what improved you more, A prescription drugs or B alternatives?

[linusbert]

A) subscription drugs, like the stuff your MD needs to prescribe. the big guns of pharma

B) supplements, like vitamins, minerals, etc.

C) food and diet change

D) behavioural changes and practices like resting a lot

E) psychosomatic and psychological treatment and practices, GET etc.

- edit: added this option
F) other see comment, if none of the above applies, feel free to add a comment

 

[linusbert]

for me its)
1. food (change to carb rich+low fat, changed to better gluten free rice bread, switched kitchen)
2. prescription drug (pioglitazon a diabetes drug, this by far has the most direct impact)
3. supplements (vitamin D in combination with the food changes almost completely fixed my diabetes, i had to take insulin, multiple prescription drugs, had A1C of 9%+ . am now in 5.5% range only taking pioglitazone but probably wouldnt need it anymore, i continue to take it for my cfs-like muscle symptoms it improves my whole health condition)
4. resting of course is important but it didnt bring me back to a better level
...
999. psychosomatic treatment , GET , did damage me a lot.

 

[Wishful]

Oh good, someone not too brainfogged to start a poll.

While a food (cumin) made the biggest difference by curing my physically-induced PEM, avoidance of problematic foods is probably second. A couple of supplements helped temporarily. One prescription--LDN--blocked ME-induced pain, allowing me to enjoy walking again, so that would be my third most effective treatment.

I can't think of any benefits from behavioural changes, and didn't try any psychological ones.

FWIW, extra exercise had no noticeable effects on my ME symptoms.

 

[cfs since 1998]

Can't vote because these don't really fit in any of the boxes.

Caffeine helps fight brain fog and feeling like a beached whale.
Rest periods of 20-45 minutes at a time (like napping but not falling asleep).
Direct sunlight helps also (not sure if it's the UV, infrared, or both).
Anything that improves my sleep quality and circadian rhythm helps.
CoQ10 seems to help orthostatic hypotension.
These improve my symptoms at rest but not really physical ability or ability to exercise.

 

[maddietod]

I voted other.

I need things like magnesium and B12, and my arthritis supplements are working. Also I've just restarted Buhner's fatigue herbal blend, and that's going really well. This time I won't over-do and crash.

But food choices are equally important. Regular soy intake makes me stupid. Tea two days in a row hurts my joints. Etc.

Behavioral changes have also been huge. I don't own a TV, I have almost no stress in my life, and I monitor my energy throughout the day. I also moved into a rental and gave up driving, which removes a ton of stress.

 

[BrightCandle]

Time seems to have been the main thing that means I get better and exertion is what makes me get worse. Everything else hard to be sure it really helped anything but temporarily.

 

[wabi-sabi]

Drugs all the way for me!
Number 2 is pacing.
But drugs definitely gave me a bigger energy envelope.

 

[Byles]

First sups - B12 and methylfolate. Only thing that helps with my chronic migraines. Taking curcumin now, which seems to help with my brain fog and gut issues.
Second marijuana. Especially when I was still mild, this helped a lot.

Prescription drugs only made me worse. But they only prescribe shit anyways and usually not what I want to try.

 

[linusbert]

Can't vote because these don't really fit in any of the boxes.

Caffeine helps fight brain fog and feeling like a beached whale.
Rest periods of 20-45 minutes at a time (like napping but not falling asleep).
Direct sunlight helps also (not sure if it's the UV, infrared, or both).
Anything that improves my sleep quality and circadian rhythm helps.
CoQ10 seems to help orthostatic hypotension.
These improve my symptoms at rest but not really physical ability or ability to exercise.

i added a "other (see my comment)" option. thanks

 

[xploit316]

1: A Proteolytic enzyme (Neprinol AFD) fixed my persistent blocked nose and joint pains few years back and I haven't had problems with those symptoms since.
2: A One-off 2 week course of Rifaximin helped with cutting brain fog by atleast 75%.
3: Diet changes - Mainly cutting high histamine. dairy, glutamine and certain high fiber fruits and veggies is helping with digestion issues.
4: Afternoon nap of 45mins-1hr helps calm my body and mind.

Nothing has particularly helped with my high adrenal type visceral fat and delayed sleep issues, so still work in progress in those areas.

 

[pamojja]

I voted supplements, because I could see most health improvements associated with them. But actually don't think, without an all compassing comprehensive approach they could have been that beneficial in my case at all.

First step was behavioral change in the way of thinking. I had to take my own responsibility for health interventions, which necessitated a lot of self-education first, and ongoing reevaluation. Guess this took the most of all efforts. Next I had to do implement and adapt diet changes, starting and continue to supplement, along with what could be called diverse psychosomatic practices. Finally, LDN helped a little, but an essential bid.

With psychosomatic, I mean relaxing approaches, like more exposure to nature (sun UV, temperatures..), pacing, sleep hygiene, meditation, also by using long vacation specifically for that. Finally, having used almost all my free time for all of that during 15 years of efforts, I found I needed some distraction with creativity, To keep the motivation for such one-sided ongoing efforts.

Due to that, and the most pressing housing-crisis issue, I'm in the slow process to build probably the first 1-man velomobile tiny house. Ok, there are already mobile structures like yurts. But not able to disassemble, move and rebuild by one person. And with the caveat of ultra-light-weightiness, since I actually shouldn't handle any weight due to a spine condition.