Cher "cured" of ME/CFS - any truth to this and do we know what the treatment was?

[ratmom]

Hey folks, I've looked through the forums prior to posting this and found a previous post from two years ago about it that didn't lead to many answers either. According to an awful number of sites out there, Cher (and Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stevie Nicks) all suffered from ME/CFS. I know some of these were just called "mystery illnesses" on some sites, but in any case, MEWiki does say that Cher was cured/treated in Belgium. Does anyone know anything about this? And if it is ME/CFS, have any advocacy groups tried to get in touch with her to find out what she did? And Flea, from all his Facebook photos, seems to be living a fairly normal life from my very brief observation. I know these people have access to sorts of healthcare most of us can't even imagine and there's no telling if they really had ME/CFS, but I really feel like maybe what they're doing/done should be investigated or discussed for the benefit of the rest of those suffering, if it hasn't been somewhere already.

If anyone doesn't think this is too stupid (or can tell me for certain that ME/CFS is not the case with these people), I would love it if more connected (or braver, more persistent) folk could reach out and get some answers. What do you think? Am I grasping at straws?

 

[JES]

I don't know the details, but I'd bet many of these "celebrity CFS" cases were misdiagnosed and were really just burnout or depression. Because it seems to me that almost every celebrity case I read about, they almost always seem to recover, and that's not the case with CFS as we know, where only a minority recover fully.

Related to celebrities, I remember reading that Michael Jackson bought himself a home hyperbaric chamber, but I have no idea if he used it for treating illness. But in general celebrities have access to these kind of luxury treatment options that most of us rest don't, so in theory they could have a slightly better chance of recovery.

 

[Hip]

There is confusion about Cher's condition, as it is claimed she has/had chronic Epstein-Barr virus, but also claimed she has chronic fatigue syndrome, but these are two different things.

 

[maybe some day]

I never believed her at all. You dont get CFS, recover and make music videos.

 

[blueberry]

It's confusing, and the publicity machine surrounding celebrities muddies the waters. Some people do go through phases of improvement and remission, though. I recently saw a video interview with Stuart Murdoch, the singer from Belle and Sebastian, who has ME https://www.meaction.net/2015/09/12...nger-of-belle-and-sebastian-on-life-with-m-e/ and he talks about some of the things that have helped. Maybe the video makers should approach Cher as well? I know when I was grappling with infertility, I found it frustrating and saddening when there would be the odd celebrity "miracle baby" announcement in the press, and even though it was highly likely that donated eggs were used, it was never discussed. It's all about promoting a certain image, and I would take Cher's alleged ME cure with a massive pinch of salt. By the way @ratmom I'm a rat mummy, too!

 

[Snow Leopard]

I think she had a post-viral syndrome. Recovery from that is not uncommon, but once you are ill for 2-3 years it is another story...

 

[Hip]

It's confusing,

If Cher had proper chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV), which is a very rare and often fatal illness, the treatment is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The symptoms of CAEBV are similar to ME/CFS, but they are not the same disease.

Whereas if Cher had ME/CFS triggered by EBV, that's something else, and as we know from Dr Lerner's clinical trials, Valtrex, Famvir or Valcyte can work well for this.

But studies on ME/CFS appearing after mononucleosis / glandular fever show that there is a good recovery rate anyway in the first two years from mono-triggered ME/CFS. For example, this study showed that 6 months after mononucleosis, 13% of patients met the criteria for ME/CFS; but at the 24 month stage, that dropped down to only 4%.

 

[starlily88]

If Cher had proper chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV), which is a very rare and often fatal illness, the treatment is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The symptoms of CAEBV are similar to ME/CFS, but they are not the same disease.

Whereas if Cher had ME/CFS triggered by EBV, that's something else, and as we know from Dr Lerner's clinical trials, Valtrex, Famvir or Valcyte can work well for this.

But studies on ME/CFS appearing after mononucleosis / glandular fever show that there is a good recovery rate anyway in the first two years from mono-triggered ME/CFS. For example, this study showed that 6 months after mononucleosis, 13% of patients met the criteria for ME/CFS; but at the 24 month stage, that dropped down to only 4%.

I got mono when I got much older than my mono in high school, which I did get better from age 17.
None of my drs see a good recovery rate when one goes onto ME/CFS - but this was at Johns Hopkins Hospital where I was diagnosed after not getting better from mono. I did massive anti-virals - still my drs at Hopkins have not seen any recovery rates no matter how one comes by it - but they are only one group of doctors and are probably not that familiar with the diseas.

 

[HansG]

@ratmom That is a really good question.

Given the prevalence of ME/CFS (something between 0,5 % and 2 %, isnt it?), at least some of the top stars should have this illnes, statistically. Additionally, a lot of public people should do as well.

Where are all these cases? And what have they done?

 

[maybe some day]

@ratmom That is a really good question.

Given the prevalence of ME/CFS (something between 0,5 % and 2 %, isnt it?), at least some of the top stars should have this illnes, statistically. Additionally, a lot of public people should do as well.

Where are all these cases? And what have they done?

There are a few stars that have this illness. Although they are not as popular as they once were, we wouldnt hear much about them if they were healthy or not. I did find a list on google when I last checked.