Living With CFIDS
A letter to friends

Jay Antenen of Cincinatti, Ohio, got slammed by CFIDS, but he’s hanging on to his sense of humor, and he’s using that to help maintain positive relationships with friends and co-workers. Here’s a letter he sent recently:

Dear Friends,
 
I trust that everything is going well with you. This letter is an attempt to update you on my weird illness.
 
Seven months have passed since that fateful day, Nov. 1, 1998, when I woke up feeling strange. Since then, I have grown weaker and weaker with more painful symptoms.
 
I was diagnosed with Eptsein Barr Virus (mono) and told I would not die but I would be sick for "a while." When I didn’t improve, lots of blood was drawn and tested to confirm that I hadn’t contracted another disease such as multiple sclerosis, polio, Lyme disease, HIV, anthrax, tuberculosis or hepatitis. The conclusion was that I have chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) and that rest and prayer were the only cure.
 
Lately, I have been visiting Dr. J. Turner Carson. My new doctor is fun. He is very sure of himself, enthusiastic, full of ideas and blood tests. According to Dr. Carson, I have a virus, weak thyroids, the adrenaline of a 75-year-old, a temperamental liver and a yeast infection (no, I did not get a sex change; you can have a yeast infection that hurts your immune system throughout your body). I asked for a second opinion and he said I was growing bald!
 
To get well, he said I had to start by changing my diet. I had already dropped fast food and soft drinks years ago and wine and coffee since I’ve been sick, but now I would have to drop bread! Here are my lists:

Apparently, the theory is that the virus and yeast will be bored with the diet and go away.
 
To introduce the rest of my treatment, Dr. Carson, his nurse and his receptionist came in singing my prescription:

On the 12th day of May, my doctor prescribed to me:

12 oz. orange juice (with spirulina), 11 echinacea, 10 cc nystatin,
9 acidophilus, 8 L-lysine capsules, 7 ounces aloe vera,
6 Chem-defense tablets, 5 Adrenatone, 4 raw adrenal pills,
3 thysilins, 2 beta carotenes, and a hot bath with Kneipp herbal scent.

So not only are the virus and yeast starving, they are being herbed into submission. If you wonder what I do all day, I stay home, rest, don’t drink coffee and take an herb capsule or drink every few minutes.
 
Dr. Carson pronounced that I would be "feeling better in no time." Then he set my next appointment for 10 weeks!
 
It’s been two weeks since then. I’ve lost six pounds. I sleep or rest 20 hours a day. I enjoy the better days and look forward to regaining my health.
 
I’ve also done some yoga. I am so stiff that the classes are like being tortured on a rack by an inquisitor who speaks softly and plays waterfall music.
 
Luckily, Carolyn and my three boys are doing great. They keep my spirits up. If you have a chance, please write me at Jante96@earthlink.net.

Grace and Peace,
Jay