My bad experiences are why I so often rant on abut not trying to cure ourselves.
I get that, but I mostly didn't try to 'cure' myself too much other than some supplements and diet changes for the first 10 years. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake. Maybe some infection or GI disturbance could've been fixed before it got more entrenched.
But I'm not sure what you mean by cure ourselves? I do think medical interventions hurt me much more than anything I did myself. If you mean seeking a cure in general, I think there's some truth in that. If I had to do it over, though, I was pace myself much more carefully. I just tried to believe I didn't have CFS or lyme or whatever and go about my business.
And it's been mentioned on other threads, I think there's less ability for many of us to not try to cure ourselves once we're severe. When all you can do is mostly lie in bed (sit at a desk when we're lucky) and post on chronic illness forums between naps, it's not a great quality of life in my book.
As for things that didn't work, kind of everything.
The things that made the most difference for me (minor to medium) were probably various antibiotics and antiparasitics (Albenza) and to a lesser degree (but similar in effect) various anti-pathogen herb formulations from artemisia to andrographis. NAC has helped me when I have major phlegm issues, quercetin and vitamin C with some of my allergic symptoms, probiotics for digestive issues, ibuprofen or diazepam but I take it maybe once every other month because I don't think that's a good solution to anything, etc.
Things that didn't help me: cholestyramine, testosterone (very negative), peptides, HGH, meditation and mindfulness, CFS yoga, GET, PT, every supplement under the sun, acupuncture, DNRS, all manner of blood work and imaging that just crashed me, pretty much all doctors (pretty negative), etc.
Not sure that's helpful, but there it is.