organic -- or peel if conventional), limes & letting it sit overnight.

Did anyone else see it? What did you think?
 

Justin30

Senior Member
Messages
1,065
I wish they brought up ME as opposed to CFS a defined Neurological illness as per the WHO.

maybe a suggestion to contact Dr OZ to interview one of the big name ME drs is in order an images of the severely ill and memtion of the IOM report and NIH study may bring some greater attention to the disease.
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
Dr. Oz featured a segment on "chronic fatigue" again today.

--> The good: The show differentiated between "chronic fatigue" & "chronic fatigue syndrome". At about the 13 min mark, she mentions a recent Swedish study with 12 female patients who "had CFS, not just chronic fatigue" & had improvement in their fatigue after 2 interventions: B12 injections & folic acid.

--> The bad: The show conflated "chronic fatigue" & "chronic fatigue syndrome" & failed to emphasize the severity & resulting debility. They said 4 million US women had it -- I don't know the source of that figure.

Overall, a casual viewer would probably come away thinking that CF & CFS are the same thing. However, if you listen closely, the doctor does make several statements differentiating the two. I just don't think it was clear enough -- likely a factor of the short segments.

The expert was Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, MD (Integrative & Alternative Medicine Expert).

She initially referred to "chronic fatigue... people who have *A* chronic fatigue syndrome or spectrum." :bang-head:

However, the tips she listed were good advice as helpful things to do -- for anyone, but especially someone with "CFS".

AM rituals
- hot showers in AM are bad because CFS patients already have abnormally low cortisol in the morning & the rapid cooling that takes place after a hot shower drops cortisol levels further. Instead, she suggested a warm bath at night. (She said bath over shower due to "instability"(?) -- assume that's OI.)

- carb heavy breakfasts cause fatigue a few hours later. Instead, she suggested protein heavy breakfast like eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese.

- too much coffee which has a long 1/2 life. Instead, she suggested one is ok, but even better is a "tisane" (herbal tea w/o caffeine like ginger tea with lemon, or peppermint, etc.)

She also emphasized the importance of B Vitamins, esp. B6 & B12 -- B12 shots, 100mg ublingual tablets & sprays. For food sources of Vitamin B, she suggested salmon, tuna, miso, mozzarella cheese, greek yogurt, sunflower seeds & nutritional yeast.

Finally, she mentioned the importance of not getting dehydrated which makes fatigue & headache much worse. She said 11-15 cups of water daily, and suggested making it more palatable by filling a jug of water with pieces of watermelon, cucumber (organic -- or peel if conventional), limes & letting it sit overnight.

Did anyone else see it? What did you think?
Right. Like if it was going to cure us all.
 

Chezboo

NOT MY BOARD
Messages
55
Thanks for posting the info Waiting.

By the sounds of things, it's all a bit tragic. Dr Oz and team really should be able to do a lot better.
 

waiting

Senior Member
Messages
463
Edit: I just noticed something I completely missed while watching the segment yesterday -- the show's title.

Brace yourselves.

The title is: "Do you have Chronic Fatigue? The Real Reason You Have No Energy - Reasons for exhaustion; foods that fight fatigue..."

So, this title is firmly in the "Conflation" category.

It makes it sound like EVERYONE (CF & CFS both) can fix their energy problems by avoiding hot showers, eating protein & limiting oneself to 1 coffee. As if these are bad behaviors that make us responsible for our "fatigue". And Dr. Oz had spoken to Dr. Lipkin & others on his shows, but none of this seemed to ring a bell to him. So, yes, it's another segment that calls out for advocacy.

Whatever good the expert guest DR was trying to get across (& I got the impression she DOES know the difference but just wasn't clear enough about it; & her advice was ok under the symptomatic treatment heading -- lifestyle suggestions that can help anyone with fatigue, but particularly "CFS".), it was a big fail in the eyes of any ME advocate.
 

wastwater

Senior Member
Messages
1,271
Location
uk
Pizza forms a large part of my diet,I don't feel too bad now knowing it is supplying me with with plenty of vitamin B.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
I wish they brought up ME as opposed to CFS a defined Neurological illness as per the WHO.

maybe a suggestion to contact Dr OZ to interview one of the big name ME drs is in order an images of the severely ill and memtion of the IOM report and NIH study may bring some greater attention to the disease.
The use of WHO/ICD is not valid to most docs/bureaucrats. Its just a bureaucratic code. Not only will they ignore it, they will then dismiss the commentator. No medical organization cares. Nor do politicians or bureaucrats. Its the wrong tool to get things to change. Its use is really as a side commentary to demonstrate that things are not really straightforward.

Scientists would be even more sceptical, as they know many ICD codes are simply wrong ... the ICD is not a scientific authority.

However the IOM report, for all its flaws, is still pretty good and is the only real weapon we have that has an authoritative edge, at least until the phase 3 Rituximab trial is finished, or we have a diagnostic or treatment biomarker, or even a cause.

If we could get Dr Oz and Ron Davis together ... that would have an impact. However any very popular talk show would have an impact as well.