By Kathlene R. Amerine
If you have it, you know it!
Fibromyalgia does not mess around—your body hurts! You hurt like you have the flu—every day and every day!
Fibromyalgia is linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Usually Fibro patients suffer from fatigue. They also are visited with headaches, depression and anxiety. Along with the muscle aches, Fibromyalgia also causes pain and stiffness often beginning in the neck and shoulders. It then spreads around the body over a period of months. It comes upon you suddenly and can attack you during stress and trauma. My own case came upon me when I had a stressful year of family crises to deal with. During this time, I would go to bed, and get up in the morning more exhausted than when I went to sleep! I would hurt, in the 14 places that are known as Fibromyalgia’s “trigger points of pain”. My shoulders, my kneecaps, my buttocks muscles, my hips, my elbows—as I stood in the shower, letting the steamy hot water flow over my pain, I would cry, I hurt so badly!
I didn’t know what I was experiencing, what affliction I had—the name “Fibromyalgia’ came to me as a ‘spoken word’ in the middle of the night. I was actually waked up and heard the name in my head! I had never heard of it before, and the next morning, I researched it online. Yes, I fit all the criteria for the malady. This is what I was experiencing, and the very worst conclusion was, that there is no cure—I would have this pain all my life!
A total listing of body complaints accompanied by the muscle symptoms, are given below. These complaints can suddenly appear, then as suddenly disappear. Then further along in time, another complaint can surge thru the body. It is like the complaint picks a new spot to reside in!
· Anxiety (mentioned above)
· Bladder trouble
· Depression (mentioned above)
· Dry eyes and mouth
· Fatigue
· Headaches (mentioned above)
· Insomnia or other sleep disturbances
· Irritable bowel syndrome
· Raynaud’s syndrome where tips of fingers become white and numb in cold weather
· Swollen joints
· Tingling, prickling and or numbness
The hardest complaint to deal with, I think, is the insomnia or the sleep disturbances. You can go to bed hurting, and think “maybe I will feel better in the morning after I have gotten a good nights’ sleep” only to wake up still hurting and you are as tired as you were when you went to bed! Your painful affliction does not let you get your deep sleep. You are constantly tossing, waking up, turning over, dozing off, only to start the cycle all over again. I would feel like I had been used as a punching bag during the night, hurting all over.
Since I came to know what I have, I have met literally
dozens of friends and acquaintances
who have told me they suffer with Fibro! Strangely, there are no outer changes in our being, we look healthy on the outside, others can not see the pain going on in our bodies because Fibro-patients do not complain to others about their pain—they suffer with it mostly in silence.
Some patients have lower levels of pain than others; some have it so extreme that there is total body dysfunction. My niece’s brother-in-law suffers so greatly and pin-points when his Fibro kicked in—he was in an auto accident, and laid on a gurney in an ER room for four hours awaiting his turn to access his injury—he physically never was relieved of pain—Fibromyalgia was hovering within this accident victim’s body and it had found another trauma patient.
A friend at my church cannot get up before noon; she hurts so badly, and sleeps so fitfully! However, with pain relievers, she does hold down a full time job. Many Fibro-patients cannot work because of the chronic fatigue that envelops them. Doing just one household chore exhausts you to pieces, and you must sit or lay down to recuperate your energy! That is where I am. I quickly become exhausted. I do not work outside my home. Instead, my computer has been
my ”out-source for in-come.”
Dr. Zuzana Bic, a preventative care specialist and doctor of public health at UCI Medical Center in Orange, California uses integrated lifestyle management, which means medicine, exercise programs, and stress reduction. She contends that the same lifestyles trigger both Fibromyalgia and migraine headaches.
Her theology is that the basic lifestyle factors of high dietary fat and high sugar intake, mostly refined and processed foods, low intake of fruit vegetables, grains, high intake of caffeine, not enough water intake, sedentary lifestyle, high amount of stress and obesity are risk factors for Fibromyalgia. These seemingly unrelated factors have an actual common denominator—the level of fat in the blood, i.e. high cholesterol, trigylcerides and fatty acids.
Dr. Bic sites that more women than men suffer from fibro with the average age from 45 to 55.
She reports that the best “medicine” for Fibro is a combination of better nutrition, exercise and stress reduction. Each should be a part of the treatment, because in doing only one component, a patient won’t get the best results. Fibro-sufferers have a low level of serotonin, and proper eating can modify the serotonin level. A low serotonin level allows the body to become depressed. For example eating food high in amounts of B complex vitamins and tryptophan, found in black beans and watermelon seeds, can help to synthesize serotonin in the body helping relieve this depression.
Another component body hormone connected with serotonin and tryptophan is melatonin. A low level of melatonin also creates sleep problems. Reducing the levels of high dietary fat is a link between Fibro pain and migraine headaches. Dr. Bic recommends decreasing the amount of dietary fat and improving the ratio between omega 6 and Omega 3 fats, and not using dehydrogenated oil. Omega 3 can be found in Flax Seed Oil, Canola Oil and fish. You must check labels to see if your food has been partially hydrogenated, which means the product has lost some of that beneficial Omega 3.
The activities that seem to help tolerate the Fibro are relaxation techniques, such as slow breathing, stretching, and meditation. Taking short walks can lead to stress reduction and change your perception to stressful situations. But beware, taking too much of any type of pain medication could eventually have some side effects for the body. For instance, using acetaminophen, best known by the Tylenol brand. A recent study and news release of people who take over 4000 mgs. daily of this pain reliever, could suffer from acute liver failure! Used correctly, its reputation is it is one of the safest painkillers.
However, the Fiibro-victim, to relieve himself or herself of the constant pain, could become a “pain pill popper”, unwittingly overdosing on this “safe pain reliever”, taking too many pills. They may not realize that acetaminophen is in hundreds of over-the-counter products, ie: Theraflu and Excedrin and the prescription narcotics Vicodin and Percocet all contain acetaminophen.
If we know that lifestyle modification will decrease the symptoms of Fibromyalgia, why shouldn’t we try them?
I want to thank you for the opportunity to share with you the story of this affliction and the benefits of integrated lifestyle management for prevention of pain and treatment of Fibromyalgia that Dr. Bic espouses. My daily regimen of Flax Seed Oil, Aloe-Vera Capsules, Ginkgo Baloba, COQ10, amino acid therapy and daily vitamins is my ritual. I also have a mattress topper made with the new visco-elastic foam. This helps my body to rest without pressure point pain. I take no pain pills unless I have a headache in the middle of the night. But I have found that using the correct pillow, one that supports the cervical structure of my neck, I have not had an early morning headache during the past month.
I do not over use my body energy. If I feel that I have been too active, I sit or lay down to rest. You must be kind to your body, and accept what you are going through. Anger about your affliction will only trigger more pain. I pray constantly to my Heavenly Father for strength and healing and I thank Him when I can do something that I wasn’t able to do yesterday, or the day before.
He hears my prayers, and I am doing so much better with this affliction than when it began in the year of our Lord, 1997. This is my prayer for you that with new knowledge and the aforementioned treatments, you will have less pain from Fybromyalgia!
© Copyright 2007 by Kathlene R. Amerine
Angel Touches Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved--International Copyright Secured
For additional up-to-date information links about how to
You can help yourself FIGHT your FIBROMYALGIA, to to:
http://www.linkbrander.com/go/48824
Other sources for help with Fibromyalgia can be found at
http://www.linkbrander.com/go/48823 or
http://www.linkbrander.com/go/48822
About the author: Kathlene Amerine is a freelance educational
writer devoted to finding helpful resources for visitors to
her website at: http://www.4you2prosper.com Sign up for her
Free NewsZine at Newszine-374@norabots.com