It's very sad what has happened to this forum. It used to be a place where interesting topics and interventions were being tested by us and discussed. Now whenever I come here it just disappoints me.
OP is just stating the same ideas that we have been getting from ignorant doctors and people who have been gaslighting us, (i.e., diet/lifestyle) but sprinkling some logical fallacies to make it seem plausible and put the blame on us for being close minded.
Notice the defense he provided for the four arguments he has been getting. Every one of his defenses would work if you replaced "diet/lifestyle" with the most random idea.
Allow me to illustrate:
"in defense of *clapping your hands in the morning* as a treatment for CFS":
1) There is no symmetry whatsoever here between the seriousness of the disease and the apparent triviality of the cure (so, clapping could be a cure)
2) this one is just his own take on CFS, we don't know if CFS is a metabolic disorder. Also: "What looks like a simple clapping your hands, in retrospect will be found only by extremely hard science." (it increases blood flow to your extremities, a lot of complex things are involved in this movement)
3) The fact that clapping your hands for mecfs isn't widely discussed can suggest clapping your hands is not of any help. But It might equally suggests the right approach is probably something a bit unusual (like clapping your hands while you chant Mamma Mia! )
4) I think we call that a lifestyle change and so anyone claiming lifestyle changes have no chance of helping us is, I think, crazy (clapping your hands every morning is also a lifestyle change, so if pacing works and its a lifestyle change, one mustn't be so quick to dismiss clapping)
Don't you think the easiest interventions are attempted first? I dont know of any cfs patient who didnt try different diets (or lifestyle changes) in the first few years of their illness. And that's not necessarily because they thought it could be a cure, but they thought maybe eliminating something that they could be intolerant to or improving their overall diet could slightly improve their symptoms. If this had any benefits above and beyond just the basic health improvements of a good diet or eliminating food intolerance, don't you think we would have known by now ? (same goes with whatever lifestyle changes you're thinking of).
I'm sure op is going to now come in and say "this fella just proved my point". So, he trivializes this awful illness by suggesting the same treatment that cfs-ignorant doctors have been pushing down our throats forever (that we would have tried anyways, without success for the most part), gets attacked on twitter by frustrated patients, come here and bemoans the cruelty of the CFS community and our lack of open mindedness. I come in and try to explain why he is wrong, and now he can just say "aha! I was right! they are a close minded bunch". He has built a logical fortress around his argument. Michael Sharpe and Simon Wessely would be proud of you!
Many of us are so sick for so many years, so many of us have lost decades of our lives, and now the level of the discussion on this forum (which used to be the frontier of CFS conversations and news) is including videos from an imbecile like Paul Saladino and trying to go back to diet and lifestyle as a plausible option? havnt we been down this road before so, so many times?
Note: Just to clarify, I dont think anyone is against diet and lifestyle change, but just not as a treatment or cure for CFS. I never said these can't help, they can also help someone with cancer or any other illness. I have tried carnivore diet and it improves my energy by around 5%. Your CFS could be due to (or worsened by) a food sensitivity, so you have to try different diets. Lifestyle changes are essential, like reducing stress etc. Nobody is saying these are bad ideas, but what he is saying is an entirely different story.
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