Doris Fleck was driving from Vancouver to Abbotsford to visit her parents when she felt numbness begin to crawl from her hands up into her shoulders. Just as she drove onto the Port Mann Bridge, her heart rate began to accelerate and she became very dizzy. "I panicked, thinking I was going to go over the edge of the rails and head into the Fraser River," Fleck said. "I just felt like, all of a sudden, something was really very seriously wrong with me."

As soon as she was over the bridge, Fleck, 25 years old at the time, pulled off to the side and called her parents for help. They came and took her to Surrey Memorial Hospital for a battery of tests. Periods of debilitating exhaustion combined with flulike symptoms followed. Six years, two cities, and 35 doctors later, Fleck was diagnosed with chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome or yuppie flu.

The Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Fibromyalgia Societies of B.C. describes the disease as a "debilitating condition characterized by disabling fatigue, myalgia (pain), and neurocognitive disturbances". The organization's Web site ( www.mefm.bc.ca/ ) estimates that the disease affects between 8,000 and 17,000 people in B.C.

CFS is recognized by the World Health Organization as a neurological disorder; however, insurance companies and some doctors still question its diagnosis. Tim Louis, a Vancouver-based disability lawyer, said that he handles disabilities claims for CFS on a weekly basis. He said that although the symptoms of the condition are not always clear to outside observers, those who suffer from it are severely debilitated.

For years, the mainstream medical community did not take chronic fatigue seriously, Fleck said, which is why it is still referred to in some circles, mockingly, as yuppie flu. Fleck recalled that when her symptoms were so crippling that she had to be hospitalized, doctors would accuse her of making the whole thing up.

"The medical community had no answer for me," Fleck said. "It wasn't until I moved to Calgary that I found a naturopath that helped." Fleck was put on a cleansing diet free of flour, yeast, white sugar, and "anything like that", and given a regiment of vitamins and nutrients aimed at bolstering her immune system.

Fleck has been dealing with chronic fatigue for 21 years, almost as long as it has had a name. Having become something of an expert, she said that in her experience, naturopathic treatment is one of the few things someone with chronic fatigue can do to feel better. "If you are doing things to try to boost your immune system…you will get some measure of relief."

Dr. Rod Santos is the head of the Central Park Naturopathic Clinic in Vancouver. He claims that someone with symptoms of CFS visits his office "almost every week". Characterizing a case such as Fleck's as extreme, Santos said that most of his patients recover, but once someone has had a case of chronic fatigue, the body will be predisposed to a relapse.

Santos explained that a naturopathic treatment for CFS at his clinic would begin with a strict cleansing combined with the intravenous administration of vitamins and minerals, just as Fleck received in Calgary. "I stimulate their immune system," Santos said. "I address all those problems, and that is how they start feeling better."

Also part of Santos's approach is ozone therapy, by which the body is flooded with oxygen as a means to kill any infection a person might have. "And I also give them certain supplements to help with their adrenal glands." Santos claimed that many of the symptoms associated with CFS lead back to the adrenal glands malfunctioning. "When you are stressed for long, long periods of time and have high amounts of stress, your adrenal glands start to weaken and fail," Santos explained. "This will lead to fatigue, immune problems, food problems, and so forth."

Fleck now works as a freelance journalist in Calgary. She still experiences episodes of chronic fatigue two or three times a year, which usually include blurred vision, dizziness, and debilitating exhaustion. "I work as much as I can but am still working at minimizing the symptoms," she said. "There is still a delicate balance between the disease and what I can actually do."