• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Dr. John Chia Visit Recap

I AM

Senior Member
Messages
101
I thought I would mention my story with Dr Chia. I am not a direct patient of his but when I went to NOVA for testing/treatment, they recommended I send my old stomach biopsies to Dr Chia, so I had that done and his nurse called to say I was positive. (After researching, this is not really an abnormal/rare finding even in healthy people)

NOVA suggested I start taking his supplement, Equilibrant. It is $50 for a box of 90 pills. It suggested to start at 1/day and end up at 6/day but with no directions on what to do if it does/doesn't work. Do the math and it is not cheap.

I have been taking it but not really noticing anything per say. I really question if it is effective or doing anything. I was suspicious when he told the story about his son getting sick, but over the course of a year he got better. Was it the supplement or was it like many people that come down with an illness and get better with a little time..?

My Coxsackie results look like this:

View attachment 33946

Do I actually have an active infection or not, no doctor has been able to tell me? But I do know that every doctor I have seen besides the opinions of Dr Chia, shrugs it off as not important. My Parvo also looked like this:
View attachment 33947
Who did you see at Nova? I saw Dr. Rey. I was told by Dr. Susan Levine, and Dr. Rey agreed with her, that my virus reactivates when I become very stressed.
 

I AM

Senior Member
Messages
101
Yes it’s about teaching your body NOT to overreact to stressors. So getting rid of any stressors via supplementation will help avoid it from trigger its own response.
What supplements are you taking? Are you doing DNRS or some similar program?
 

I AM

Senior Member
Messages
101
I saw Dr Klimas and Irena.
Dr. Chia ordered tests for me prior to my upcoming appointment. Unfortunately the idiot hospital or lab messed up and I did not get the results. Chia's admin said it was OK that they'd just do them when I arrive. I was quite disappointed. I think that I am going to cancel my appointment with him. It doesn't really sound like he is doing impressive things for PwME. I like Dr. Rey and think she is extremely bright. She has a great personality, too. I understand her patients are doing better than everyone else's patients at NSU based upon her new treatment protocol. She and I are very like-minded when it comes to diagnosis, treatment, and the etiology of this disease.
 

I AM

Senior Member
Messages
101
I rescheduled my appointment with Chia. I was scheduled to see him in September. Now it has been pushed out TWO years. That was their next available.
 

I AM

Senior Member
Messages
101
What is her treatment?

I still don't know if I truly have CFS or not.
Dr. Rey tests for environmental illnesses. Then treats with supportive and detox supplements and some Rx. You can read my blog for more info. I've posted extensively there.
 

JES

Senior Member
Messages
1,320
Your doctors are correct in the fact that they aren’t that important. You see even healthy people have IGG antibodies when they have an infection. IGG doesn’t suggest an active infection - it suggests a past infection. There is almost zero proof that the illness is caused from a virus and even less proof that it is cured that way. Yes, people like chia’s son are cured and may take antivirals but there are a lot of factors at play. I do not suggest going down the virus route. Save yourself time, money and disappointment. I tried it, studied it and know it isn’t going to be the answer. The answer lies in your ANS and strengthening that system by lowering stressors and balancing your body’s systems (especially adrenals and blood sugar). That’s what has paid off the most for me, and I’m pretty close to recovering,

I think it's a bit bold to conclude there is almost zero proof the illness is caused by a virus when we know the very thing that triggers ME/CFS is in most cases a viral infection, even the GET/CBT lobby have accepted that. Now it may be that the virus is later on cleared and is no longer present in the chronic stage of the disease, but we definitely do not have the evidence right now to conclude this is the case. Ron Davis is still working on testing patients for viruses and testing against certain viruses like RNA viruses (such as enterovirus) has proved to be a lot more tricky than he expected. We also have some evidence that viruses like EBV increases the likelihood of developing all sorts of autoimmune diseases.

What has helped me improved is slowly starting to STOP ANY thoughts related to the illness so my nervous system stops reacting.

I don't want to sound smug, but isn't this essentially what Wessely & co have been arguing for decades? That ME/CFS patients have false illness beliefs and behaviours and simply modifying the behavior will lead to remission.
 
Messages
12
I think it's a bit bold to conclude there is almost zero proof the illness is caused by a virus when we know the very thing that triggers ME/CFS is in most cases a viral infection, even the GET/CBT lobby have accepted that. Now it may be that the virus is later on cleared and is no longer present in the chronic stage of the disease, but we definitely do not have the evidence right now to conclude this is the case. Ron Davis is still working on testing patients for viruses and testing against certain viruses like RNA viruses (such as enterovirus) has proved to be a lot more tricky than he expected. We also have some evidence that viruses like EBV increases the likelihood of developing all sorts of autoimmune diseases.



I don't want to sound smug, but isn't this essentially what Wessely & co have been arguing for decades? That ME/CFS patients have false illness beliefs and behaviours and simply modifying the behavior will lead to remission.

Hi Jes. I understood that @Dallase1 was referring to being preoccupied with one's symptoms, and the negative effect that the physical stress response from worrying about specific illness symptoms placed on your already fatigued system.
 

I AM

Senior Member
Messages
101
I rescheduled my appointment with Dr. Chia. I was due to see him in September. The next available appointment was September 2021. Yes, you read that right, two years from now.