Chronic fatigue syndrome Treatment webpage
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My method of solving problems: I had many health problems in 1975, which my doctor had not been able to explain or treat effectively, so I decided to study them myself. One of the earliest things I did was to purchase a medical dictionary and then gradually learn the medical language. In that period I began reading medical research journals at the Adelaide University library, and organised a project at a fitness research institute. I later gradually acquired more than 300 medical books from every decade of the twentieth century, which I kept in my own bookshelves, and used as an immediate source of clues and evidence if I needed them. I also spent seven years gradually writing a thousand page book in which I presented my ideas and conclusions and supported with evidence from 130 references. I now have a good understanding of those ailments and how to manage them effectively. One of them was chronic fatigue. |
From microscopes, test tubes, and x-rays, to exercise and practical experience.
How and why the world has changed I knew when I developed methods of treating chronic fatigue with exercise and related concepts between 1975 and 1983, that my ideas would be copied, because those who tried different methods would not succeed.
© Note that everything on this page took me decades to determine, and they are my own ideas and conclusions, and are my intellectual property, and are subject to my copyright. They can be read and used, but if mentioned in publications of any sort the source must be acknowledged – for ethical reasons etc.I have had this ailment for many years and have developed various methods for controlling all of the symptoms with reasonable efficiency, and effectively, and can provide a lot more information if people show me that courtesy.
I would therefore like patients who benefit from my methods to protect my copyright.|
Before 1975 |
After my research |
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| General response of patients | Patients “could not or would not train” | Patients could and did train. See here |
| General advice to patients | Ignore symptoms | Determine the level of exercise which causes adverse symptoms and stay within them. |
| Method of exercise | Run faster each weak until cured. See here. | Start at a low level and increase the level of exercise at a sensible and gradual pace to whatever level is possible. |
See more details for The Banfield Principles here.
See another comparison chart here.
All of the changes can be seen in modern research methods and treatment recommendations. Introduction
In 1975 I asked my doctor what was causing my ailments and he shrugged his shoulders because he didn’t know, and I asked him what to do, and he prescribed another pill, but like those before, it didn’t have any effect.
I didn’t blame him, because I assumed that there are many diseases of unknown cause, so I decided to study the problems myself.
One of the earliest things I did was to try and treat my fatigue by joining an exercise class at the South Australian Institute from Fitness Research and Training, and I soon found that I was unable to do the standard exercises so I started determining my own methods.
I studied a lot of other problems, and developed many ways of treating them, but a few years later I was reading research journals and books when I found the comment by top researchers who said that patients such as myself “could not, or would not” stay in an exercise program for long enough to get useful scientific knowledge about the effect of exercise.
The general view in the literature was that the patients had a mental problem rather than a physical disorder, and that their refusal to exercise was due to the fear of exercise, and that the lack of exercise was the cause of their fatigue.
As a former gymnastics teacher, and later, as a person who had chronic fatigue, and who had previously trained for nearly a year, I knew that those assumptions were wrong.
Consequently, in 1982 I had a meeting with Tony Sedgewick who was the head of the fitness institute, and I explained how to turn the seemingly impossible into the actually achievable. He later asked me to design a research program for other patients, which I did, and then I gained the scientific proof.
Since then I tried to establish self help groups for patients but decided that I could be more effective doing my own research.
I also wrote letters to newspaper, essays to magazines, and books, which I sold to school and public libraries, to make people aware of the problem, particularly relating to the physical causes, and to provide information and suggestions on how to research and treat it.
I also translated medical jargon into plain English, and drew diagrams of internal anatomy so that patients who had no medical education could understand their ailments and discuss and treat them more effectively.
I had developed my own ways of doing the research, and was publishing my own books and a website to make all of the information available as widely as possible, so I wasn’t aware of what other people were doing to any significant extent.
However, late last year, in 2012, I learned that Simon Wessely of London had been given the John Maddox Prize for his courage in science, and for his research into chronic fatigue syndrome and exercise.
Since then I have become aware that there is now a very large amount of research being done internationally, particularly in the areas related to CFS and exercise, but not many people know that I exist.
There were no chronic fatigue societies when I started, and there wasn’t much research being done, and most researchers had given up in favor of the psychiatric theories, and I had been avoiding the prejudices associated with such ideas by remaining as anonymous as possible.
I am now in a position to tell people who I am, and what I have been doing for three decades.
A brief introduction and summary of my methods which were developed between 1976 and 1983 can be seen below, and a chart showing the ideas and methods which were popular before I started, and comparing them to my ideas and method can be seen here
The Banfield Principles For Exercise Training and symptom management in the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (the effort syndrome) First devised in 1976, & later modified between 1980 & 1983 See the previous location of these principle’s on my website here. I have decided to locate them on this webpage of their own called “CFS Treatment”, and placed them below. These principles could also be called guidelines, or protocols, and all modern methods of treating CFS with exercise have to be based on them, simply because I perfected them, and it would be impossible to treat the problems safely or properly any other way.
Introduction
Patients who have the chronic fatigue syndrome need to understand that I actually have this ailment, and that, in many cases there is no cure, but that I am able to control the symptoms, so I know what I am talking about.
Although I have developed a method of exercising consistently and within my own limits, i would never force anyone else to exercise if they don’t want to.
I know how much trouble this ailment can be, and how difficult it is to manage, so I care about you.
Getting rest when necessary, is a very useful method of treating the problem, but as a general rule, I find that a combination of rest and walking is beneficial.
You should not feel guilty or angry if you don’t want to exercise, but I can give you an example of the methods I used in a research program which I developed in 1982.
Many people made phone enquiries but were too tired, or too physically exhausted to attend classes so I didn’t ask them to. Some who started only stayed for one session, and some for several weeks. However, of those who trained in exercise classes each week, some remained at the same levels, some improved slightly, and one person appeared to return to normal levels.
Exercise is not, and should not be compulsory, but it is something for you to consider and try if other methods aren’t helping.
The following principles are based on what I did . . .
The Principles
Many people with the Effort syndrome have participated in exercise programs in the past and have proceeded on the basis of the idea that they can return to normal levels of fitness with the purpose of curing the problem. These programs have often been promoted with enthusiastic expectation of success with the instructors encouraging the individuals to keep trying, and keep improving, and forcing themselves to get past any perceived limits or presumed fears of exercise. However such programs have invariably failed because it can result in the types of symptoms that convince the person to stop. That individual then loses confidence in the advice given by the supposed expert, and they are unlikely to participate in any exercise program again. The expectation of success comes from the observation that some people with Chronic Fatigue do return to normal levels, so therefore all people should be able to. However the successful cases probably had a different type of Chronic Fatigue involving a disorder of sleep metabolism which did not influence their aerobic capacity and the person was simply unfit. Others may have had a fear of the palpitations which accompanies exertion, and after the progressive exercise has removed that fear they are essentially cured of their particular problem. The following suggestions are for individuals who have abnormally low levels of aerobic capacity and who have difficulty improving their condition, but because of the confusing aspects the suggestions are not strict rules, but are guidelines. Furthermore the ailment involves a disordered regulation of aerobic metabolism and is unstable and therefore the implementation needs to be flexible. Most individuals should be able to gain some degree of improvement in their aerobic capacity which is accompanied by more stable health, and others may eventually achieve completed recovery.
Some individuals may be too readily exhausted to exercise, and if they benefit from rest, they should rest. If they are able to exercise the exertion should be faster than standing still and slower than sprinting, and the level of starting should be determined by the individual, and the rate of improvement should be gradual.
If the individual is walking or training with other people they may be always passed by other participants or walking at the back of the pack. This should not be a deterrent but if it is then people with this ailment should train in groups where all participants are aware of the nature of the problem and the programme. (Exercise ability is proportional to aerobic capacity and the Effort syndrome involves an abnormally low aerobic capacity which varies from person to person).
Healthy people recognise that when they train fast they can often force themselves past any perceived limits of endurance with the expectation of getting a second wind that enables them to proceed in comfort. This is a common observation amongst marathon runners, but it may be nonexistent or ineffective in The Effort Syndrome and should not be relied upon.
While walking or jogging a sense of breathlessness can occur at irregular distances, sometimes after twenty yards, and then after the next fifty yards, and then again thirty yards further. This symptom can be relieved by taking two or three forced breaths each time without causing any problems. If these do not relieve the symptom, slow your pace, or stop if necessary, but sometimes these forced breathes may be occasionally necessary, even at rest. The breathlessness is probably due to inefficient function of the diaphragm (the main breathing muscle), and a forced inhalation expands the chest sideways and improves the oxygenation of the lungs which is deficient because of less downward movement of the diaphragm.
If distressing symptoms of palpitations, faintness, or dizziness occur at improved levels of exercise then return to a lower level, and improve gradually again later.
Faintness can be due to any factor which traps blood below the waist, especially if the blood vessels have been strained by many years of stooping which can result in a tendency for blood to pool in the blood vessels below the waist and reduce the efficiency of circulation. Therefore faintness may be induced by stooping or leaning forwards, or by any factor which constricts the waist such as tight belts and girdles. Hence to prevent faintness those factors should be avoided. It is worth noting that 19th century women tended to faint because they wore very tight wasp-waisted whalebone corsets. They relieved the faint by loosening their corset laces, and by laying in a chaise-lounge, with their body horizontal, and their head and shoulders slightly elevated on the arm of the lounge. The faintness was relieved partly because the waist constriction was released, and partly because the gravitational load on the blood vessels was removed, and blood could therefore flow toward the head unimpeded. In fact fainting results in falling to the floor, and this is natures way of getting the body into the horizontal position so that blood can flow to the head and the person can recover.
Additional notes on faintness: 1. Even snug fitting belts can cause problems because they restrict the free expansion and contraction of the abdomen which accompanies breathing, because that compresses the internal anatomy and impairs the downward movement of the diaphragm. 2. Faintness can also be due to wearing tight collars because they also reduce blood flow to the brain, so always wear the collars loose.
Faintness can also be due to the looseness of internal organs (visceroptosis) which move excessively when the body is subjected to gravitational or centrifugal forces. This movement can compress abdominal blood vessels and impair blood flow from the feet to the brain. The problem can be relieved by stabilising the body and contracting the abdominal muscles to minimise the movement of internal structures.
The effort syndrome has been called neurocirculatory asthenia because it features a weakness in the circulation of blood. This results in a tendency to faintness and dizziness because of an abnormal disturbance to blood flow in response to such things as sudden intense exertion, sudden loud noise, or sudden changes in gravitational or centrifugal forces. Hence the person may feel faint, or as if they are about to collapse when they suddenly sprint (e.g. when they hurry to catch a bus) or when they are exposed to sudden loud noise, or when they suddenly move from the laying to standing position or when they ride in a lift. In order to deal with these it is useful to recognise that they are not natural responses, and that therefore the natural way of dealing with them is not effective. However in much the same way as riding a bicycle is an unnatural method of traveling which is different to walking, and can be learned through practice, the method of dealing with the symptoms of the effort syndrome can be learned. This essentially requires a mixture of periodic resting, and the practice of breathing deeply and regularly three or four times in order to relieve any symptoms when they occur, and repeated practice and experience makes this more effective.
The effort syndrome can be effectively managed by restricting lifestyle and exercise levels within particular limits so that the person gives the appearance of being in perfect health. In fact maintaining optimal fitness within those limits is useful in managing the condition. However this appearance of health is often misconstrued or misrepresented as being evidence that the person is in perfect health, and that they should be able to maintain any lifestyle and participate in any exercise that they wish, and they are accused faking. The fallacy of these accusations needs to be understood by the patient so that they are not coerced into going beyond their limits and bringing about a relapse of prolonged unremitting exhaustion. (which has some similarities to being on a overdose of coffee – The Kramer Syndrome – where rest, relaxation, and sleep are not easily attained, or effective in relieving the fatigue)
1.If rest is necessary then rest is the best treatment at that time
2. If walking is possible then walking is the best exercise
3. Any improvement in fitness levels should be gradual
4. Do not carry heavy weights when walking, especially in the early stages.
5. As a general guide avoid sprinting, especially if carrying weights.
6. Avoid anaerobic exercises such as weight lifting or forced movement against any form of resistance.
7. Set your own pace in exercise and do not be concerned with the improvement rates of other people because they may have a higher aerobic capacity.
8. Walk on flat ground, especially in the early stages when you are assessing your aerobic capacity.
9. As a general guide do not walk up steep hills until you understand your fitness limits, and then only do so if you think that it is practical and possible, and at a pace determined by your experience.
10. If you occasionally feel as if you are not getting enough air when you are walking or jogging, then take two or three forced deep breaths each time, and you should be able to continue.
B. Treating faintness1. If abruptly moving from the laying to the standing position makes you feel faint, then first move to the sitting position and then stand up slowly, and wait a second or two before walking.
2. If riding in a lift makes you feel as if you are about to faint, then avoid lifts and use escalators. If you need to use lifts then enter the lift and take three or four slow, deep breaths before the lift begins to rise, and again each time it slows to stop.
3. If you have to use lifts, then it is likely that your natural reflexes can adjust to the movement of lifts, but it will require more time than normal, and will require the practice of breathing techniques to reduce the effect of the gravitational forces which are involved in the lifts movement.
4. If traveling by aircraft makes you feel faint and distressed, then try the same treatment as specified above when the plane accelerates to take off or decelerates to land, or when it drops in an air pocket.
5. If riding on whirling sideshow rides causes you to feel faint and distressed then avoid them.
6 If you feel faint when you are a passenger in a car which is speeding around a curve in a country road, then brace your arms against the dashboard and contract your abdominal muscles to stabilize your body. Alternatively avoid such journeys, or ensure that you are the driver so that you can brace your arms against the steering wheel and can adjust the speed of the car according to the way your body is responding.
7. If you feel faint when your car is braking to stop at stop lights, then approach the lights slowly, and brake gradually, and take a few deep breaths before braking, and brace your arms against the steering wheel so that you do not slump forward as the car stops.
8. If you feel faint or dizzy when squatting down and leaning forward, then avoid activities which involve squatting, especially for prolonged periods of time.
9. If you feel faint when leaning toward a desk, the kitchen sink, or the washing machine, then move closer to the task so that you reduce the tendency to slump forward, and try to keep your back straight by bending at the hips instead of the midriff.
10. If you feel faint or dizzy in a crowded room or theatre then sit in an aisle seat so that you can leave if necessary, without disrupting other people. The faintness may have been due to the noise of the movie, or to high concentrations of CO2 which can accumulate in crowded areas.
11. If you are in a theatre and feel faint or experience palpitations when a crescendo of music is followed by a loud clashing sound (for the purpose of creating suspense), then take a few deep breaths to break the effect of the sound waves, or leave the theatre auditorium temporarily, until the symptom eases.
12. If you are tempted to sprint for some urgent reason, as when hurrying to catch a bus, then ensure that your increase in pace is modified and within the limits which you have learned from experience, or do not hurry at all.
13. If you feel faint it may be partly due to the fact that you are wearing tight belts, girdles, corsets, or collars which reduce blood flow to the brain, so loosen such garments, and lay down for a few minutes, preferable with your head and shoulders slightly elevated and your knees raised with your legs bent. As a preventive measure, never wear tight or constricting garments.
For my YouTube video on the cause and treatment of faintness see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs770_nwq6I
See also this reference B.Biswal, P.Kunwar, B.H.Natelson (2011), Cerebral blood flow is reduced in chronic fatigue syndrome as assessed by arterial spin labeling, Journal of Neurological Science, Feb. 15, 2011, 301(1-2), 9-15. This is the result of the study of the cerebral blood flow (CBF) of 11 CFS patients compared to 10 age matched healthy controls . . . “The patients as a group had significantly lower global CBF than the controls. The reduction in CBF occurred across nearly every region assessed. Nine of the 11 patients showed these reductions compared to the average control data, while two patients showed actual increases relative to the controls. See here
| Topic | Before 1975 | My methods |
| Cause | Psychological | Physical |
| Reason | Lack or fear of exercise | Reduced capacity for exercise |
| Treatment | Advice to ignore symptoms and run faster | Advice to determine physical capacity and stay within it |
| Outcome | Advice to keep training at an increasing rate each week and get a cure | Recommendation to train regularly and gain whatever improvement is practical and possible. |
| Who will this treatment help | All patients | Those who are able to train, and who find it useful |
There have been many criticisms of modern research programs into fitness and CFS, but they are not organised by me, and yet some people reject my ideas as if they were????
There is also the fact that many people want the hope that sometime in the future there will be a cure, so they reject the ideas of exercise as a treatment.
However, unlike other people I have never said it was a cure, but it can result in a return to health for some patients, and I have other ideas about cures, and so do other researchers, particularly those who are investigating the viral and immune aspects.
My ideas have immediate practical value for some people, but not all, and are the best available today, and until such time as a cure evolves.
Problems in modern research on CFS and exercise e.g. the harmful effects of exercise reported by 51% of patients I had been having health problems for several years but none of the prescribed medications were relieving them, and when I asked my doctor what was wrong he simply shrugged his shoulders to indicate that he didn’t know. Therefore, in 1975, I decided to try to develop my own methods. I joined a fitness class at a medically based fitness research institute and soon learned that the standard forms of exercise were causing me problems, but instead of dropping out of the course, I changed the way I exercised to make it possible to continue, and I was eventually able to participate in a safe and reliable way and gain some improvement.
About ten months later I injured my knee and had to stop, but during the next six years I made some more refinements to how I exercised. Consequently, in 1982, when Tony Sedgewick, the head of the research institute, asked me to organise a program for other people with my ailment, which was chronic fatigue, I already knew what the problems were, and how to prevent them.
I therefore wrote out some guidelines for the instructor to follow, and asked him to tell me if any problems occurred, and I would I would let him know what to do about them. See the guidelines here.
The study involved two sessions of 12 weeks of training which were successful the first session, and then confirmed in the second, so the head of the research institute asked me to design a program on a much larger scale, of 200 patients, to have a major influence on world opinion.
In other words nothing needed to be changed to influence world opinion, except the scale of the project.
However, I still had some prolems with my health, so I didn’t want to get involved with such a large study, so I left the project.
I also didn’t have any money, and wasn’t being paid, and couldn’t get any help with the research paper, and although I sent it to at least two medical journals it was not published. The 1983 research paper can be seen here.
Nevertheless, thirty years later, in December 2012, I saw some news that Simon Wessely of London, had been awarded the John Maddox Prize for “courage in science” related to his study of chronic fatigue syndrome and exercise, I then found that he has been reported as the person who developed that method of treatment, but the general instructions were essentially the same as the ones I developed.
I then found that he started studying the topic in 1987, just five years after I had defined and scientifically proven the methods in Adelaide, where it had been widely reported in local and interstate newspapers.
It is apparent that he was using my methods, because they didn’t exist before I developed and defined them.
However, he has had many complaints from patients, and he claims that he has had death threats, which is why he was given the John Maddox Prize for “courage in science” in late 2012.
I added a few more details to my method in 2008 after two two Wikipedia editors referred to my ideas as worthless. My aim was to make it clear that my methods were the best available.
However, within six months a colleague of Simon Wessely’s named Peter White started the PACE trial of 650 people, where his report on the effects of his exercise and chronic fatigue syndrome study was published in January 2013. It has been followed by claims that 51% of patients are worse off after than before they started, and some have been demanding that the entire study be abandoned.
However, I know how to exercise safely, and none of the participants in my 1982 project reported any problems, so it is a useful and scientifically proven method for some patients, and should not be abandoned, but it does need to be done properly.
Problems reported by patients in modern treatments1. They say that they are worse off after the exercise program than before
2. They say they are too fatigued to exercise
3. They say they are still having crashes and relapses
There are many problems being reported.
The people who have copied me do not know as much as I do, and are not doing it the way it needs to be done to get success.
The evidence can be seen in the following article by Tom Kindlon in the Bulletin of the ICFS/ME 2011:19(2) 59-11, entitled
“Reporting of Harms Associated with Graded Exercose Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. See here.
A very serious breech of my copyright can be seen on a patient who calls themselves the ME/CFS self help guru The following article by a person who calls themselves the ME/CFS self help guru, is a virtual copy of my 1982 research principles, which I started developing in 1976, and improved during 38 years of experience with all aspects of exercise related to CFS.
I know a lot more than that imposter.
The following quote is from that authors webpage and is just a repeat of the methods I developed written in different words to avoid making it look like a “copy” here
“The are two fundamentals to movement/exercise for ME/CFS: stay within your daily energy ‘envelope’ and avoid exertion. We shouldn’t’t be aiming to get out of breath or get our heart pounding we just need to do whatever we can to help maintain good circulation. If we can take an attitude of relaxed effortlessness towards our exercise and make sure we stop and rest as soon as we notice effort increasing, we should be able to safely move our bodies enough to benefit our health.
To stay within our energy envelope it helps to have an idea of how much movement/ exercise we can include in our daily routine at our sustainable baseline of activity. That is, how much we can do on an average day on an on-going basis without making ourselves worse. Then, when we recognise that we’re having a worse than average day, we can cut back on our exercise to make sure we don’t use more energy than we readily have available to us. Spending a couple of weeks monitoring your activity levels along with your energy levels can give you a clearer idea of your sustainable baseline (end of quote).
Later down the page that author gives some “tips”.
“Tips for keeping exercise safe
Explore your sustainable baseline of activitye and listen to your body. Are you having an average, better or worse than average day today? If you feel you’re getting better and want to increase your exercise, do so by tiny amounts and only on your good days to start off with. If this small increase proves to be sustainable then you can add another. Avoid exertion, aim for relaxed effortlessness. Stop whenever you notice that the effort involved is increasing. Pace. Two short walks will be better than one longer one, or make sure you have several rests on a longer one. Similarly a 15 minute gentle movement routine could be broken into 3 x 5 minute parts. Or focus on complete relaxation between every stretch of a gentle yoga routine. Avoid exercises that repeatedly move the same muscles. The best exercise flows between muscle groups (e.g. T’ai chi) Focus on mobility as opposed to stamina. Minimise exercise on days when other demands on your energy are higher than usual, but try to include some low-energy movement. Always be flexible about any exercise plan and listen to your body. Avoid planning to do particular things on particular days without being willing to adapt to your daily fluctuations in ability. Your fluctuating hormone levels (bio-rhythms) will mean that energy is more easily accessible at certain times of the day so look out for the particular times of the day when exercise/movement seems easier.
Do you have any more tips for exercising safely?” (end of quote)
My comment. I spent decades taking thousands of risks, and making many mistakes before I had it correct, and that copyright thief does not deserve my help and will definitely not be getting any more tips from me. Why that person calls themselves the ME/CFS self help guru The following words are a quote from that persons reasons for calling themselves the ME/CFS self help guru here
“For a while I’ve been struggling with the nagging feeling that, despite all that I think I know about how to deal with this illness, I’m missing something important. I’ve been back in England a year now and comparing my health with how it was when I first got back, I see that my condition, if anything, has got slightly worse. My concerns that I seem to be moving in the wrong direction have been strengthened by concerns expressed by my nearest and dearest, who, at present, are gently prodding me to seek further medical help, offering to contribute financially to some private tests. Although I’ve been looking into this, I’ve been experiencing a sense of resistance. Will the tests really tell me any more about how I can better manage my condition?” (end of quote)
Even in the remotest far fetched likelihood that the individual above developed those ideas independently, the methods were still developed by me first, and are my intellectual property, and subject to my copyright, and must be attributed to me.
Information for honest researchers and patientsI had a variety of problems with my health for many years, and despite the best efforts of my doctors there was nothing they could do to relieve them, so by the age of 25 I had to make a decision about whether or not to keep on consulting doctors or to try and solve them myself.
I knew that the best students from high school became doctors, and that I was just average, but I did have some advantages which gave me confidence in my abilities in the general sense.
I therefore started the process by using the methods available to me despite my lack of qualifications. One of the possibilities for treating the symptoms associated with abnormal fatigue was to join an exercise class. However, I had a lot of problems with the exercises, but managed to develop some very basic principles for managing them, and then later refined them. I had been doing that for eight years when I had a meeting with the head of a research institute who asked me to design and organise a program to help other patients with that problem. After talking to me for half an hour he actually said that I was a world authority on the topic.
I knew that it would be just as difficult for other patients unless I designed the exercise program carefully, so I did.
I made sure it was safe, and in fact, some of them were still involved more than 36 weeks later.
Another thirty years has passed, and I have continued to improve and refine my methods.
I had essentially solved the mystery which had existed for thousands of years, and which some of the worlds best researchers had been investigating for over 100 years without success. They had reached a time when other areas of study into heart disease and cancer began to dominate their interest, and not many people were looking at the topic of fatigue, so virtually no progress was being made.
I also tried to set up a chronic fatigue support group with the idea that other patients could get together and do more research than one person could do on their own.
However, when I arranged for a meeting through the newspapers, many of the people who phoned me said they were too tired to attend, and those who did attend wanted to hear what I had to say, but they didn’t want to do any research themselves.
Some were too exhausted to do anything of that sort, and others were not very well educated and didn’t think it was possible for them to do something that professional researchers couldn’t do, and some just wanted a cure, to end all of their difficulties and get back to normal life, and others wanted to get their minds off the fatigue by doing other things with their time.
I therefore continued on my own, but in much the same way, and for much the same reasons, I only did it when I could, or when I had clues to look into, or when the opportunity was available, and in the meantime I did many other things.
Of course, when I was involved in other activities, I was also evaluating their affect on fatigue, so it was actually, an unintended advantage which gave me more information and insights into the nature of the ailment.
Nowadays, I have an excellent understanding of it, and efficient and effective ways of managing the fatigue, and the many symptoms which are related to it.
However, in the past few years I have noticed that other people have been copying my methods, and some have been claiming them to be their own ideas, but they are obviously mine.
The difference in the results is that I have control of all of the symptoms because I know how and why I do everything, whereas the researchers who try to copy me are getting complaints from up to 51% of patients who say they are worse after the exercise programs than before. In other words they are doing more harm than good.
There are also patients who have obviously read about my ideas and methods, and have tried them out and learned that they are effective, but instead of attributing them to me, and thanking me, they have thought that they don’t need me anymore, so they can just steal the ideas, do a few experiments of their own, make a few minor adjustments, and claim to be the developer.
Their problem is that the ailment is actually, not as simple as it seems, so they are also reporting that they are still seeking advice from doctors, and still taking medications, often costing more than $100 per week, and still having “crashes” and “relapses. which they call little or big, or minor or major etc.
There are other patients who seem to be critical of me for accusing other people of stealing my ideas, but they should be critical of the copyright thieves, not me.
They haven’t been prepared to do all that is required to study the ailment, They are just “copying”.
Other patients also want me to give more information away for free, but if I do that, the top researchers will get higher salaries and promotions, more millions of dollars in research grants, and get more prizes and awards, and other patients will get more appreciation and gratitude
Meanwhile the thieves who are profiteering from my ideas will be ignoring the fact that I exist, and some will be trying to discredit me by saying that I am a worthless, uneducated, fringy kook, who isn’t prepared to help.
After all I have done already, they say I am not prepared to help????
It simply isn’t practical for that to continue in the way I have in the past, so I suppose it is something for other patients to think about.
Medication compared to ideas and methods
When patieftp://posture%40chariot.net.au:@ftp.chariot.net.au/WordMasterCalendar.htmlnts want treatments or cures for their diseases they The medication will then be patented, and a large company will gain a monopoly, and literally make billions of dollars each year for their shareholders.
However, my ideas are better than any medication that has been invented so far, and have been used internationally, yet I have received absolutely nothing, except perhaps for a lot of ill-informed and misguided criticism.
There are people who think that I should ignore all that and give my subsequent ideas away for free.
They simply don’t understand that ideas often have more value, and if copyrights are not protected then the developers will simply not make them, anymore than scientists will do research for free, or companies will manufacture drugs if there isn’t any profit in it.
In fact, it has often been said that large companies will spend millions on teams of lawyers to get world wide patents for their products, and if the can’t, they won’t do the research, and patients won’t get the benefits.
I have actually heard some researchers say that if their hundred thousand, or two million dollar project doesn’t get the funding they need, that they will have to stop, and they do stop.
It is also noteworthy that many medications help relieve symptoms, but most of them don’t actually cure anything.
Some people think that an idea is just an idea, but they don’t compare it with the fact that medications are just pills, and without them the patient has got no relief from their ailment.
See also the cost of some new anit-cancer drugs which extend life-expectancy from 42 days to one year, and cost over $300,000 per year for each person. here. The escalating costs of cancer drugs was called “the zero-gravity economics of cancer pharmaceuticals.