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Can this man cure ME?
By Alice Hart-Davis Last updated at 00:00am on 28.01.03
Joanna Taylor: suffered with ME for three years
It has been dismissed as "yuppie flu", a shirker's charter, which many doctors believe is all in the mind. But for 150,000 people in Britain, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), or chronic fatigue syndrome, is a devastating and debilitating illness causing overwhelming fatigue, muscle pain and memory loss for years at a time.
Yet few medics agree on what causes it or on how to treat it. Some even dispute its existence, claiming that sufferers - such as model Mandy Smith, actress Joanna Taylor and author Claire Francis - are victims of overwork and stress.
For Ashok Gupta, however, the illness transformed him from a lively economics student at Cambridge University to an emotionally drained, bewildered man who embarked on a six-year quest to discover precisely what was wrong with him.
The 27-year-old, who has cured himself, has devoted himself to researching the functions of the brain, and has developed an exciting new theory about what causes ME. He claims his work could help thousands of sufferers overcome the illness.
When Gupta first became ill with a virus during the summer holidays, he thought nothing of it. He was looking forward to his third year studying economics at Robinson College, Cambridge, partying with his friends, playing football and DJing in his spare time. His health had always been good but he simply couldn't shake off the flu-like symptoms.
"There was a time when I didn't know if the suffering I was experiencing due to ME was ever going to end. It was like having severe flu all the time: my temperature went up and down, my limbs ached, I couldn't sleep and I felt deeply dispirited.
"At least when you have flu, you know that however dreadful you feel, it will soon pass, but this felt as if I wasn't going to recover. I couldn't play football, but I made myself go out with friends, pretending to be all right, because they just didn't understand what was wrong. But invariably, I'd feel dreadful, and wish I'd stayed in."
The disease began to affect his studies, too. "There were days when I felt as if I couldn't get out of bed. I would force myself to get up and go to lectures, but I could not concentrate, and would often fall asleep in the lecture hall. I was 21, and suddenly this illness was standing in my way. My mother, who is a teacher and my father, who is a retired electrical retailer, were sympathetic, but they didn't understand and so couldn't help. I went from doctor to doctor, both in Cambridge and at home in Nottingham, and met with different responses. Some didn't believe ME existed - one even gave me antidepressants, which made things worse."
For six months Gupta struggled on, aching and exhausted, until the real blow came.
"I was well behind with my college work when I realised that I wasn't going to catch up. My tutors were sympathetic, and agreed that I could do the third year again. It was a very personal blow, as I have always been used to getting top marks - but now I was finding it very hard to concentrate enough to write essays.
"Everything I tried, such as exercise, only made the symptoms worse. As the doctors weren't helping me I decided to do some research for myself. I didn't have a medical background but I began collecting information - in libraries, through patient organisations and on the internet - while still studying economics."
The controversy surrounding ME has always been about whether it is a physical or psychological illness. Gupta claims that ME involves a unique continuous interaction between real physical symptoms and an unconscious reaction to them, perpetuating a vicious circle of chronic illness. The patient isn't to blame, they simply may be unaware of what is going on in their brain.
"The main process seems to occur in the brain in the limbic area, which is responsible for emotional reactions," says Gupta. "This means that the illness has physical as well as psychological aspects which a patient may not be
conscious of. It is as if the unconscious brain learns an incorrect reaction whenever it senses physical symptoms such as fatigue, and this learning tends to occur during a stressful period in someone's life, especially when they are experiencing a viral infection at the same time. When ME has set in, their entire body is in emergency mode to a non-present threat. And from that, secondary illnesses can come along, which makes the puzzle of ME even more complicated.
"Because I was experiencing the disease, I could look at the science of it, and apply it to my own mind, and experiment with different thought processes. I realised that on some days I felt better, and some worse, and I could pinpoint, in relation to the neurology, what was going on."
Gradually, Gupta began to recover, aided by his discoveries and a mixture of his own cognitive techniques, improved nutrition, and self-hypnosis that allowed him to pursue his degree course again. After his finals he got a job as a management consultant but spent every spare moment researching ME, and talking to sufferers and patient organisations about the disease. He realised that his theory chimed with others' experiences.
"It was great when the puzzle fitted together in my mind, and I could explain all my symptoms. The final recovery for me was when I discovered clinical hypnosis, which can be used to break the vicious circle. I trained as a hypnotherapist and studied neurolinguistic programming (a process for teaching the brain how to think differently). Eighteen months ago I left my job to establish my own clinic in Harley Street."
Gupta's theory has been published in Medical Hypotheses, a peer-reviewed medical journal, to a mixed reception. "It's an interesting hypothesis, but it's not labtested," says a spokesperson for patient support group Action for ME. "We would like to see more scientists pulling together to research the condition and take hypotheses like this further."
The only treatments shown to have a proven effect on ME are cognitive behavioural therapy, which works to change negative thought patterns, and graded exercise, which takes care to keep patients within their own limits.
Gupta says the first step is to lower the overall levels of symptoms, to which end he employs a nutritionist. "Next, I use hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming to persuade the subconscious to release its grip. ME is a malfunction of the programming of the brain in response to acute stress. It's almost a message to our lifestyles, saying that we need to change the way we live our lives and manage stress.
"Now I can see that my motivation to work so hard may have caused me to not relax enough. Once I had recovered from ME I had to make a lot of lifestyle changes myself in order to stay healthy.
"Today I enjoy life much more than I did before. I eat well, I exercise regularly, but the most important thing is allowing my mind to relax every day, through breathing and meditation. And I have a full social life, typical of a single Londoner in his mid-twenties - I see friends and go clubbing at weekends."
The next step for Gupta is to publish his theory more widely, and to write a book about his methods. "I know I have not got all the answers," he says. "Helping people with ME is an ongoing process, but I know I'm on the right road."
• Ashok Gupta, Harley Street Stress Management Clinic, 1 Harley Street, W1 (www.harleystressclinic.com). Action for ME (01749 670799; www.afme.org.uk).
Reader views (11)
I began the AR program in 2008, over a decade after my diagnosis with m.e. In the years before i found Ashok Gupta`s website, i had hit many a brick wall concerning the illness and the reason i got ill. One day i was a normal outgoing, lively and active new mum and the day after my m.e hell began. As i approached 40 yrs old i could only pray that something would come along and give me back my life, id already lost 12 yrs of my life to pain, insomnia, fatigue and head fog. Not to mention the long list of symptoms i havent noted here. AR program has given me back my life - im not 100% well, but im not housebound like i was. I can go shopping, walk the dog, take the kids out, go to gigs, watch tv without visual disturbance and ear pain. I can go out alone - i hadnt done that for many years. More importantly i can socialise again and dont feel isolated by m.e anymore. Ashok has made an enormous difference to the lives of my family. Im still using the Soften and Flow daily, and use the meditations weekly.
If all m.e/cfs sufferers were given info about the AR program at diagnosis, then much of the fear about m.e would be removed
- Emerald, uk, 08/02/2010 22:46
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This makes total sense to me. My mom's fibromyalgia was triggered by a long period of severe knee pain and severe emotional stress due to loss of work etc. I think learning to relax again and reprogramming of the body system is a good way forward for people who don't want to rely just on drug trials of their GP's! I can only say to Ruth (Waukesha, Wisconsin USA) that one can hardly expect that he publishes his book/DVD for free as somehow Mr. Gupta will have to finance his research if he want's to continue helping people. - And so what if he makes money? - If this can help sufferers to help themselves - great! How many big pharma concerns make money from lots of useless drug campaigns? I'm a nurse and alternative practitioner and like to help people but I also wouldn't like to work for free.
- Nicole Swierkowski, Edinburgh, Scotland, 14/12/2009 14:39
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Please advise me as to whether the DVDs will play properly on our equipment here in the United States. I seem to recall reading about a person who ordered the set of DVDs and had difficulty playing them.
thank you,
- Ruth, Waukesha, Wisconsin USA, 30/11/2009 02:37
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"The next step for Gupta is to publish his theory more widely, and to write a book about his methods.", great so not only is he charging £50 for a set of DVDs, he'll be making money from a book too.
If he really cared, he would offer treatment for free, these "methods" can be distributed electronically for free.
CBT does NOT treat M.E/CFS/Fibromyalgia, it supposedly helps people cope with the depression and loss of quality of life.
This "talking therapy can cure you" mentality, is doing an enormous disservice to 10,000's of genuine sufferers who are now even more likely to be neglected by friends, family, and especially doctors, thanks to this horrific disinformation.
- Mr.A, The Internet, 19/10/2009 09:37
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I was diagnosed with ME early last year and I spent most of the year in Bed unable to move without pain. The condition is very real indeed, what ever the reasoning behind my diagnosis, the only real cure is rest and a healthy lifestyle. I have just returned to work and it is a struggle, however I have come to terms that I will and do feel very exhausted every day. Many ME sufferers that I have met, have used the diagnosis as an excuse and hide behind it rather than moving on - Yes it is very bad, but let's face it, it isnt going to kill you!
- Duncan Ellison, Newark, UK, 23/10/2008 12:54
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I agree that cognitive behaviorial therapy and things like prayer, meditation, visualization, and relaxation techniques help ME/CFS/FM patients cope with the inevitable stress of their disease and dealing with doctors, insurance companies, and government, as well as unsupportive and doubtful people. However, that's as far as it goes. A slight rise in immune function may follow (every little bit helps) some help with falling asleep too. Calling this a cure for ME/CFS is just shy of fraud. If indeed, Ashok was properly diagnosed with ME/CFS (I believe he sincerely believes he had it. I know it is a real disease because I suffer from it), spontaneous improvement in ME/CFS are the most common among younger patients and in all patients within the first five years. Medications that are given for ME/CFS have had a great effect on my health and quality of life, not just for symptoms. I have been on the valcyte protocol for just over a year and that coupled with Immunovir (anti-viral as well) has enabled me to do calistenics a few times per week. I have had training in cognitive behavioral therapy (Veronica Gordon's program designed especially for women, highly recommended) visualization, relaxation, the whole lot. It helped me cope with the stress but my disease only got progressively worse. Until I was tested for viral titers (EBV, HHV6a/b, CMV, etc.) and treated with antivirals I could not get out of my pajamas more than twice a week. I am still unable to work part-time.
- Denise Swanteck, Rutherford, NJ United States, 14/10/2008 23:45
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Ashok is right on track. I have been using NLP and Hypnosis for 25 years to treat a variety of problems and getting my clients to relax regularly, even for only 20 minutes a day. ME is like a 'deep phobia' in the immune system but also involves a psychosomatic element, so addressing the two domains is important, high levels of beta-glucan to boost the immune system are needed. For this I also suggest barley flakes and pearl barley which give very high beta-glucan. It is for me a process of 'unlearning' and 'relearning' for the two systems, mind and body.
- James Angove, Cardiff , Wales, 20/07/2008 16:43
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Ashok's research makes much sense, other researchers are nowhere near a result. I'd prefer this remedy to a course of drugs and at £95 Ashok Gupta's course is very reasonable considering a lot of sufferers are almost penniless from this debilitating illness. So many others want to jump on the band wagon and try and make a fast buck from useless cures.
- Steve Hocking, Southampton UK, 13/06/2008 15:18
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Stress of any kind, whether viral or, indeed, emotional (I prefer emotional to psychological) can have profound effects on the body and the mind when the frontal lobe part of the brain has become over stimulated and becomes defenceless. The body/mind goes into fight/flight mode, and can not switch off. The memory of the traumatic events becomes hard-wired, as it were, in the cells or neurones of the brain, creating a body memory. This is evident in people diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), in young children who have suffered neglect and abuse, and in those unfortunate enough to be suffering a cluster of symptoms which can be described as CFS or ME. I think in CFS the same kind of damage to the amygdala and hypothalamus occurs as does in these other cases mentioned above, with consequent effects on the sympathetic nervous system and the pituitary/adrenal axis.
I wonder how many people with CFS/ME have back problems - pain, sciatica, stiffness - or have had an accident, injury or fall. Since being treated for such problems my CFS symptoms have lessened dramatically.
A viral infection, or stressful life events can trigger CFS/ME when the back is problematic, by affecting the nerve ganglia which govern the functioning of the sympathetic nervous system and the para-sympathetic nervous system (which causes gastric problems so common in CFS/ME).
Personally, I am finding mindfulness meditation very helpful, but am now curious about Gupta's techniques.
- Gabriella Klein, Glasgow, UK, 12/05/2008 22:56
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This makes so much sense to me! I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2004 and have since been working to make myself better, with limited results. But I have always thought that FMS and CFS has an emotional/psychological component -I can't handle stress at all! - and have read that the hypothalmus (and amygdala) is involved. This is huge!
- Amy Sinn, Denver, Colorado, USA, 05/12/2007 20:48
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Dear Mr Gupta,
I found your article very interesting.
I understand you are offering treatment and I wonder whether you could send me details.
- Rebecca Hurford, london, 16/11/2006 11:26
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