Every day I am asked questions about new treatments, new supplements, or new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to chronic illness. I usually respond that the supplement or test or treatment in question may or may not be helpful but it is unlikely to be the end all answer to your illness.
Chronic illness can not be cured with a single medication or therapy. Chronic illness can not be explained by any one test. Chronic illness is a failure of the body’s ability to adapt to an environmental or genetic insult.
I remember starting out the craze was chelation therapy. That would be the answer. Everyone has heavy metal poisoning. Remove all dental amalgams. Start leaching out the bad actor.
Later, everyone was into adrenal fatigue, Wilson’s disorder with subclinical thyroid disease, then nutrient deficiency, homocysteine excess, viral infections, chlamydia tissue infections, leaky gut syndrome, probiotic therapy, stool transplants, chronic lyme’s disease, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, reflexology, acupuncture therapy, high voltage line disorder, Epstein barr viral infections, herpes 6 infections, anti t cell and leukotriene therapy, testosterone deficiency, bio identical hormone disorder, polycystic ovarian syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, sleep apnea, Vitamin D deficiency, transfer factor replacement, placental therapy, colostrum therapy, fish oil therapies, autonomic stimulation and the list continues.
Many of these pathways when pursued with therapies may lead to some success, but in the end they are dead ends to repairing the damage that has been done to the body of a patient with chronic disease if done in an isolated approach.
If you are some one that continues to chase many of these dead ends then I would encourage you to not try to pursue an isolated diagnosis and treatment strategy. Rather, start thinking in repair and maintenance terms. I would refer you to my post on Chronic illness theory for my particular thoughts on this.