GreenHealthWatch subscriber Dr. Christina MacFarlane has sent us information about a therapy for M.E. based on the hypothesis that people with M.E. are nearly always deficient in B vitamins. The therapy has been applied very successfully by a fellow therapist, Kathleen Frith-Barton. It involves taking high dosage vitamin B complex supplements containing around 100gm of each of the main B vitamins. Kathleen recommends one a day (just after lunch) for the first week, then two a day (one after breakfast, one after lunch) during the second week, then three a day (one after each meal) for the next four weeks, then back to two a day until better.

She stresses that it will take at least eight weeks before a person begins to feel better, and possibly eight months for people who have had M.E. for five years plus. She recommends very little exercise until you feel significantly better, and that it is then introduced gradually. During the early months she recommends twelve hours sleep a night and a two hour 'feet up' rest during the day.

Ed.- GreenHealthWatch recommends consulting a nutritionalist before undertaking any vitamin therapy.

See also New tests for vitamin B levels