Chronic Fatigue Multiple Sclerosis and Other Serious Diseases
There are some serious immune disorders, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (more accurately known as chronic fatigue and immune disfunction syndrome, or CFIDS), multiple sclerosis (MS) and lupus, that are not well-understood. One thing we can assume about these disorders is that they are also related to problems of the nervous system. These serious illnesses require professional diagnosis, but as far as treatment goes, often all you can do is treat the symptoms. Partial relief can be provided through herbal treatments and other therapies such as diet improvements, acupuncture, stress reduction and nutritional supplements such as pantothenic acid, vitamins C and B6 and magnesium. In 1987, a study was done on a group of individuals who had been experiencing uncomfortable fatigue and sporadic fevers for at least six months. Blood tests showed that these people had especially low levels of the important T-cells known as natural killers, a condition that occurs with chronic fatigue syndrome. Antibiotics and conventional fever drugs had no effect. It was not until these people took lentinan, a compound found in shiitake mushrooms, that their energy levels rose and their fevers subsided.
GLA has also been found to alleviate symptoms in many people who have chronic fatigue and also those who suffer from MS or lupus. If you suffer from any one of these disorders, you might also consider trying a variety of immune and nervous system herbs, including wild oats, skullcap and especially Saint-John's-wort—try adding ½ ounce tincture of each of these to the Immune Tincture (in chapter 41). An herbal formula will not cure the disease, but it can certainly improve your quality of life. I know several people with these disorders who have used this tincture and have told me that they are happy to have found something that makes their lives a bit better.
Warning: If you have lupus, avoid alfalfa, even the sprouts. Herbal researchers believe that this herb can encourage relapses of the disease after remission.
If you are HIV-positive, some immune herbs are not appropriate. It has been observed that stimulating T-cells sometimes only encourages this terrible virus. Since several herbs used to improve immunity stimulate T-cell activity, there is a possibility that herbal treatments would hinder more than help. If you are HIV-positive or have AIDS and wish to treat yourself herbally, it is important that you work with a professional health care practitioner who is knowledgeable about their effects, especially when combined with the various drug treatments available for these conditions.
There are several herbal compounds currently being studied that do show anti-HIV activity in the laboratory. These include high amounts of concentrated compounds from Saint-John's-wort, licorice, astragalus and the Chinese gourd Trichosanthin kirilowii. In studies organized by the University of California, San Francisco, Medical School and the Hagiwara Institute of Health in Japan, the shiitake compound lentinan has been shown to inhibit HIV by stopping its reproduction and by keeping the T-cells from fusing.
A paper presented at the 1988 Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences showed that compounds from Saint-John's-wort appear to disrupt the virus. And GLA was approved for AIDS trials in 1995. Infected cells are not capable of producing their own GLA, but when they are bombarded with it, they break up and die without harming the normal cells.
