Oct 24 2009
On Dr. Oz Show the topic was fatigue, including its most debilitating manifestation, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).
Dr. Oz's guest Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, best-selling author of From Fatigued to Fantastic! (Avery Penguin Group) and Pain Free 1-2-3 (McGraw-Hill), suffered from CFS when he was in medical school and had to drop out for a year to recover. The disease left him homeless and sleeping on park benches, but this defining experience ignited a passion to learn everything he could about the disease and beat it.
"From that time, my medical career has been focused on finding effective treatment for CFS and its painful cousin fibromyalgia, which together afflict at least 12 million Americans," explained Dr. Teitelbaum, who serves as medical director of the national Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers www.fibroandfatigue.com. His landmark study on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 8:2, 2001) showed that 91 percent of patients using his SHINE treatment protocol improved, with an average improvement in quality of life of 90 percent.
"SHINE stands for Sleep, Hormones, Infections, Nutrition and Exercise--the critical areas we focus on treating to help CFS patients get their lives back," said Dr. Teitelbaum. "Our free online symptom analysis program helps to streamline the process, customizing treatments that you and your physician can easily incorporate."
Although many stresses, including numerous infections, can trigger CFS, Dr. Teitelbaum identifies hypothalamic dysfunction as the mechanism responsible for the wide range of disabling and seemingly unconnected symptoms suffered by CFS patients. "If you're exhausted but can't sleep, experience brain fog, weight gain, achiness, and low libido--it's highly likely that you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome," he explained. "When the system is over-stressed, the hypothalamus acts like a circuit breaker that shuts off the power to protect body and mind from further damage.
"I know what patients are going through," Dr. Teitelbaum concluded. "Regardless of what doctors may have told you in the past, this disease is real, but it is treatable and you can get your life back."