This is the way I am thinking at the moment:

My training in exercise told me that muscle fibres in any muscle do not all move when a limb is moved or movement is made. Within all muscles are fibres that move and fibres that rest. When the moving fibres are tired, they rest, and the resting fibres take over, allowing the previously moving fibres to rest.

I think that in ME/CFS the nerve impulse to the resting fibres to take over from the moving fibres is not made, hence the symptoms of exhaustion.

I think there are two important aspects to ME/CFS and that is the nerve response in the muscles and the immune response to food.

I have already explained the nerve response or lack of it.

When the immune system sees a food particle enter the blood stream it doesn’t recognise it alerts an immune response. If the individual continually eats the food the immune system doesn’t recognise then the immune system is being exhausted. Symptoms of a poor immune system begin to show – in the form of rashes, colds, achy feelings. If the offending food is eliminated from the diet, the immune system behaves better.

Why should the immune system not recognise a food particle? When the gut is digesting food, it breaks it down to particles that can permeate the gut wall and get into the blood stream.

The gut wall is kept in a healthy permeable state with B vitamins, Vitamin C, zinc and the special fatty acids from fish and seed oils; these nutrients help make and support the good bacteria which in turn controls the bad bacteria and yeast that arises from the putrifaction of digested food.

These nutrients are killed by stress, contraceptive pill, general anaesthetic and a diet devoid of fresh vegetables and fruit.

Why does stress kill the good nutrients in the gut? Because for the body to activate a stress response it needs Vit C, Zinc and the fatty acids. Too much stress burns up these nutrients and robs them from the gut.

The lack of good nutrients results in the gut wall becoming unhealthy and the miniscule holes in the permeable gut wall become slightly larger allowing food particles through before they are fully digested to the smaller size.

Taking this train of thought back:
. Stress kills the nutrients in the gut
. The gut wall becomes unhealthy
. Larger food particles are allowed through to the blood
. The immune system sees these larger food particles as toxins and activates an allergic response for which histamine is needed. Vitamin C is a natural anti-histimine and so with histamine being produced to kill the allergen, more Vit C is taken from the gut and other areas of the body to counteract the histamine response. This allergic response can cause inflammation in the body causing aches and pains, rashes, swollen glands, water retention, high blood pressure and headaches.

Now you can see why ME/CFS was originally called Yuppie Flu because it was thought stress played a part, which it does in food allergy.

Getting back to the muscles – can the mechanism by the nerves be repaired? This I don’t know. But I thought what makes nerves move? Instinctive and physical response to our senses and thought. Perhaps then M.E. is something to do with the mentality. Or is it an inflammed brain by the immune system because of the food causing a lack of response with the nerves?

The body wants to heal itself. The body has all the systems in place to heal itself. So why can’t it? Get rid of the offending foods in your diet and introduce chemical free fresh food.