Easy Solution to Treat CFS - Dr. Oz

[Wayne]

I watched an ABC News Good Morning America segment this morning featuring Dr. Oz talking about fatigue conditions. At the end, he was asked by George Stephanopolos about CFS. I found his answer almost incomprehensible, given he had done a special program on his own show on CFS earlier this year.

In short, he said that, "It's (CFS) a short circuit of your energy system"; "Ironically, you can treat that short-circuiting by doing a couple of simple things for yourself...". He then talks briefly about drinking green tea sweetened with D-Ribose, and finishes by saying, "It's one of the things that I think is the easiest solution for a lot of folks who have CFS...."

How unbelievable is that? This LINK will take you to the article and the video. The segment is about 5 minutes long; the part on CFS is only about one minute long and starts at about the 3:40 mark. I actually thought he knew better. It was very disappointing to watch, especially after how much exposure he's had to CFS. It also feels pretty disheartening to contemplate how well legitimate CFS news will ever be accepted.

Best, Wayne

ETA I thought I'd briefly mention that I was struck by the way George Stephanopolos asked about CFS. It seemed like he's the one who REALLY has a sense for how devastating it is.

 

[JT1024]

Perhaps George Stephanopolos could be enlightened about XMRV and the embargo on the NIH/FDA/Dr. Alter research findings.

 

[Stone]

Perhaps George Stephanopolos could be enlightened about XMRV and the embargo on the NIH/FDA/Dr. Alter research findings.

Ooh! What a fantastic idea! How do we go about that I wonder?

About Dr. Oz, that's truly disappointing. I really would have expected more. Speaking of more, maybe we can shoot that clip to Dr. Donnica Moore. I think she would be the right person to re-educate Dr. Oz on what he said and hopefully get him to devote a little time to explaining himself better. The green tea and ribose would actually be helpful for a lot of people with chronic fatigue, but not so much for ME/CFS. I drink tea with ribose every day and I'm still 99% bedbound. Seriously.

 

[Forbin]

Here is what wikipedia says about D-ribose and CFS...

D-ribose has also been used to reduce fatigue in fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). A 2006 uncontrolled pilot study suggested that D-ribose (5 g three times a day) may be effective in the treatment of FM and CFS.[4] The authors reported that 66% of the 41 participants noted the supplement as being helpful and in improving energy, sleep, mental clarity, pain intensity, and well-being. However, due to the lack of a control group, further study is required to rule out a placebo effect.

Here is the 2006 study referenced above and published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. It was authored by Jacob E. Teitelbaum, M.D.

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2006.12.857

 

[JT1024]

Dr. Donnica Moore has been a frequent guest on Oprah (who got Dr. Oz his start in TV). Where she is also the spokesperson for WPI, she is perfect to enlighten Dr. Oz AND George Stephanopolos.....

George Stephanopolos obviously has many contacts in Washington as well. Would love to know what prompted the "fatigue" segment on GMA. Perhaps he knows something???

 

[acer2000]

Perhaps someone could alert Dr. Donica and she could send a nice thoughtful note to Dr. Oz and George Stephanopolos. They really need to distinguish "CFS" from just being tired. Unfortunately I think Dr. Teitelbaum has the ear of Dr. Oz, so this is the result. Personally, I took a bunch of Ribose for over a month and it did nothing for me.

 

[anne_likes_red]

Perhaps someone could alert Dr. Donica and she could send a nice thoughtful note to Dr. Oz and George Stephanopolos. They really need to distinguish "CFS" from just being tired. Unfortunately I think Dr. Teitelbaum has the ear of Dr. Oz, so this is the result. Personally, I took a bunch of Ribose for over a month and it did nothing for me.

Dr Cheney reported at the 5th Invest in ME conference in May this year that he's found D-Ribose to be "of negative use".

http://www.anzmes.org.nz/radionz_transcript_April05.htm (near the bottom).

 

[JPV]

Dr Cheney reported at the 5th Invest in ME conference in May this year that he's found D-Ribose to be "of negative use".

Don't worry, he'll change his mind on the subject in a few months.

 

[anne_likes_red]

Don't worry, he'll change his mind on the subject in a few months.

You could be right. He'll wait until it's impossible to source (result of a Dr Oz induced buying frenzy?)...then Cheney will heartily endorse it again!

 

[eric_s]

It's so ridiculous. There are millions of people who can't really work, can't do ... and they talk about green tea. I like green tea, but do they seriously think anyone would be ill if this could be treated with tea What's wrong with some people?!

 

[Dreambirdie]

This is really disappointing and shocking.

Last November, I started an email letter writing campaign on this forum (in which about 50 of you participated) to get the story about XMRV on The Dr Oz Show. I even helped to write the talking points for Dr. Donnica, who was Dr. Oz's guest "expert" on the the topic, a couple days before the show was taped. Dr. Donnica was great, and even Oz himself did a fairly decent job about CFS and XMRV back then, when the show aired in December of 2009. (See the link below.) I know also (from Frankie Vigil--the WPI media coordinator) that one of the Oz producers had a long talk with Judy Mikovits on the phone, prior to the taping, so he could gather more info from her about XMRV. So what happened?

THE LINK TO THE DR. OZ SHOW SEGMENT ON XMRV (December 5, 2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WEUC7hRXzM

Maybe we should all write The Oz Show again and send Dr. Oz a link to his 12/05/09 segment with Dr. Donnica, to refresh his memory about XMRV and CFS.
Here's the link to send Oz your "ideas" for another show. http://www.doctoroz.com/plugger?tid=637

And here's the link to send comments to GMA: http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=Good Morning America

We really shouldn't let them get away with this.

 

[jspotila]

So nice of Dr. Oz to tell us that CFS has been "upgraded to a real condition." What a relief! And I thought the last 15 years were a figment of my imagination.

/sarcasm

 

[dschlindwein]

Dr Cheney reported at the 5th Invest in ME conference in May this year that he's found D-Ribose to be "of negative use".

I wish I had my DVD set of Dr. Cheney's 2009 public lecture, so that I could rewatch the Q&A there and write in more precise terms, but I loaned the DVD set to a friend. Dr. Cheney does strongly oppose the use of D-Ribose, but not just because he has "found it to be of negative use." His reason for cautioning against the use of D-Ribose is that while it is very true that ME/CFS patients produce abnormally low amounts of D-Ribose, he thinks that taking supplemental D-Ribose will have a feedback effect on the physiological process that your body uses to manufacture D-Ribose, further inhibiting that process. Analogous, I think, to how taking cortisol will cause your adrenal function to wither away further.

 

[xrayspex]

ok---good catch and good ideas--lets make sure the letters get written to Dr Donnica and Oz and George S.---anyone do it yet? care to share what you wrote?

 

[Dreambirdie]

ok---good catch and good ideas--lets make sure the letters get written to Dr Donnica and Oz and George S.---anyone do it yet? care to share what you wrote?

I wrote GMA and OZ SHOW already to complain and sent links as I suggested above.
I also sent a link to my educational video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VdXX9P58w

Please more people do this too. thanks.

 

[gu3vara]

I just lost any kind of respect I had for Dr. Oz, which was of moderate level previously, no mention of XMRV anymore? Perhaps he thinks that those negative studies ruled it out?

Drinking tea with ribose, from bed to running in the streets in 6 months, watch it happen... not...

 

[Wayne]

This is really disappointing and shocking.

THE LINK TO THE DR. OZ SHOW SEGMENT ON XMRV (December 5, 2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WEUC7hRXzM

Maybe we should all write The Oz Show again and send Dr. Oz a link to his 12/05/09 segment with Dr. Donnica, to refresh his memory about XMRV and CFS.
Here's the link to send Oz your "ideas" for another show. http://www.doctoroz.com/plugger?tid=637

And here's the link to send comments to GMA: http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=Good Morning America

We really shouldn't let them get away with this.

Hi Dreambirdie,

Thanks for all the links. I normally don't do a lot of followup on things like this, but like you, I too find Dr. Oz's comments to be pretty shocking. It almost seemed like he had a sheepish look on his face while saying them, most likely realizing he was putting out a totally inaccurate picture of ME/CFS.

I posted the following to GMA at this link which is entitled, "Comments and Suggestions". It has a category heading of "Inaccurate Information", under which I made my comments. I think I'll post a comment to Dr. Oz's website as well. Thanks again for the link.

I was quite dismayed to watch George's interview with Dr. Oz this morning. I've had CFS for about 30 years right now, and have tried just about everything imaginable to try to regain my health. To have Dr. Oz state that drinking green tea sweetened with D-Ribose will help a lot of folks with CFS is just flat out wrong!!! How can a simple drink like that cure a debilitating neuro-immune disorder like ME/CFS?

BTW, I was struck by the way George Stephanopolos asked about CFS. It seemed like he's the one who has a sense for how devastating ME/CFS really is.

Wayne

 

[Dreambirdie]

Thanks Wayne. This is important, and I hope more people write.

It takes just about as long to write GMA and OZ as it does to post something here.

 

[Wayne]

Comment Link at Dr. Oz's Website

I just made a comment to Dr. Oz's website. The best link I could find was at:

Contact Us

Nothing like putting in a day's work by mid-morning! :Retro smile:

Wayne

 

[Dreambirdie]

I just wrote Dr Donnica, and let her know how outraged we are about this.

Hopefully she will write or post something here. I gave her the link to this thread.