Hi, all.
Sorry that I have not yet responded to some of the questions directed to me. I'm pretty far behind in responding to emails in general. The volume seems to be increasing. I'm hearing from more physicians now, and I think that's a good thing, because there is a "multiplier effect" whenever a physician decides to add methylation support to their overall treatment protocol for ME/CFS, as they interact with so many patients. I've also put in some time responding to Freddd's request for analysis of symptoms from the clinical trial that Dr. Nathan and I carried out. I think the results may be of interest to others, also, so I'm pasting it below.
Best regards,
Rich
March 10, 2011
Symptoms Reported by PWCs and Improvements in Them after Treatment with the Simplified Treatment Approach for 6 Months
Rich Van Konynenburg, Ph.D.
Below is a list of symptoms that were included in the checklist used in the clinical study of the Simplified Treatment Approach conducted by Nathan and Van Konynenburg in 2008, reported in 2009*. These data apply to the 21 women who satisfied the strict diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (Fukuda et al. plus post-exertional fatigue and malaise), out of the total of 30 women who participated in the clinical study. The women were asked to indicate whether they did or did not have each symptom in the checklist, both initially and after six months of treatment, without specifying severity.
The symptoms are listed below in descending order of their reported prevalence at the beginning of the study. Note that these women had already been treated by Dr. Nathan for up to 12 years for various aspects of CFS, so the prevalence values for symptoms in this study may not be the same as would be found in a previously untreated CFS population.
For each symptom listed below, the first number shown is the percentage of women who reported the symptom initially. The second number is the percentage decrease in the number who reported the symptom after 6 months of treatment. The study actually ran for 9 months, and there were some changes in the symptoms reported after 9 months (both decreases and increases in the numbers), but individualized treatments were added to the Simplified Treatment Approach between 6 and 9 months, so the results at 9 months do not reflect the effect of the Simplified Treatment Approach alone, and have not been included here.
Note that fatigue was not included in the checklist, but the women were asked to rate their “energy” using a visual analogue scale. On a scale of 1 to 10, their initial average rating was 4.0 (SD 1.7), and their average rating at six months was 6.0 (SD 2.0), p<0.005. Seventy-six percent of the women reported improvement in their energy level.
Strictly speaking, low blood pressure, low body temperature, and hypoglycemia should be considered as signs rather than symptoms, but they were included in the symptoms checklist for this study.
Here are the results:
Chronic aching muscles 100, 33
Reduced task completion 95, 60
Depression 90, 42
Difficulty in staying asleep 90, 58
Joint pain, morning joint stiffness 90, 21
Tingling, “needles and pins” sensation 86, 39
Difficulty in word finding 81, 41
Impairment of concentration, difficulty in assimilating new information 81, 24
Pain in weight-bearing joints 76, 25
Ice pick-like pain or electrical pain that shoots into muscles 76, 25
Low body temperature 76, 62
Hypersensitivity to bright light 71, 27
Blurred vision 71, 47
Weight gain 71, 80
Difficulty with getting to sleep 71, 53
Excessive thirst or frequent urination 71, 47
Chronic sinus congestion 67, 43
Panic attacks or anxiety 67, 57
Ringing in the ears, tinnitus 67, 50
Mood swings 62, 46
Confusion, disorientation 62, 54
Tearing, redness of eyes 57, 50
Increased sensitivity to touch 57, 50
Vertigo, dizziness 57, 67
Night blindness 52, 18
Abdominal pain 48, 50
Rage or inappropriate anger 43, 56
Nausea 38, 37
Hypoglycemia 38, 75
Onset of menopause 38, 62
Shortness of breath 33, 57
Metallic taste or other unusual taste 29, 50
Chronic yeast infections 24, 80
Loss of appetite 24, 80
Chronic cough that mimics asthma 14, 67
Low blood pressure 14, 0 (Yes, zero. This represents only 3 patients.)
Nosebleeds 10, 100
Irregular vaginal bleeding 10, 50
*
http://www.aboutmecfs.org/Trt/TrtMethylStudy09.pdf