Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Laura

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See:

http://www.fibromyalgiatreatment.com/

(from FAQs)

14. What is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome, meaning that it is a collection of symptoms that occur together, and not all patients have all of them. Women are affected more than men--only about 20 percent are male--and it also occurs in children. Fibromyalgia means "pain in muscles and fibers." This pain must be present in all four quadrants of the body for three months. Diagnosis is made by the prescence of tender swollen areas that hurt when a small amount of pressure is applied. However, not all patients have significant pain, for some fatigue is the primary complaint. Other symptoms include headahces, irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bladder, vulvodynia, problems with memory and concentration, nervousness, depression, and sensitivity to sound, light and odors. top

15. What causes Firbromyalgia?

We believe it is an inherited trait and that from birth phosphates very slowly build up in your tissues. At puberty and other accelerated growth times your body uses more of the phosphate you ingest. The build up might completely stop at that time. However, at some point, depending on your genetic trait, you become symptomatic: ie the phosphates have built up to the point where they cause an impediment in making energy. Eventually this lack of energy, dysenergism, causes our symptoms.
You will reverse one year of build-up with about 2 months of guaifenesin. If you stop taking guaifenesin when you stop feeling symptoms the build up will begin again and in time your symptoms will come back. That's why we stay on guai for life despite the fact that we feel better. top

16. What is the difference between Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Chronic Fatigue is a symptom of Fibromyalgia. All pain is diagosed by a subjective scale - "Does this hurt?" If a person has a high pain threshold, "this" wouldn't necessarily hurt. Yet CFS patients have all the cognitive symptoms and many others of classic fibromyalgia. They don't fit the usual FM classification because pain is a minor rather than major complaint. It doesn't however make their illness different than ours.

It helps to think of all illnesses, especially ours, as a bell shaped curve. In the middle, where most patients are--is a mixture of pain and fatigue. At each end are the extremes: a few patients with only pain on one side, and on the other, a few patients with only fatigue.

and

http://www.sover.net/~devstar/index.htm

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and chronic myofascial pain (CMP) are real conditions, and they are not the same. You may feel that FMS alone is too difficult to understand and control without adding another invisible illness that most care providers know little or nothing about. The understanding of myofascial TrPs will actually make things simpler. Myofascial trigger points (TrPs) are well documented and can cause the peripheral stimulation that is sustaining the central sensitization of FMS. You have what you have, and you need to deal with it. One of the reasons most people, care providers included, find FMS complicated is that CMP frequently co-exists and muddies diagnostic and treatment waters.

You need to understand both of these conditions to be able to separate the impact they are having in your life and to know how to deal with each symptom. Once you grasp the concepts behind these conditions and act on your knowledge, your health will improve and you will regain some control. Learning the separate pain patterns and symptoms associated with your TrPs may seem daunting, but it is no more difficult than learning the alphabet, and many of the TrP referral pain patterns may already be familiar. Once you know where they originate, you may be able to get at the sources of many of your symptoms. Identifying and controlling many of your perpetuating factors for both FMS and CMP is under your control. With a little direction, you can do a lot for yourself and your own well-being.
Fibromyalgia Syndrome

FMS is not a catchall, "wastebasket" diagnosis. FMS is a state of central sensitization. This means that your central nervous system may be unusually sensitive to pain (hyperalgesia) and you also may find certain sounds, vibrations, light, and other sensations (even smells) to be translated by your body into discomfort or pain. Certain types of sound, such as staccato music or talk, or certain pitches, may be unendurable and promote increased sensitivity to other stimuli. The same may be true of the pattern of shadow and light by trees passing along in a car, or even being stuck in an elevator or car with a woman with heavy perfume. Diffuse, body-wide pain is part of FMS, but not all of it by any means.

Fibromyalgia is not yet considered a disease. Diseases have known causes and well-understood mechanisms for producing symptoms. FMS is a syndrome, which means it is a specific set of signs and symptoms that occur together. Syndromes are no less serious or potentially disabling than diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are also classified as syndromes. Lab tests for FMS do not exist right now. Lab tests are valid only to check for co-existing conditions. You can have other conditions and also have FMS.

You have probably heard about the official FMS definition requiring 11 of 18 tender points to be present. This was part of the criteria originally to be used to define patients to be admitted into clinical studies of FMS, and the tender points had to be present in all four quadrants - that is, the upper right and left and lower right and left parts of your body. You must have had widespread, more-or-less continuous pain for at least three months. This was not originally intended to be diagnostic. Since most clinical studies fail to separate symptoms of FMS from co-existing CMP, the conclusions of many studies may be faulty.

Tender points occur in pairs on various parts of the body. In traumatic FMS, tender points may be clustered around an injury instead of, or in addition to, the 18 "official" points. These clusters can also occur around a repetitive strain or a degenerative and/or inflammatory problem, such as arthritis. Localized pain usually indicates a co-existing condition, such as chronic myofascial pain (CMP), but even with CMP this can be misleading, as you will read later.

Neither FMS nor CMP are inflammatory conditions. FMS can occur at any age. Most patients, when questioned carefully, reveal that their symptoms began at an early age. About 25 percent of the FMS patients I have come in contact with are men. This ratio differs from most sources in the literature. I think that FMS is under-diagnosed in males.

Flu-like achiness is frequently the most prominent symptom of FMS, but there are many others. For example, your eyes may be too dry, but at other times they will water. Your thermal regulatory system may be out of whack. You may notice this when you get out of bed (which may be often, due to bladder irritability) during the night. You may have to wait for your temperature to cool down after getting back in bed before you can pull the bedcover up. You may experience confusional states, memory dysfunction, and an inability to do more than one thing at once. You may be able to focus on a specific skill and function at a high level in you field, yet be unable to balance your checkbook or remember appointments. You may experience skin mottling. Your finger and toe nails may have vertical ridges - a typical sign of endocrine imbalance. Fingernails may break off, often in crescent-shaped pieces. If nails do grow, some may start to curve under (beaking).

People with FMS can be sensitive to changes in barometric pressure and temperature. Rain beating on the windowpane may feel as if it were beating on the walls of your cells. The noise emitted by fluorescent lights can drive you crazy, and you may have to avoid overcrowded areas such as malls or cities. FMS sensitizes nerve endings as well as the rest of the autonomic nervous system. The actual ends of the nerve receptors may have changed shape, turning touch and other receptors into pain receptors. Pain signals then bombard your brain. Your brain knows pain is a danger signal - an indication that something is wrong and needs attention - so it mobilizes its defenses. Then, when those defenses aren't used, it becomes anxious. Overstimulation is a major perpetuating factor of FMS.

Restorative sleep plays a crucial role in FMS. Perhaps you aren't getting enough sleep, or the right kind of sleep. You may have insomnia or a host of other sleep-related problems. You may have sleep apnea, or your heightened sensitivity does not allow you to sleep deeply. Our body heals and many neurotransmitters are balanced during deep sleep, and without it we soon suffer from the effects of sleep deprivation. It isn't enough that you spend eight hours in bed. When you wake, you must feel refreshed and restored. Lack of restorative sleep is a major perpetuating factor of FMS, and you may need to work with your doctor to find medications that can help. You may also need to adjust your diet and life style to avoid stimulants such as sugar and caffeine. You may need help learning how to handle stress. You may also need to adjust your bedroom environment including the bed and pillows.
Myofascia

Myofascial pain is probably the most common cause of musculoskeletal pain in medical practice (Imamura, Fischer, Imamura et al.1997). It is a vital but often unrecognized factor in the practice of medicine. Pain from myofascial dysfunction is probably at the source of many of your symptoms. The white, translucent covering you sometimes see on a chicken breast under the skin is fascia, pronounced "fass-she-uh." That is only part of the fascia story, however. Fascial is not facial, although you do have fascia under your face. Fascia is almost everywhere in the body, and its boundaries are hard to define. There is no specific field of medicine dealing with fascia or myofascia, and yet it touches all specialties as well as general practice. Fascial dysfunction can mimic many conditions and affect many body systems.

A small change in the myofascia can cause stress to other parts of your body. Restriction of one major leg joint can increase the energy used in walking by as much as 40%. If two major joints are restricted in the same leg it can increase by as much as 300% (Greenman, 1996). Multiple minor restrictions of movement, particularly those affecting the way you walk, can use up your energy and increase fatigue. Fascia is medically separated into three layers, but it is all continuous and three-dimensional. Superficial fascia is attached to the underside of your skin. Capillary channels and lymph vessels run through this layer and so do many nerves, so constriction in this fascia can constrict them. The subcutaneous fat is attached to it as well. If your superficial fascia is healthy, your skin can move fluidly over the surface of your muscles. In FMS and CMP, it is often stuck. The body can store excess fluid and metabolites in superficial fascia. The metabolites are the breakdown products of metabolism and other biochemical reactions in your body. This is the area of fascia that often is the easiest to palpate. Palpation is the art and skill of being able to touch meaningfully, interpreting what the skin and fascia are willing to tell about your state of health. It takes training and experience to palpate. It is more difficult if excess fluid has accumulated in this area due to dysfunction. This type of swelling is often noticed by the patient but frequently missed by the physician because it is diffuse and may be body-wide.

Deep fascia is tougher and denser material. Your body uses it to separate large areas such as the abdominal cavity. Deep fascia covers some portions like huge sheets, protecting them and giving them shape, and separating muscles and organs. The bag-like covering around your heart, the lining of your chest cavity, and the area between your external genital and your anus are specialized forms of deep fascia.

There is a third layer of fascia, called sub serous fascia. This loose tissue covers your internal organs and holds the rich network of blood and lymph vessels that keep them moist. Even your cells have a type of cytoskeleton connected to the fascia network, which is what gives your cells shape and allows them to function. Myofascia is fascia that is related to muscle tissue. Healthy myofascia allows for compression and tension, as well as relaxation. The dural tube is another fascial connection. This tube surrounds and protects your spinal cord and contains the cerebrospinal fluid. It is connected to the membranes surrounding your brain. Together, they hold and protect your craniosacral system. Once you understand the pervasive nature of fascia, you can see how fascial dysfunction can cause all sorts of problems.

In the myofascia there is a material called ground substance. The ground substance transfers nutrients from where they are broken down into usable materials to where they will be used and removes waste products from these areas of use. The ground substance can change from a loose gelatin consistency to gel-foam or even like stiff Styrofoam, hardening and losing elasticity if subjected to biochemical or mechanical trauma. The myofascia tightens with it.

Ground substance also maintains the distance between connective tissue fibers. This prevents microadhesions from forming and keeps your tissues supple and elastic. When the critical distance is not maintained, the fibers become cross-linked by newly synthesized collagen, which are also part of the fascia. Collagen crosslinks are arranged haphazardly, unlike healthy linkages, and are hard to break up. Sheets of fibrous myofascial adhesion can form anywhere along nerves and block normal healthy function.

Myofascial Trigger Points

Trigger Points (TrPs) are extremely sore points occurring in ropy bands throughout the body. You can feel them as painful lumps of hardened fascia, like nodules or like hardened peas. TRIGGER POINTS ARE NOT PART OF FIBROMYALGIA! The bands are often easiest to feel along the arms and legs if you stretch your muscle about 2/3 of the way out. If your muscles are tight so that you can't feel the lumps, or even the tight bands, that doesn't mean that the TrPs aren't there. That's why it's important to know the pain patterns so you can find the TrPs and work on them. Many common TrPs have referred pain or other symptom patterns that are carefully documented. The first time I opened the Trigger Point Manuals ("Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual Vol I & II" by Janet Travell, M.D., and David Simons M.D.) I was dumbfounded. After being told for so long by medical experts that the pain patterns I described did not and could not exist, seeing them illustrated in a medical text brought a flood of emotions. I felt so relieved I cried. Then, as the truth started to hit home, I started to get angry. Why didn't these "experts" have knowledge of Travell and Simons' work? Why hadn't I learned about these texts in medical school! Most localized pains commonly attributed to FMS are actually from myofascial TrPs. TrPs seem to form throughout life as a response to many things that happen to our bodies - overuse, repetitive motion trauma, bruises, strains, joint problems, etc. Pain creates a neuromuscular response, and the muscle around the pain site tightens, "guarding" the hurt area.

When muscles are in a state of sustained tension, they are working, even if you're not. A working muscle needs more nutrition and oxygen, and produces more waste, than a muscle at rest. This creates an area in the myofascia starved for food and oxygen and loaded with toxic waste - a TrP. Dr. Janet Travell, in her autobiography, "Office Hours Day and Night" explains how dizziness, ringing of the ears, loss of balance and other symptoms can all be caused by TrPs in the side of the neck, in the muscle group called the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) complex. Receptors in the SCM complex transmit nerve impulses to inform the brain of the position of the head and body in the surrounding space. With TrPs, the receptors lie. What they tell the brain is not what the eyes tell the brain. When head movement changes the SCM message - when you turn or look up from changing kitty litter, you get dizzy. This, coupled with poor balance, can make it seem as if the walls are tilting.

Proprioceptors are receptors that tell your body and brain where parts of your body are in relation to the world around you and to each other. Proprioceptor dysfunction is associated with TrPs. When we take corners while driving, we get the impression that we're "banking" the turn at a steep angle, as if we're on a motorcycle. Cold drafts alone can bring on TrPs. Be careful how you move in bed. When you turn, roll with your head flat and use your arms to help. Don't lift your head and "lead with it" as you roll. That puts a great strain on the neck area and electrically "loads" the SCM TrPs, just as climbing steps or walking uphill "loads" the muscles of the thighs. This means that the electrical potential of the muscles is changed. A common symptom of SCM TrPs is a "drunken" walk. Every TrP has perpetuating factors, and identifying these and controlling them will help you control the symptoms.

An active TrP not only hurts when it is pressed, like an FMS tender point, but it "triggers" a referred pain pattern locally or elsewhere in the body. This pain pattern is usually similar from patient to patient. These TrPs often produce other symptoms, also usually in the referred pain zone. Such a TrP hurts whenever you use the involved muscle. When the point becomes very active, symptoms occur even when the muscle is at rest. A "latent" TrP doesn't hurt at all, unless you press it. You might not even know it's there. It weakens and prevents full lengthening of the affected muscle. If you press on the TrP, it refers pain in its characteristic pattern. Latent TrPs may be activated by overstretching, overuse or chilling the muscle. People who get little exercise have a greater chance of developing latent points. This is important, because some people feel that by restricting their range of motion, they are getting rid of their TrPs. Nothing can be further from the truth. Physical stress isn't the only thing that can cause TrPs. Tension TrPs can occur. These are not psychological results of tension but are physiological biological affects of long-term emotional abuse or mental trauma. If you are constantly holding your muscles tight in a "fight-or-flight" stress response, this changes your body patterns. TrPs can be caused by a surgical incision, as is often the case with abdominal surgery. TrPs may form as a result of other medical conditions. A case of arthritis may be otherwise well managed, for example, but the accompanying TrPs are overlooked. The pain load of that patient could be substantially lessened if the secondary TrPs were treated successfully. Where muscles and tendons, bones and ligaments, come together, there are areas of attachment. Cellular membranes in these areas can become extremely convoluted, which increases the surface area and changes the angle of force. This increases the potential for adhesions and causes tissue there to become more easily torn (Simons, Travell and Simons, 1999). In these areas, Attachment TrPs (ATrPs) can develop.

When you have TrPs, muscle strength becomes unreliable. Your grip can fail. TrPs cause muscle weakness and dysfunction before they cause pain. You may have also noticed that if one part of your body rests over another, the compressed part goes numb. TrPs can cause restrictions to blood vessels, lymph vessels and nerves. Remember that these structures pass through the fascia. Other associated symptoms may include stiffness, muscle tightness, localized sweating, tearing, salivation, poor balance, irregular heart beat, dizziness, pelvic pain, diarrhea, impotence, nausea, tinnitus, goose bumps, runny nose, buckling knees, weak ankles, illegible handwriting, headaches and muscle cramps.
Chronic Myofascial Pain

If TrPs are treated immediately and vigorously, and perpetuating factors (conditions that aggravate and perpetuate the TrPs) are eliminated or controlled, TrPs can often be eliminated quickly. Unfortunately, if a TrP is left untreated or muscle action is restricted to avoid pain, the TrP usually becomes latent. If the muscle is pushed to work in spite of the pain, especially if perpetuating factors exist, active TrPs may develop secondary and satellite TrPs.

Secondary TrPs develop when a muscle is subject to stress because another muscle with a TrP isn't doing its job. Satellite TrPs develop when a muscle is in a referred pain zone of another TrP. Without proper intervention, and with perpetuating factors, the TrPs can lead to severe and widespread chronic myofascial pain (CMP). Developing secondary and satellite TrPs can give the false impression that CMP is a systemic condition that will steadily worsen with time - that it is progressive. CMP is not progressive. Body-wide TrPs, often in many layers of many muscles, can seem like FMS. With proper and timely intervention, these TrPs can be broken up and eliminated. If chronic myofascial pain has persisted for some time, you may have fibrotic muscles and/or calcified areas at the attachment points. This usually indicates multiple perpetuating factors, and it will take longer work and a lot of patience to regain function. Many people are living with incontinence, dizziness, muscle weakness, IBS, and avoiding activities (including sex) because they have TrPs that are unrecognized and untreated. So much misery and unnecessary health-care cost could be prevented by adequate training of medical care professionals.

FMS and CMP Together

FMS and CMP are different conditions. However, the vast majority of physicians lump them together because they see so many patients who have both. They are treated differently, however, and the difference is important. Unless doctors have a thorough knowledge of and familiarity with individual TrPs, they can't sort out the symptoms easily. It is also difficult to treat the individual TrPs without knowing the pain patterns. They must also be identified because certain postures and body movements, or mechanical inequalities, may be the perpetuating factors. Certain TrPs may develop if you fail to change your gaze enough (especially if you work at a computer screen), and you may simply need to do eye exercises every day to stop those killing headaches. Or you may need the focal length changed on your glasses or the glare removed from your computer screen. Your work station may be ergonomic, but you may be lying on a sofa watching TV at night and your posture may be causing TrPs along the spine.

One interesting difference between the two conditions is that more women than men have FMS, but CMP affects men and women in equal numbers. Another difference is that muscles in locations that are some distance from the TrPs of CMP have normal sensitivity. In FMS, there is a generalized sensitivity. With FMS, you and your care providers need to reduce unnecessary and confusing stimuli. With CMP, you need to identify the specific TrPs and treat them with specific TrP therapy. With both conditions, the key to successful treatment is identifying and controlling or eliminating perpetuating factors. This may involve changing to a healthy diet and avoiding excess carbohydrates, adding vitamin and mineral supplements, regaining restorative sleep (which may need no more than adding Benadryl at night, or may be much more complex), and adding some gentle exercise and stress-removing activities. Deleting unhealthy habits such as smoking can make a world of difference.

People with both FMS and CMP face more than just the two sets of symptoms of both conditions. Today, more researchers are realizing that FMS and CMP not only occur together, they reinforce each other. FMS and CMP can interact. The many different autonomic symptoms and proprioceptor dysfunctions associated with TrPs can be amplified by FMS. The research by Dr. Roland Staud and others indicates that pain from localized TrPs can perpetuate the central sensitization of FMS. Physical therapy and all other forms of treatment must proceed very carefully when both of these conditions are involved, because any excess pain caused by the therapy can further sensitize the central nervous system. Any treatment regimen will be both more complicated and less successful than if the patient had only one of the two conditions.

Furthermore, some of the treatments normally prescribed for FMS patients can cause damage to CMP patients, and the reverse is also true. You cannot strengthen a muscle that has a TrP, because the muscle is already physiologically contracted, for example. Too many physical therapists see a weakened muscle and immediately attempt to strengthen it without testing for the presence of TrPs. Attempts at strengthening a muscle with TrPs will only cause the TrPs to worsen and may develop satellites and secondaries. In the context of FMS, many different neurotransmitters are affected to different degrees and in different combinations in each patient. Other biochemicals in the body are also affected to different degrees. Various hormones may be involved. Histamine (a neurotransmitter), for example, is often an important factor when there are many allergic manifestations. The possible combinations are endless, so this is no place for a doctor who practices "cookbook" medicine, especially when you figure in the possible combinations of TrPs.

A lot can be done to relieve FMS and CMP, lighten the symptom load and return at least some of your function. Much of this is under your control. It's important for you to take on the responsibility of managing your own treatment. The resources are available for you. It isn't easy, and it takes concentrated focus to change the habits of a lifetime. Getting as well as possible - optimizing your quality of life - takes commitment and patience. You didn't get where you are overnight, and there are no quick fixes. One of your best hopes in the challenge to regain function and well-being is education, both yours and your medical care team. This website is dedicated to providing both.
 
Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070107/ts_nm/drugs_fibromyalgia_dc

Drugs nearing approval for mysterious pain condition

By Lewis Krauskopf Sun Jan 7, 11:03 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Not all doctors are sure about the pain and fatigue condition known as fibromyalgia, but drug companies are racing to win U.S. regulatory approval to serve this potentially lucrative market.

The sometimes-debilitating disorder afflicts an estimated 2 percent to 4 percent of Americans, mainly women.

But diagnosing fibromyalgia is not easy because its cause remains unknown and its symptoms, which also include depression, can overlap with other conditions.

With no test to confirm fibromyalgia, doctors rely on patient complaints of symptoms and subjective responses to physical exams. As a result, some physicians are wary of viewing it as a distinct ailment.

Still, a who's who of pharmaceutical companies -- including Pfizer Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Forest Laboratories Inc. and Wyeth -- are looking to seize on a market now dominated by older anti-depressants as well as painkillers and other drugs.

"What they're thinking is: This has a huge, untapped, unmet need," said Maria Marzilli, an associate analyst with market research firm Decision Resources.

Decision Resources expects sales for drugs used for fibromyalgia to roughly triple to at least $1 billion by 2014.

The companies are vying for the first clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a fibromyalgia treatment, which could occur as soon as 2008.

Doctors can prescribe medicines for fibromyalgia even though the drugs are not cleared specifically for it. However, without FDA approval, companies cannot promote the drugs as treatments for that condition.

Therefore, even though doctors already may be prescribing Pfizer's Lyrica and Lilly's Cymbalta for fibromyalgia, positive clinical data and U.S. regulatory approval for that use could jump-start sales.

"This is a nice way to tack on $200 to $300 million more in sales," Marzilli said.

VALIDATION

An FDA approval could also quell doubts about the disorder's legitimacy, while paving the way for companies to promote medicines specifically for fibromyalgia. To be sure, doctors and consumers will hear more about the condition as the drug makers rev up their powerful marketing engines, possibly sparking more widespread diagnosis.

"If the FDA approved a drug for fibromyalgia, that would really give the field validity," said Richard Harris, a molecular biologist and research investigator at the University of Michigan who recently published a data review of fibromyalgia.

In most cases, the companies are conducting clinical trials in fibromyalgia for drugs already approved for other conditions. Lilly, Forest and Wyeth have said they are testing anti-depressants that regulate two brain transmitters, serotonin and norepinephrine. Pfizer is testing a drug cleared for epileptic seizures and neuropathic pain.

As classified by the American College of Rheumatology in 1990, a fibromyalgia diagnosis involves a patient feeling muscle tenderness in at least 11 of 18 predetermined sites on the body, with the pain spread throughout the body.

Fibromyalgia patients also tend to tire easily, struggle to sleep and have trouble remembering things, a problem referred to as "fibro fog."

But patients often receive other diagnoses before their doctors decide they have fibromyalgia.

Lynne Matallana, founder and president of the Orange, California-based National Fibromyalgia Association, was an advertising executive and avid skier and bicyclist in the early 1990s until she began experiencing widespread pain and fatigue that left her bedridden.

She said she had seen 37 doctors and received diagnoses of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and depression before a physician finally identified her condition as fibromyalgia.

"It's devastating because it is totally life-altering, and many, many, many people find themselves in this situation," Matallana said. She added that she gradually improved through exercise, meditation and medication.

REVIEW RESULTS

In their review, Harris and a colleague at the University of Michigan reported evidence of increased neurological responses to pain, indicating that the central nervous system of a fibromyalgia patient processes pain differently.

Traumatic events -- such as a car accident -- may trigger the condition. Matallana said her fibromyalgia flared up after she underwent surgery for another ailment.

"I think that some physicians do believe that fibromyalgia isn't a real condition, and our job to spread the word that there are objective findings that these people are in pain," Harris said.

But Dr. Scott Zashin, a rheumatologist in private practice in Dallas, says fibromyalgia is one of the more common conditions he sees.

Zashin says he usually tries to get fibromyalgia patients to exercise more or get more rest before turning to medication.

"These patients seem to have an increased sensitivity to pain," Zashin said. "Something in their makeup makes them experience pain differently."
 
Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

I have fibromyalgia, along with some other conditions. I cannot help but think that these new/old medications are simply to make money for the pharmaceutical companies. As I read this article, I can just see the drooling going on by these companies as they count the larger amount of drugs they can sell, which, of course means more profits. After all, it's all about the money. I would dare guess that actually finding out if these drugs really do help people is far from their reasons for wanting to get these drugs sanctioned for fibrymyalgia sufferers.

Case in point:

"What they're thinking is: This has a huge, untapped, unmet need," said Maria Marzilli, an associate analyst with market research firm Decision Resources.

Decision Resources expects sales for drugs used for fibromyalgia to roughly triple to at least $1 billion by 2014.

"This is a nice way to tack on $200 to $300 million more in sales," Marzilli said.
Because of the aforementioned "other conditions", I am on, what I think, is quite enough meds already. I hate taking pills, which my new doctor is aware of, and she is gearing me up to try to get off a little more of them this spring after the cold/flu season is over.

Speaking of cold/flu season, my doctors have tried over and over to get me to take a flu shot, which I doggedly refuse, and I tell them why. It doesn't make them question the validity of the shots, or it seems that way to me; but I figure that if they keep harping at me to take the shot, they can just listen to why I won't.

But, anyway, I am rather suspicious of any great drugs for fibromyalgia. Especially if they are anti-depressants.

Just the way I feel about it right now. Although, the fibromyalgia makes me rather disagreeable at times. :P
 
Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

I have fibromyalgia, yet I've always had an enormously high tolerance of pain... a knife (I was a chef, and an avocado pit was unreasonably hard, lol) stabbed completely through my hand once, and not only did I not even flinch, but I pulled the blade out, bandaged my own hand and continued working... had to do it all myself because everyone else in the kitchen had been incapacitated by the mere sight of it. So I've never accepted the "higher sensitivity to and lower tolerance of pain" explanation for fibromyalgia. Whatever it is, it isn't located in the pain centers of the brain, nor are all of us a pack of simpering, whining wusses who scream at paper cuts.

As for the medications they've wanted me to take over the years... well, I'd rather have the occasional FM brain fog and transcend the pain than live in an antidepressant/neuronarcotic cloud constantly.
 
Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!



In reading this post it seem to me that there may be a connection to magnesium deficiency and the issue with toxic waste build-up in the myofascial tissue.

From: http://www(dot)fibromyalgiatreatment.com/
"When muscles are in a state of sustained tension, they are working, even if you're not. A working muscle needs more nutrition and oxygen, and produces more waste, than a muscle at rest. This creates an area in the myofascia starved for food and oxygen and loaded with toxic waste -"


From:http://www(dot)worldwidehealthcenter.net/articles-358.html
The ratio of calcium to magnesium is vital for cell membranes and the BBB (Blood Brain Barrier).

In response to Magnesium Treatments Dr. Gary Gordon wrote to his doctors, “If you have compromised cell membranes or low ATP (adenosine triphosphate) production for any reason, then the cell has trouble maintaining the normal gradient. This is because the usual gradient is 10,000 times more calcium outside of cells than inside; when this is compromised you will have Increased intracellular calcium, which seems to always happen at the time of death. Whenever intracellular calcium is elevated, you have a relative deficiency of magnesium, so whenever anyone is seriously ill, acute or chronic, part of your plan must be to restore magnesium,....�


Just a lucky guess, I found a comprehensive article linking fibromyalgia to magnesium deficiency. But my guess was probably not exactly in line with the real scientific reason.
http://stuff.mit.edu/people/london/magnesium.html
The Role of Magnesium in Fibromyalgia
An investigatory paper by Mark London
John A. Hutchinson

"Unthinking faith is a curious offering to be made to the creator of the human mind".
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

Canadian medical science professor, Donald Scott, became involved in researching CFS/Fibromyalgia when a woman, a teacher, came to him who had been denied medical treatment for the condition. She, like so many others, was told that the symptoms were all in her head and was treated by her school board as a malingerer.

What Scott discovered has consumed a great deal of his time since. A few years ago, Nexus Magazine ran a story that was my introduction to Scott's work. It is an overview of what he had learned. His books go into much greater detail than this brief article and have been discussed here in another thread. Here is the Nexus article:

_http://web.archive.org/web/20071227095714/http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/mycoplasma.html

I have always tried to exercise elevated discernment when reading material sourced from Nexus, but I have come to the conclusion that Scott's work is likely sincere and accurate.

There is much evidence available about the mycoplasma infections that would indicate they did not develop in nature, at least not in the form that is causing so much suffering today.
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

Donald Scott's article was on sott a while ago

Mycoplasma

I remember that after reading it, i just felt so sad and angry for what is done to the people of this world. :cry: :curse:
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

Lately a lot of researcher / sincere / doctor found out about Vitamin D can be a solution for fybromyalgia.

We are so deficient in Vitamin D, the lack of sun, especially in North America and Northen Europe.
I was working for a little company and I was collecting articles and researches about Vitamin D.
Until FDA shut us down. Why? Because people started to having good results, people with, arthritis, chronic pain, osteoporosis, and fybromyalgia.
The news went fast and FDA can't let people get healed by just pointing at a simple vitamin deficiency!
I take at least Vitamin D 2000- 3000 International Unit a day. Sometimes more.
The FDA claims 400 International Unit/ day.
This is just preventing to developing rickets.
Since I 'm taking Vitamin D, I did not have even a single cold!
Helps the strength for the immune system.
About overdose : myth, not true!
A Canadian doctor had this patient in the hospital and he found out his wife tried to kill him with Vitamin D.
They were living in a dairy farm and as a milk provider had Vitamin D in the house.
His wife put the vitamin in the sugarcane, and the doctor realized this farmer took 1.000.000 International Unit
A DAY!!!
But he had some diarrhea and stomachache .
A couple of days later he went home and lives happily ever after!
And his wife sitting behind bars / hopefully /.
I recommend Vitamin D for everybody, because we need it!
We helped for a bunch of people and I hope helps for You, too!
It helped for me, and my husband, he had before lower back pain.
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

Then, of course, there is the Magnesium cure! And what about candida? Both could be implicated in Fibromyalgia. See the threads on those topics. I suspect that detoxing from heavy metals might go a long way toward "curing" fibromyalgia!
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!


Mrs. Mountain Crown said:
Lately a lot of researcher / sincere / doctor found out about Vitamin D can be a solution for fybromyalgia.

We are so deficient in Vitamin D, the lack of sun, especially in North America and Northen Europe.
I was working for a little company and I was collecting articles and researches about Vitamin D.
Until FDA shut us down. Why? Because people started to having good results, people with, arthritis, chronic pain, osteoporosis, and fybromyalgia.

Mass doses of vitamin-D (a steroid) may very well aleviate symptoms by turning off the production of antimicrobial peptides. When this happens you actually are suppressing the immune system. When AMP's are no longer killing bacteria, the by-products - cytokines and toxins that cause inflamation stop. Aches and pains subside, the host feels so much better. But the killers inside your body are being allowed to flourish.

Here's another take on Vitamin-D from some of the latest molecular biological research in the last decade or so.

The Truth About Vitamin D: Fourteen Reasons Why Misunderstanding Endures, Author: Amy Proal

The Truth About Vitamin D] [b][color=#0000AA]The Vitamin D Receptor also directly controls the expression of many of the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).[8][9][17][14] The AMPs are proteins that kill bacteria said:
The news went fast and FDA can't let people get healed by just pointing at a simple vitamin deficiency!

I take at least Vitamin D 2000- 3000 International Unit a day. Sometimes more.
The FDA claims 400 International Unit/ day.
This is just preventing to developing rickets.

And here is some of the latest studies on rickets and faulty research involving vitamin-D steroid.

Vitamin D deficiency does not cause rickets.


Since I 'm taking Vitamin D, I did not have even a single cold!
Helps the strength for the immune system.
About overdose : myth, not true!
A Canadian doctor had this patient in the hospital and he found out his wife tried to kill him with Vitamin D.
They were living in a dairy farm and as a milk provider had Vitamin D in the house.
His wife put the vitamin in the sugarcane, and the doctor realized this farmer took 1.000.000 International Unit
A DAY!!!
But he had some diarrhea and stomachache .
A couple of days later he went home and lives happily ever after!
And his wife sitting behind bars / hopefully /.
I recommend Vitamin D for everybody, because we need it!
We helped for a bunch of people and I hope helps for You, too!
It helped for me, and my husband, he had before lower back pain.

And as Laura mentioned:

Laura said:
"Then, of course, there is the Magnesium cure! And what about candida? Both could be implicated in Fibromyalgia. See the threads on those topics. I suspect that detoxing from heavy metals might go a long way toward "curing" fibromyalgia!"

The immune system and its problems seem to be "not" what we have been led to believe for years and years. The role of Vitamin-D, or Steroid-D, which is very important when the underlying mechanisms are better understood, seems to require a better understanding of what is really going on with the Vitamin-D receptors and how they are turned on and off. The aches and pains and chronic illnesses seem to be a sign of the toxic by-products of parasitic die off (bacterial, fungal [candida], leaky gut allowing mollecular food alergens into the body), all causing inflamation at the cellular level. Add to this the heavy metals toxicity.

I would really recommend reading the Vitamin-D links. Even sunlight producing vitamin-D can be counter productive - turning off AMP's, thus relieving symptoms from toxic die off. All the while nothing is being done to assist the body in getting rid of the underlying causes - bacteria and fungal parasites.
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

Just found this:

The Annals of Pharmacotherapy (2001): Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 702-706

Relief of fibromyalgia symptoms following discontinuation of dietary excitotoxins

JD Smith, CM Terpening, SO Schmidt, and JG Gums

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia is a common rheumatologic disorder that is often difficult to treat effectively. CASE SUMMARY: Four patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome for two to 17 years are described. All had undergone multiple treatment modalities with limited success. All had complete, or nearly complete, resolution of their symptoms within months after eliminating monosodium glutamate (MSG) or MSG plus aspartame from their diet. All patients were women with multiple comorbidities prior to elimination of MSG. All have had recurrence of symptoms whenever MSG is ingested. DISCUSSION: Excitotoxins are molecules, such as MSG and aspartate, that act as excitatory neurotransmitters, and can lead to neurotoxicity when used in excess. We propose that these four patients may represent a subset of fibromyalgia syndrome that is induced or exacerbated by excitotoxins or, alternatively, may comprise an excitotoxin syndrome that is similar to fibromyalgia. We suggest that identification of similar patients and research with larger numbers of patients must be performed before definitive conclusions can be made. CONCLUSIONS: The elimination of MSG and other excitotoxins from the diets of patients with fibromyalgia offers a benign treatment option that has the potential for dramatic results in a subset of patients.

http://www.theannals.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/6/702

I guess that nobody on this board takes
monosodium glutamate or aspartame anyway...
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

We've been experimenting and have come up with a better version of our detox program that is supposed to deal with heavy metals and candida. By dealing with these two issues, it seems that issues such as fibromyalgia, CFS, IBS, congestive heart failure, auto-immune problems such as arthritis, and so on, really improve.

Here is the streamlined plan we have been perfecting:

Morning:
Take probiotics first. Get a good one, enteric coated. Take one or two.

Then make Shake consisting of:
Berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, mix, etc. I buy them
frozen and keep a variety in the freezer. You can use them frozen or warmed
up. I warm mine up in the nuker.)
Alternative milk (oat, rice, almond - if you tolerate dairy well (blood type
B) then you can use milk)
1 TBSP Vit C powder - we get it in 1 pound containers from NOW foods)
1 TBSP Spirulina or Chlorella (we get it in 4 pound containers from NOW
foods)
1 TBSP Flax seed oil (we buy this from a livestock feed supplier in a five
liter container. If it is good enough for horses, it's good enough for us.)
Stevia if wanted - and you probably will want it. I use about 5 drops

Blend and drink with:
two capsules Alpha Lipoic Acid
1 capsule reduced Glutathione,
one tablet high potency B vitamins,
high potency mineral supplement (which is usually three capsules but depends
on which product you buy),
and one or two dimagnesium malate or magnesium citrate ( You need 6 to 10 mg
MG per kilo of bodyweight per day. If your bowels get too loose, back the
magnesium down a tad until everything is flowing smoothly, but not too
loose.)

If you want to eat breakfast in addition to the shake, look at the menus in
the "Fat Resistance Diet" book. I usually have some eggs (don't break the
yolks while cooking) and quinoa crackers and/or brown rice or lentils or
some other cooked dried beans or, if you can tolerate dairy, have nuts and
yogurt. I love bacon, so I allow myself a couple slices once a week or a
thin slice of ham.

Nuts for snacks. Mainly walnuts, almonds, pecans. You can have peanuts if
you tolerate them (check your blood type) and cashews, salted, roasted,
whatever. Some authors are picky about it, but I'm not worrying too much
since the objective is to get omega 3 oils and magnesium, both of which are
in nuts.

Lunch and/or dinner
Just have a good anti-inflammatory meal - vegetables mainly, cooked dried
beans, brown rice, meat if wanted, no cheese but if you tolerate dairy, you
can have yogurt.

No fruits except berries.

After dinner, about an hour before your shower, spray magnesium dissolved in
distilled water on your stomach, legs, arms, etc. (You can use the
"magnesium oil" that is sold on the net, but it is pricey. Prolly better to
get some pure magnesium chloride and mix with distilled water and spray it
on. It absorbs in about half an hour, so you can bathe an hour later and
not lose the benefit. It does tend to be sticky if you use the magic oil.)

Before Bed
2 Phosphatidyl Choline
2 Vitamin E (400 mg each)
Fish Oil/Omega 3 oils - take 6 to 10 of these, mix 'em up if you like. I
take 6 cod liver oil and 2 big salmon oil)
Evening Primrose Oil - 1200 mg
Magnesium Taurate - I take a couple of these.
B 6 - 1
5 HTP - 1
GABA - 1 or 2

If you are going to work out or do sauna therapy. This is only for hard-
core detoxing for those who have health issues. If you don't work out or do
sauna, skip this. It will just take longer to detox.


Before Sauna or Gym Work-out 3 or 4 days a week

50 - 100 mg niacin
1 or 2 capsule digestive enzymes
Multi-mineral (determine dose by strength)
High potency Zinc
High potency Magnesium citrate, orotate, malate, or taurate
After one month of work outs/sauna start adding 2 calcium tablets to the mix

After Sauna or Gym Work Out
Vitamin C - high dose
Lipoic Acid - couple of capsules
Glutathione - follow directions
Potassium
Selenium

For SERIOUS HARD CORE detoxing:

Mondays and Thursdays
Coffee enema

For your eating pleasure:


You'll want to have a really good pressure cooker as part of your main
culinary equipment. Get rid of plastics, teflon. Use stainless steel
and/or iron cookware, glass storage dishes or wide-mouth jars.

Never bring anything with gluten (wheat) or sugar or alcohol into the house.
You won't miss it, believe me.

Here's a basic shopping list.

A variety of dried peas and beans in large quantities.

Lots of Lentils.

Brown rice.

Whole rice flour.

Quinoa.
Millet

Gluten free crackers of several varieties.

Stevia.

Lots of frozen vegetables - whatever you like - the more colorful, the
better. Get big packages and
cook big batches to store in the fridge to mix and match for meals with the
big batches of dried beans or peas that you keep in the fridge too.

Also fresh veggies if wanted and you feel like
preparing them.

Cabbage for cooked cabbage and slaw.

Carrots.

Onions.

Garlic.

Plenty of good quality hamburger (fresh and/or frozen) for the beef eaters
though you will want to eat it only once or twice a week.

Plenty of chicken and turkey for the poultry eaters though, again, only eat
three or four times a week.

Fish, scallops, etc... which you can eat almost every day. Try to have a
few meals a week that exclude meat or fish. If possible, have a day of
just veggies, brown rice, and dried peas or beans and nuts and berries.

Canned tomatoes. (crushed, whole, puree, paste)

Canned tuna - try to get one that is known to have less mercury

Canned sardines and or mackerel.

Lots of nuts, different kinds.

Plain yogurt (if you tolerate dairy)
Buttermilk (if you tolerate dairy).

Lots of frozen berries.

Lots of almond milk, oat milk, rice milk if you do not tolerate dairy.
That's everybody except type B.

Oatmeal. Try to get natural, unprocessed. In fact, try to get natural
unprocessed everything if possible!

Butter - no margerine EVER. No hydrogenated vegetable oils EVER.

Eggs. Free range eggs are easily available here and our own chickens are
laying now, so we have fresh eggs every day.

If you really gotta have bacon - try to get it without chemicals.

Salad makings.- fresh vegetables in season or as wanted.

Squash and pumpkins - zucchini, etc. Try to get organic.

Apple cider vinegar.

Kosher dill pickles if wanted. No other kind.

Lots of Olive Oil. Never buy "vegetable oil" again. You can also get nut
oils, sesame oil and my favorite: Grape Seed Oil. This is easily obtained
here in the land of lotsa grapes.

I use grape seed oil to make mayonnaise.

Lemons.

Some gluten free pasta for occasional pasta dishes.

Ricotta and mozzarella - the only allowed cheeses, to be used sparingly.

Cream.


Now, here are some rules of thumb:

Try to eat mostly vegetables - fresh, cooked, raw, whatever. We have
salads, stir fried, steamed, cole slaw, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, beets,
squash, collards, spinach, bok choy etc. We have a vegetable or two or
three at every meal sometimes even including breakfast. Tomatoes are great with eggs.

Next most frequent food: cooked dried peas/beans or lentils. We have
peas/beans or lentils (sometimes both) at almost every meal, sometimes even including breakfast.
Eggs are good with lentils.

Next, cold water fish like cod or salmon. You can eat fish every day if
you like, but we usually eat it two or three times a week. Scallops are
high in omega 3 oils too - and shrimp and oysters when available. If you
don't tolerate shellfish, exclude them.

Next, Turkey and/or chicken. Preferably natural with no evil chemicals in
them. Eat three or four times a week. This can be prepared in a lot of
ways: chicken soup (with rice noodles or brown rice) or coated in ground
walnuts and fried in grapeseed oil, or grilled on a salad, or stuffed with
spinach and baked, or baked with herbs, or with tomato sauce on them... etc.

Beef: a couple times a week - preferably range beef. You can have it in
pasta sauce, in a stew made with chickpeas and onions and tomatoes, steak,
grilled, roasted, etc. Just no potatoes and no bread.

Have pasta only when you really think you gotta have it - maybe once a week.

Have bacon only when you gotta - once or twice a week at most.

Mix and match stuff around.

Always keep at least two kinds of cooked dried peas or beans in stock in the
fridge. Same with a big bowl of brown rice. This is what the pressure
cooker is for. They cook in about 30 minutes in one of those. Same with
vegetables. (Having them in the fridge, ready to eat, that is, not cooked in
the pressure cooker.) We try to keep collards, green beans, bok choy and cooked beets
in the fridge. I don't know if beets are as fresh and easily available
there as they are here. If not, just get a bunch of cans of them, plain, no
sugar or additives.

Sample menu:

Breakfast
If I want something more than my shake (not often)
I have two eggs and either a few quinoa crackers, or cooked quinoa
with butter, or some brown rice fried in butter with maybe some sliced
tomato. I may also have the eggs with lentils and butter. About once a
week, I have oatmeal with butter, stevia and cream on it. About once a week
I have bacon with my eggs and quinoa or millet flakes.

Lunch and dinner: Lentils and/or black-eyed peas and brown rice with a bit
of chopped onion and vinegar on it. Maybe a turkey or chicken breast, or a
hamburger if I want it. Maybe a salad with grilled chicken with olive oil
and vinegar and/or mayonnaise on it. Maybe some green beans cooked with
onions and garlic (usually keep a big dish of these in the fridge to just
warm up). Maybe a hamburger chopped up and fried with some brown rice and a
vegetable on the side. Maybe carrot soup with lentils and quinoa crackers.

You can buy big batches of carrots, peel and boil with minimal water. Then
use an immersion blender to turn it to soup. With a bit of butter, salt,
pepper, garlic, cumin and coriander, this is great. Then, pour it into
little freezer containers when it is cool and freeze it in meal size
portions.

You can also cook big pots of beans and put some in the fridge for a couple
of days, and put the rest in containers in the freezer to defrost and eat as
needed.

Maybe scallops and bok choy stir fried in grape seed oil. That's the
general idea. Mix and match stuff.

The other night we had green beans, lentils, a nice beef stew made with
chick peas, beef, onions, canned tomatoes. You can season liberally with
garlic, salt and pepper. To reduce acidity of canned tomatoes, grate a
carrot into them while cooking.

Tonight we had baked salmon (just salt, pepper and garlic on it) along with
cole slaw (made with a fresh batch of mayonnaise), spinach souffle, english peas.

One night, we may eat cabbage, onions and carrots stir fried in grape seed
or olive oil with a side of beans and brown rice.

Yesterday for lunch Ark and I had a bowl of carrot soup taken out of the
freezer with a side dish of brown rice and green beans that I took out of
the fridge and heated up together in a skillet with a bit of butter and
garlic.

For desserts (if you really gotta have one): defrost some berries in the
microwave and have with cream and stevia, or ricotta cheese. You can have
strawberries with whipped cream sweetened with Stevia. If you can tolerate dairy,
have yogurt with nuts and berries and stevia. But try to limit desserts to three times a
week or so.

For special occasions, I make chocolate mousse with Stevia and serve with
whipped cream with stevia.

We make cole slaw very often and keep a big bowl of it in the fridge. Just grate
a head of cabbage, one carrot and one onion. Toss together with a half cup of
olive oil and a couple tablespoons of cider vinegar. Salt, and pepper and garlic
powder to taste. Put lots of mayonnaise on and make it the right consistency
(creamy but not soupy), add a bit of stevia if wanted. Keep in the fridge.
It's great with fish and/or scallops.

I now make mayonnaise in large quantities. I use 8 to 10 egg yolks, the
same number of teaspoons of dijon mustard, same number of teaspoons of lemon
juice (fresh or bottled), salt, pepper, garlic powder. Start the mixer and
then begin to add the grape seed oil a little at a time until it is the
right consistency. (It needs to stand up when you take the mixer out of
it.) Do NOT use olive oil for mayonnaise unless you intend to eat it all
right away. It separates in the fridge and is a pain to recover the
emulsion.

You can then take the egg whites left after making mayonnaise and beat until
stiff. Fold in with four cups of lightly steamed spinach, 1 cup grated mozzarella,
1/2 cup mayonnaise, salt, pepper and garlic. put in casserole dish and bake
until lightly brown. Eat immediately with some mayonnaise on it! It's great with
scallops or fish or about anything!

You can have tuna salad on quinoa or rice crackers. You can eat sliced
tomatoes on these crackers with mayonnaise. You can use this mayonnaise
about any way you like because it has nothing evil in it and the oil is GOOD
for you.

Joe has developed a recipe for a fish batter that is out of this world. We
have it about once a week. Fried in grape seed oil and with seafood sauce.
I'll get him to share it.

Seafood sauce: 1/2 cup tomato puree; 1 small can tomato paste, garlic
powder, couple drops of stevia, teaspoon of vinegar, couple tablespoons
of pure grated horseradish. Mix and season with salt and pepper to taste.

This is also good with scallops. You can also make it as above with
mayonnaise and no tomato sauce.

Once every two weeks or so, have pasta - make sphagetti sauce with meat,
onions, garlic, basil, crushed tomatoes, zucchini chunks if wanted, grate a
carrot in there to de-acidify, and serve on rice or quinoa or spelt pasta.

Or, you can have bird nest pasta (rice or quinoa) with butter, garlic,
ricotta and mozzarella cheese - a variation of fettucini alfredo. This is
also good with scallops chopped up in it.

Fish can be baked with herbs and butter or dipped in ground nuts and baked
or fried. Same with chicken and turkey and veal. You can season the ground
nuts the same way you would season a flour coating mix for fried chicken.
Cook over low heat in grape seed oil. When I do veal, I pound it and dip in
egg and cream - very good imitation of vienerschnitzel. And a lot healthier.

I'm sure you will come up with some of your own inventions. Just try to
stick to the foods that are anti-inflammatory, anti-candida, and rich in
magnesium and omega 3 oils.

For our French members, cassoulet is totally in the diet! Duck is good and so
are haricot beans. Fresh Toulouse sausage is also okey once in awhile.
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

Great recipes Laura. Thanks.

One question: Where are you finding fresh horseradish (raifort) In France? I have been looking, to no avail, since I arrived and have finally had to settle on the English brand, Colman's Horseradish Sauce, which is available in most markets here for the English retirees (les ros bifs) in residence... but it is filled with many undesirable ingredients. At least with it I am able to make a passable seafood cocktail sauce, but the real deal would be so much better. Since we live in the same neighborhood, I am delighted that you have found a hopefully local source.

I am going to make up a batch of mayo, from your recipe, today. Will a blender work, instead of a mixer? My petite cuisine simply has no more storage space for any more culinary appliances, and I do not own a mixer, preferring, out of storage considerations, elbow grease and a whip or spoon for my mixing duties.

If I may, I'd like to add some food storage tips that I have developed out of necessity. I make batches of short grain brown rice and beans that are too large for me to consume quickly, so i usually freeze about half of any given batch, but I sometimes do not even eat the remainder in the fridge fast enough to out race spoilage from the growth of mold.

I began adding a small amount of colloidal silver to containers of stored beans, and mist spraying the CS onto batches of cooked brown rice. This greatly extends storage time by inhibiting bacterial and mold growth. I guess with that large ensemble of hungry folks around your place this might not be a problem for you, but it is helpful for those of us with smaller households.

Also, for unused portions of fresh vegetables like broccoli, parsley, cilantro, etc., cut a bit of the end of the stalks off, exposing fresh stem. Stand upright in a glass container (jars work fine) and add cool water with a bit of CS in it. This rehydrates the greens and greatly extends their storage life freshness in the refrigerator by inhibiting microbial critter growth. You'll need to check the water level in the jar regularly as the veggies will drink it, leaving exposed stems and dried out dead veggies.
 
Re: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sufferers Read!

It came as a gift from UK! Sorry to get your hopes up!
 
Scans Reveal Brain Abnormalities in Fibromyalgia Patients

Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay News
Mon, 03 Nov 2008

Researchers have detected abnormalities in the brains of people with fibromyalgia, a complex, chronic condition characterized by muscle pain and fatigue.

"We showed in our study that the functional abnormalities observed were mainly related to disability," and not to anxiety and depression status, said Dr. Eric Guedj, the study's lead author and a researcher at Centre Hospitalier-Universitaire de la Timone in France.

While some researchers have suggested that the pain reported by fibromyalgia patients was the result of depression, the new study suggests otherwise. The abnormalities found on brain scans done by the study authors were independent of the women's anxiety and depression levels, Guedj said.

The French researchers evaluated 20 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 10 healthy women without the condition who served as a control group. They asked all the women to respond to questionnaires to determine levels of pain, disability, anxiety and depression.

Then, the researchers performed brain imaging called single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT.

The imaging showed that women with the syndrome had "brain perfusion" -- or blood flow abnormalities -- compared to the healthy women. The researchers then found that these abnormalities were directly correlated with the severity of disease symptoms.

An increase in blood flow was found in the brain region known to discriminate pain intensity, the researchers found.

The findings were published in the November issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

An estimated 10 million Americans are thought to have fibromyalgia, the majority of them women, according to the National Fibromyalgia Association. They report a history of widespread pain in all four quadrants of the body for at least three months, and pain in at least 11 of 18 "tender points."

Besides pain, fibromyalgia symptoms include fatigue; problems with cognitive functioning, memory and concentration; difficulty sleeping; and stiffness.

The cause of fibromyalgia remains a mystery, according to the association, but it may occur following physical trauma such as an injury, experts say. Treatments focus on relieving symptoms and helping patients function.

In previous research, Guedj and his team had found functional abnormalities in areas of the brain of fibromyalgia patients. The latest study goes a step further, demonstrating that the brain abnormalities are correlated with disease severity, he said.

Dr. Patrick Wood, senior medical adviser for the National Fibromyalgia Association, said the new study provides "further evidence of an objective difference between patients with fibromyalgia and those who don't have the disorder." Wood reviewed the study results but was not involved with the research.

Other studies have found a correlation between brain abnormalities and fibromyalgia symptoms, Wood said, adding that the new study adds more evidence and information on how the abnormalities affect patients.

SOURCES: Eric Guedj, M.D., researcher, Centre Hospitalier-Universitaire de la Timone, Marseille, France; Patrick Wood, M.D., senior medical adviser, National Fibromyalgia Association, chief medical officer, Angler Biomedical, Rockville, Md.; November 2008,The Journal of Nuclear Medicine
 
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