This web site is also highly applicable to a number of other Multi-System or Environmental Illnesses. There is significant evidence to suggest that many of the contributory factors of the above conditions may also be major factors in a wide variety of conditions:

• Aerotoxic Syndrome (AS)
• Gulf War Syndrome (GWS)
• Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS)
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Autism
• Lupus
• Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS)
• Alzheimer's Disease
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Irritable Bowel Disease (e.g. Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's disease)
• Tired All The Time (TATT)
• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
• General muscle and tendon weakness
• Severe Viral Infections
• Lyme Disease
• Electromagnetic sensitivities
• Heavy Metal Toxicity
• Insomnia
• Cancer

If you suffer from any of these conditions, then this web site may also be valuable.

This web site is also here for those interested in holistic health, (sports) nutrition, anti-ageing and general wellbeing. The principles that underlie CFS and related conditions are highly applicable to the average member of the population with mediocre health seeking to improve their energy levels and general wellbeing. Be proactive, not reactive!

Approach:

This site combines elements of conventional Western medicine, with cutting edge holistic/ecological and complimentary medicine, with some alternative medicine techniques. It attempts to present the information in a balanced manner, subjecting both sides to critical analysis rather than having to default to a 'natural' bias and gross generalisation as is found on some holistic health web sites. Clearly there will inevitably be some minor errors on the site, drawing on unreliable sources, given the wide range of topics covered, but I hope these have been kept to a minimum. If there are areas you do not subscribe to, then please do not let this put you off other areas that seem more readily accessible.

Sources:

This web site draws upon various sources, many of which are outlined on the relevant pages. These includes a number of books, laboratory reports, internet articles, television documentaries, and also personal experience and from discussions with a number of practitioners of TCM and also Ecological Medicine specialists. I have drawn on some of the work of Dr John McLaren Howard, Martin L. Pall PhD, Richard A. Van Konynenburg PhD, Dr Paul Cheney MD, PhD and others, and integrated these into a wider framework. The web site started in 2006 and some of the older pages have been partially re-edited.

Purpose:

The level of detail is meant to help the sufferer to understand the nature of the causes and the treatments, but is not intended to be used as an 'self-prescribed remedy or manual obtained from the internet'. This site is not intended to replace the skill of a practitioner, but to compliment the use of a practitioner, and to provide some insight into the 'hows' and 'whys' of treatment programmes, and to highlight possible areas of causation that one may wish to investigate together with one's practitioner and also research independently. The information here may also be of help for those who are trying to find a competent practitioner and to evaluate the competence or breadth of expertise of one's current practitioner. In a sense it is an interface between the patient and the holistic medical community. This site advocates that all identification and treatment is conducted by a qualified specialist.

About Me:

I am not medically trained and am not qualified to offer medical advice. I have a BSc in Anthropology and Geography, which included Medical Anthropology content, and also have A-Levels including Chemistry and Physics which has also been a great help. I first tried Acupuncture in 1992 and have been interested in Traditional Chinese Medicine since then, combining this with my knowledge of nutrition and fitness, and later, biochemical knowledge regarding CFS. I will create a Case Studies page in the future where I will describe my background with CFS (which began broadly speaking in 2002) and treatment regime.

Bandwidth:

Some of the pages on this site are currently very long and may take some time to load, depending on your internet connection speed. Pages will be divided up more in the future.

Printing:

Please feel free to print off pages from this site to read off-line for personal use (easier and healthier than reading from monitor).

Browsers:

This web site is currently optimised for use with Internet Explorer 6.x.

Non-Profit Status:

This web site is a independent, non-affiliated, non-profit, non-commercial entity run by myself. It is not a registered company or charity and does not claim any advantageous tax status. It provides information for free to the visitor, and does not sell any product or service. For 6 years since its inception in 2006, the intention was not to generate any revenue at all, not even to cover the costs of running the site and initial promotional advertising (circa £1200). All expenses have been met by myself. Sharing information was the priority.

However, cumulative financial pressures have as of January 2012 forced me to incorporate third party advertising to raise revenue from the site. This is in the form of advertising banners from Google Adsense and iherb at the top of most pages. I will continue to classify this site as non-profit until I have eventually covered all my set up and ongoing maintenance costs, at which point I will declare it to be a 'for profit' site. Any funds raised that exceed total costs will be reinvested into the 'project' as a whole and will be spent on trialling supplements, regimes and treatments, which will in turn be documented on the site as per normal. If circumstances change, I may dispense with advertisements altogether and return to the original format.

Revenue from third party advertising is fairly minimal and I do not intend to use this site to sell any product or service. I can assure you that the presence of third party advertising will however in no way change the content of this site nor the manner in which I express my opinions. Irritating as they are, this move does not constitute 'selling out'.

I do not endorse any of the products or services advertised on my site by third parties (I have no control over which adverts are displayed by Google Adsense) and do not necessarily recommend any of them - more than likely I would not recommend any of them. I personally hate advertising. I personally use iherb.com for some of my supplement purchases, based on price and convenience. I like to support smaller and local companies but iherb are very convenient. Whilst they are very cheap for most products, a significant proportion are artificially inflated in price compared with competitors, but after the 10% quantity discount, the prices usually work out about the same. They do not stock the entire product range of certain brands, e.g. Ecological Formulas. They also do not stock all the brands I use, including Xymogen, Integrative Therapeutics/Tyler, Vital Nutrients etc. so I buy these elsewhere.

Thank you for your time and I offer you a warm welcome to this site and hopes that you enjoy it or find at least something of value here.

Yours sincerely



Patrik Askert, BSc (Hons)
Chief Writer and Editor

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