This is a tale of two people, intimately related, both ill, with different diseases but from the same cause. Names and identifying features have been changed to protect their anonymity.
Martina lived in a small village in central Europe. She had had chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) for many years when she came to see me and was barely coping with her role as a housewife and mother of two young children. She was only 32 years old but struggled to get through the day, collapsing in a heap on the sofa by 4:00 p.m. and never feeling well or clear-headed.
In the course of taking her medical history, I asked a question one should always ask about a patient's symptoms: “Have you noticed anything that makes
