I had severe fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome for a couple of years, as diagnosed by two independent rheumatologists. It was so bad I couldn’t sleep at night and I couldn’t get out of bed during the day. Around that time, a few pilot studies came out of Spain with excellent results from CoQ10 supplementation. I had had little success with the regular prescriptions, so I decided to give CoQ10 a try. I felt much better after a week. Eventually I also started supplementing with other stuff known to be used by mitochondria, and 6 months later, I was back to my old self.
I spoke to my rheumatologist about how well I was feeling since taking the supplements. This guys was supposed to be one of the experts on fibromyalgia. He just laughed at me and said that these supplements were nonsense. I tried showing him the pilot studies but he wasn’t interested AT ALL.
I continue to wonder what I could have done differently to make this doctor give me the benefit of the doubt and hear me out. In case something like that ever happens again.
I have literally walked into the office with several double-blind, peer-reviewed, large n studies printed out, the relevant sections carefully highlighted, to argue for the treatment I wanted, only for the doctor to repeat that this treatment does not work, like his conviction would somehow undo the data stating that it clearly bloody does.
I take Q10 as well. Crucial supplement for me.
There is this weird thing where some doctors believe that a substance that was not synthetically derived from scratch and created as a novel substance in a lab, but instead isolated from plants, or even delivered in the form of whole plants, can somehow not have any effect on your body, good or bad, as though such substances had an intrinsically different ineffective character. I have doctors go “no need to note the supplements, just the meds” and me telling them that they have significant interactions with other medications and blood values that they should really keep equally in mind does absolutely nothing. They’d want to know if you have taken aspirin, but not if you have taken willow bark. They group together proven cures with fucking homeopathy. It’s the same mindset that leads to people poisoning themselves because “it is just herbs”. “Just herbs” can heal you, or kill you.
I had severe fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome for a couple of years, as diagnosed by two independent rheumatologists. It was so bad I couldn’t sleep at night and I couldn’t get out of bed during the day. Around that time, a few pilot studies came out of Spain with excellent results from CoQ10 supplementation. I had had little success with the regular prescriptions, so I decided to give CoQ10 a try. I felt much better after a week. Eventually I also started supplementing with other stuff known to be used by mitochondria, and 6 months later, I was back to my old self.
I spoke to my rheumatologist about how well I was feeling since taking the supplements. This guys was supposed to be one of the experts on fibromyalgia. He just laughed at me and said that these supplements were nonsense. I tried showing him the pilot studies but he wasn’t interested AT ALL.
I continue to wonder what I could have done differently to make this doctor give me the benefit of the doubt and hear me out. In case something like that ever happens again.
Nothing.
I have literally walked into the office with several double-blind, peer-reviewed, large n studies printed out, the relevant sections carefully highlighted, to argue for the treatment I wanted, only for the doctor to repeat that this treatment does not work, like his conviction would somehow undo the data stating that it clearly bloody does.
I take Q10 as well. Crucial supplement for me.
There is this weird thing where some doctors believe that a substance that was not synthetically derived from scratch and created as a novel substance in a lab, but instead isolated from plants, or even delivered in the form of whole plants, can somehow not have any effect on your body, good or bad, as though such substances had an intrinsically different ineffective character. I have doctors go “no need to note the supplements, just the meds” and me telling them that they have significant interactions with other medications and blood values that they should really keep equally in mind does absolutely nothing. They’d want to know if you have taken aspirin, but not if you have taken willow bark. They group together proven cures with fucking homeopathy. It’s the same mindset that leads to people poisoning themselves because “it is just herbs”. “Just herbs” can heal you, or kill you.