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Comment by carrots on Luck based medicine: my resentful story of becoming a medical miracle · 2022-10-27T12:32:54.630Z · LW · GW

I had severe fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome for a couple of years, as diagnosed by two independent rheumatologists. It was so bad I couldn't sleep at night and I couldn't get out of bed during the day. Around that time, a few pilot studies came out of Spain with excellent results from CoQ10 supplementation. I had had little success with the regular prescriptions, so I decided to give CoQ10 a try. I felt much better after a week. Eventually I also started supplementing with other stuff known to be used by mitochondria, and 6 months later, I was back to my old self.

I spoke to my rheumatologist about how well I was feeling since taking the supplements. This guys was supposed to be one of the experts on fibromyalgia. He just laughed at me and said that these supplements were nonsense. I tried showing him the pilot studies but he wasn't interested AT ALL.

I continue to wonder what I could have done differently to make this doctor give me the benefit of the doubt and hear me out. In case something like that ever happens again.

Comment by carrots on Luck based medicine: my resentful story of becoming a medical miracle · 2022-10-27T12:15:26.422Z · LW · GW

I came to a similar conclusion about limited diet causing weight loss. I moved to a small remote town in Europe a few months ago and lost my excess weight with no effort, after having lived in large North American cities all my life. I shop mostly at a local mini grocery store that has limited stock, so my diet tends to be boring and my appetite small. As soon as I stock up from a supermarket with a variety of yummy unusual foods, I start gaining weight.

I don't limit myself to 7 ingredients though. Rather, I eat the same thing for lunch everyday, and rotate through a handful of simple recipes for dinner. This also keeps my IBS-like symptoms under control, but I don't know if my GI is happy due to the ingredients themselves, the lower volume of food, or the fact that it isn't exposed to novel foods as often. Or a combination.