Dietary methods

Generally a well-balanced whole-food diet is thing to aim for, but some people with ME/CFS report food (and chemical) intolerances. These are not 'allergies' in the medical sense (although these do occur). Whereas the commonly-reported culprits are dairy products, cereals etc., these are not by any means the only ones perceived to cause problems; it can be almost anything - and in combination. It is extremely important to be very careful about this approach, as a fully-nutritious diet is paramount to the best recovery prospects, and it can be psychologically unhelpful to restrict the diet unnecessarily.

There are many 'allergy clinics' which use a variety of methods to identify food intolerances and, as with complementary methods in general, there are advocates and sceptics for all. An elimination diet is possibly the most straight forward if long-winded way, but you should discuss this with your GP.

Arguably the most controversial dietary method of all is 'Candida Control'. Those in favour suggest that a yeast which occurs naturally in the human gut can get out of control and cause problems. An 'anti-candida regime' is advocated: in essence this is a very-low-sugar or sugar-free diet, but some practitioners also suggest the taking of anti-fungal drugs and particular food supplements. Anecdotal reports suggest that in some cases it can be helpful.

Sceptics say that if there is a problem, the problem isn't 'candida', because it in no way relates to the candida which manifests itself as thrush etc. They argue that there is no medically-approved scientific evidence to support the claims, and some doctors are dismissive of the whole idea.

The ME Association produces a leaflet which you can order direct.