Jennifer’s Reviews > The Healing Brain > Status Update

I am very skeptical even tho Dr. Krohn told me to read Betrayal by the Brain. I did read it and the ideas were good on some things but if you have a virus ....well....

I had a woman at church tell me to read The Secret so I read it. Some people are in the twilight zone!

I don't know much about the secret, but I know some of it is hokey. But I don't think most of that has anything to do with health, and I very much doubt it's a scientific text. I really recommend learning about how the mind affects the body. This book in particular is full of scientific research... it's not "feel-good" or "self-helpy," though I have no problem with those (now that I understand how and THAT they actually work). I've read several books on the subject, and it seriously seems extraordinarily idiotic to me that I never really understood the connection. Paradigm-shifting, for sure. And so far, every person I've known to recover fully from MCS has made the shift, except maybe Dr. R, but I don't fully know his story and even he recommends mind-body exercises.

You do know that viruses take over when you are stressed, right? Many many people have treated viruses with meditation. We all know that herpes erupts during stress... no secret there. What's crazy is the same person who acknowledges that will still claim that psychology is unrelated to physical health. There is so much misunderstanding on the subject. Someone needs to write a book explaining it better in relation to CFS/MCS/FMS. But this one is really exceptional... but people with EI are so unlikely to give it a look.

Jennifer wrote: "You do know that viruses take over when you are stressed, right? Many many people have treated viruses with meditation. We all know that herpes erupts during stress... no secret there. What's cr..."

No, I didn't know that viruses take over when we are stressed. I sure have one right now. I don't know if I caught it new or its a flare up. Dr. Krohn told me the average PWC is carrying 15 different viruses. She did titers on many things for me and I did have high titers, some off the charts. One doctor in ABQ even tested me for Parvo, LOL! Some PWC's catch it from their dogs. But at least on that one I was fine.

Most of my friends with EI and CFIDS are so impaired cognitively that they cannot read at all. My best friend that I met in Albuquerque support group is on here and she does read and used to always give me tips but now I never hear from her anymore..sigh! She had to go on oxygen 24/7 for a heart/lung thing...Cor Pulmonale. its too sad. I am so happy to know you as read all this stuff too. In fact more than I do.

I am always using one word for another. Do you do that also? I know that is a CFIDS symptom.

I did the word-switching a lot at first, but not too often now. I still have word-finding trouble pretty often when I am stressed or have exposures (out in public, usually). It was a long time before I could read, and I still will go over the the same sentence 10 times in a row sometimes and not have a clue about what I read. I just really started reading last year... too difficult in 2008 and 2009. I still have a really hard time with purely scientific literature, so I am still sticking with the pop science for now... plenty to be learned from it anyway.

Yes, stress decreases the immune system's ability to fight off viruses. You probably know this at some level... most people know that cold sores (herpes virus) flare up during stressful times. I had reactivated EBV at one point and have heard about the Parvo thing but wasn't tested. I'm not really worrying about these viruses b/c taking care of my overall health should strengthen my immune system to where it can handle these viruses and keep them latent. That's why I don't really pay much attention to the XMRV saga.