Sleep problems and pain

When people with FMS sleep they rarely reach the deep sleep stage, which is why they still feel exhausted. The worst sleep nights often lead to the most painful days. This is because the growth hormone that helps to heal troubled tissues is released during that critical stage of sleep - which FMS patients rarely achieve.

Fibromyalgia Tips -- 3/23/2007

Tissue over-growth

If you find that you are getting ingrown hair, fibroids or adhesions – or even heavy, splitting cuticles – then you are seeing the results of tissue overgrowth, which is a typical FMS symptom. Ingrown hairs can and need to be treated with antibiotics or lanced if infected. Adhesions can lead to a lot of discomfort, but corrective surgery can actually lead to even more adhesions. Modern laser surgery techniques like the laparoscopy have improved on this to some extent.

Fibromyalgia Tips -- 3/10/2007

Fluctuating body temperature

Unexplained, low-grade fever seems typical for people with fibro. Make a habit of taking and recording your temperature daily at a couple of different times. Many of us tend to have a regular body temperature that is abnormally low. This can mean that the standard "normal" temperature can feel like fever to you. If you typically read low, you want your doctor to understand this.

Fibro diagnosis

Disbelieving doctors

Many doctors simply refuse to believe that fibromyalgia exists, or instead use it as a catchall term for anyone with aches and pains that he or she is unable to diagnose. If you have been tested by your doctor, and haven´t got a diagnosis yet, or if your doctor blames your symptoms on depression, you may have one of the disbelievers. Try another doctor – preferably a rheumatologist – to get a genuine diagnosis.

How Fibromyalgia Happens

Researchers have been unable to determine the exact cause of fibromyalgia; however, there are a number of theories as to the possible cause. Neurochemical Imbalances It is believed that there is a faulty regulation of two neurochemicals of the central nervous system, namely substance P and serotonin. Substance P is a chemical that is responsible for amplifying pain signals in the body. Research has shown that some people with fibromyalgia have up to three times the normal level of substance P compared to someone who does not have fibromyalgia. This may lead to errors in pain processing. An example is when something that should not be painful, such as a hug or pat on the back, is perceived by your body as being painful. It’s not that you cannot tolerate pain, but rather that your body is sensing more pain than it actually should be. Serotonin is a chemical that is important for mood, sleep and pain. Researchers believe that serotonin is either in lower than normal amounts or is not being used properly by the body in people with fibromyalgia. Antidepressant medications such as fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline hydrochloride (Zoloft), and citalopram hydrobromide (Celexa) can help the body use serotonin more efficiently so that it can then help with mood, sleep and pain issues. Autonomic Nervous System Stress Response (HPA axis) The autonomic nervous system is that mechanism in the body that helps regulate all the “automatic functions,” such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and digestion. The autonomic nervous system also is responsible for controlling the stress response, often referred to as our “fight or flight” response. During a time of stress, the body secretes chemicals, such as adrenaline and cortisol, which help you remain alert in a time of stress to be able to deal with the stressor or escape it. Think of a time when you have been faced with a stressor. How did your body respond to that stress? Did you have an increased heart rate, fast and shallow breathing or did you ‘forget’ to breathe? Were your palms sweaty or did your stomach feel nauseous? These are just a few of the symptoms that can occur under a time of stress. Researchers have found that people with fibromyalgia either tend to run at a slightly higher than normal level of stress or may take a little longer to recover from a stressful event. You may not feel as though you are in a stressful situation. Dealing with chronic pain and fatigue on a daily basis, however, certainly is stressful. This ongoing stress can lead to changes in the brain that alter the way pain signals are processed, leading to increased sensitivity. Symptoms from stress can exaggerate the fibromyalgia symptoms. That is why stress management is a very important key in managing fibromyalgia symptoms. Sleep Problems Proper sleep is necessary to provide healing of the body as well as mental clarity and physical endurance. There are two very important types of sleep called NREM and REM. NREM stands for non-rapid eye movement sleep, or non-dream sleep, and is important for physical recovery of the body. There are several stages of NREM sleep with the deeper stages numbered 3 and 4, also known as delta sleep. REM sleep stands for rapid eye movement sleep, which is when dreams occur, and is important for our mental recovery. About 90% of people with fibromyalgia do not get into the deep restorative NREM sleep stages 3 and 4. It is during this “delta” sleep that the body secretes a growth hormone called somatomedin C. This chemical is important in adults because it is responsible for directing the repair of muscles. People normally experience micro muscle trauma just from moving around during the day. Muscle is normally restored with the help of somatomedin C secreted in the proper amounts. Your body secretes adequate amounts of growth hormone in two ways: 1) by getting into the deep stages of sleep, possibly with use of a proper medication, 2) by getting aerobic exercise which is directly related to the amount of growth hormone that is secreted. Genetics Researchers are continuing to study the possible role genetics may play in fibromyalgia. Article is from: The National Pain Foundation

.

Tip of the day! - 1/22/07

Get dressed - every day!

1/22/07

Don’t let yourself go just because you’re not getting out as much as you used to. Get dressed – every single day – in something nice - shoes and jewelry, and even make-up if you wear it. Not only does it give you a psychological boost, but being dressed makes it harder to just crawl back into bed for a nap. It’s too easy to lapse into slobbery when you’re not feeling well. And slopping around leads to a loss of self-respect and of self-esteem.

For more Fibromyalgia tips, visit http://Fibromyalgia.lifetips.com

Fibromyalgia Tips--An easy cleaning system

Fibromyalgia Tips

An easy cleaning system

The Fly Lady system for housecleaning calls for first eliminating all unnecessary clutter, then spending small 15 minutes chunks of time each day tending to problem spots. After 15 minutes, you rest. If you feel up to it, do another 15 minutes. Even on bad days, most of us can do anything for about 15 minutes. http://www.flylady.net will guide you through an easy system for maintaining a home with ease -- honest. Many people have tried it when they felt that their houses had gone beyond redemption and found that it really worked.

Weight Loss

I wanted to share with you that over the past 8-12 months I've lost weight and I've noticed a difference in the way I feel.

I've noticed less pain on my joints and a little bit more energy.

It's not because I was trying. It just happened.

So, if you can focus this year on becoming more healthy and eating better you might be able to lose weight and feel less pain.

I think maybe I've changed my diet a little to cause the weight change. I've been eating out less and eating at home more.

One of the other things I've read in my research is that we eat emotionally. Many find certain foods a comfort and eat those foods when they're stressed.

When you notice you're stressing and grabbing for your comfort food instead do some activity like walking or some other activity that you can handle.

You'll be happy you did!

Until next time!

Kimberly

Women and Pain: What a Pain!

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Women and Pain: What a Pain!

By Annette Kornblum

Childbirth, menstrual cramps, yeast infections.

Women experience pain in ways that no man can. They routinely report more chronic and severe sensory and emotional discomfort in more body parts than men do and experience more pain following injuries.

Even conditions that are not gender specific, such as irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, TMJ (temporomandibular joint) pain, urinary tract infections, arthritis, and fibromyalgia hit women harder, more often, and are less easily relieved than in men, according to Roger Fillingim, a professor of psychology at University of Florida in Gainesville.

Chronic pain, which partially or totally disables 50 million Americans, is a major public health problem in the United States, according to the American Pain Society.

Forty-five percent of all Americans seek care for persistent pain at some point in their lives. While some 36 million Americans missed work in the past year due to pain, women are 50 percent more likely to call in sick than men.

Pain: A Female Complaint?
While pain has long been considered a troublesome female complaint rather than a legitimate symptom that something physically is wrong, experts say the problem is not in a woman's head; it seems to be in her nerves as well.

In studies in which women and men are subjected to the same irritant, women usually give it a higher pain rating. In rat studies, females were more than twice as prone to develop nerve pain than the males.

Why is chronic pain more common in women? At a conference co-sponsored by the Society for Women's Health Research, Georgetown University Medical Center rheumatologist Daniel Claw said women are more sensitive to pain. Claw added that certain autoimmune disorders such as lupus and pain amplification syndromes turn up more frequently in women.

Pain hits women especially hard because of the insomnia, fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle atrophy, and depression that goes along with many such disorders, says James Campbell, a professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

For years scientists have debated the relative importance of brain function, genes, and hormones in causing contrasting pain sensations among men and women. "There is a definite need to better understand all the neurophysiological and psychosocial factors in how we experience pain," says Fillingim. Scientists believe the brain circuitry that regulates pain response and relief differs in women and women.

Women are Wired Differently
Women's hypersensitivity is partly because their brains are wired differently, says Jeffrey Mogil, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In research on mice and rats, Mogil and his colleagues implicated a sex-specific gene. The unidentified gene(s) in this region accounts for up to 25% of the trait difference seen in female mice but not males. They also pinpointed a region of a mouse chromosome that contains a gene affecting pain sensitivity only in males.

"More and more it looks like there's actually different systems in men and women...that the physiology must differ by a protein being involved in a neural circuit in one case and not in the other," Mogil says.

Women are more sensitive to the same sensations and less tolerant than males in part because brain chemistry ebbs and flows with the menstrual cycle. New evidence suggests that certain women patients who experience more severe premenstrual pain symptoms may be hypersensitive in other ways.

Fillingim was amazed by how many patients he treated for TMJ had experienced early, painful periods. "They were out of whack from puberty," Fillingim says.

Hormones Linked to Painful Disorders
Hormones have been linked to other painful disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia. With such conditions as migraines and TMJ, the prognosis doesn't necessarily improve with age.

A study published in the April 2001 issue of Pain suggests that hormone replacement therapy can actually aggravate TMJ even in healthy menopausal women who are subjected to provocation. "The women on HRT reported being more pain-sensitive than those who were not," says Fillingim, who headed the study.

"If a woman with osteoarthritis starts HRT and notices that her pain is getting worse, she should consider getting off the drug, taking a lower dose, or switching to another alternative to see if (it is) responsible," he says.

From arthritis to migraines, scientists are also finding sex differences in how men and women respond to the pain of common diseases and disorders:

• Arthritis: Daily logs kept by 71 arthritis patients showed that women experienced significantly more severe pain. According to Keefe, who was principal investigator on the project, women are also more likely to relax, air their emotions, seek distractions and emotional support to cope. "Men don't show their feelings and don't seek out assistance as readily as women. That may very well be what's going on in this case," Keefe says.
• Cardiac Disease: Premenopausal women have higher rates of false-positive chest pain syndromes, while postmenopausal women have relatively high rates of asymptomatic or silent heart disease, says Debra Judelson, MD, medical director of the Women's Heart Institute in Beverly Hills, Calif. and former president of the American Women's Medical Association. "Women are more likely to have high blood pressure and diabetes as complicating medical problems which can change the way they experience pain," Judelson says. "They also have more abdominal, shoulder, and neck pain, shortness of breath, back discomfort, vomiting, fatigue and nausea as opposed to chest discomfort seen in men." The bottom line: up to a 40 percent higher mortality rate in younger women under 50 with heart disease than men. "Whatever symptoms they experience are not recognized as a cardio problem in the emergency room, which contributes to delays in seeking help or getting treatment," Judelson adds.
• Migraine Headaches: Boys have more migraines than girls until puberty when hormones begin kicking in. Women are three times more likely to experience migraines than men beginning at puberty when hormone fluctuations kick in. They seem to strike whenever estrogen, the neurotransmitter serotonin, and beta endorphins are low. Several studies concluded that migraine in women of childbearing age dramatically boosts the risk of ischaemic, not haemorrhagic stroke. Women who use oral contraceptives, have high blood pressure, or smoke are at greatest risk of ischaemic stroke associated with migraine.

Opioids More Effective in Women
Scientists believe that learning about sex differences in pain may require rethinking how much medication to give people based on their sex. A 2001 study found that women patients with myocardial infarction (heart attack) were less likely than men to receive aspirin in the first hour of care than men.

Evidence suggests men and women respond differently to certain drugs, including analgesics used to treat pain. Campbell indicated that one study found that for back pain, male physicians prescribed higher doses of pain medication while female physicians upped pain medication for women. As the founder of the American Pain Society, Campbell urges more, not less, prescribing of painkillers to those in need.

Despite the fact that painful problems disproportionately strike women, the bright side is that a class of pain relievers called opioids are more effective in women although Campbell insists that their effects vary with the menstrual cycle.

To get pain relief, he insists, often calls for a variety of treatments, not a single solution. "The bottom line is helping that person relieve the level of pain and suffering, sleep, and function for daily living." Claw agrees. He prescribes medications that act on neurotransmitters, exercise, and cognitive therapy.

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Fibromyalgia Tips

Quit losing those keys

Try attaching your keys to a bangle bracelet that slips over your wrist easily, and wear them while away from home. Carrying them makes it all too easy to lay them down somewhere in the store, which can lead to literally hours of backtracking. When you return home, immediately put the keys in their proper place, even before you take off your coat. Make this a strict habit and you will never lose your keys again.

Use humor to cope

There is humor in fibrofog, so learn to enjoy it. Example: "Fibrofog is great. You can buy one book and read it repeatedly and still keep being surprised." Being able to laugh at yourself will help others to deal with your lapses as well. Brushing your teeth with a tube of polysporin will seem funny in a few days. Honest.

Aches & Pains 101

Health Conditions Weather is considered a possible influence on a wide variety of health conditions. In some cases, such as migraine headaches, weather may bring on an episode. In other cases, weather factors may make existing pain worse. Read more.... <---- by clicking here

Fibromyalgia Tip of the Day -- 11/06/06

Remember where you parked

In public parking lots, try always to park in the same row, or in approximately the same place, if at all possible. If not, jot down a reminder of where you are before heading toward your destination. Sometimes sticking something bright on your antenna can help you to relocate the car if you simply can´t remember where you left it.

If you carry a notepad, or an electronic PDA, make a note of where you are parked before you leave the car.

Fibromyalgia Tip of the Day -- Where you parked

3 Things Patients Can Do for Themselves

Fibromyalgia: 3 Things Patients Can Do for Themselves

Medical Author: William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
Medical Editor: Leslie J. Schoenfield, MD, PhD

It is not unusual for a patient with fibromyalgia to ask the doctor: "What can I do to help relieve my symptoms? After all, I am not very interested in medications."

Some patients with fibromyalgia make this or similar statements to their doctors because they are often younger and many do not have underlying (additional ongoing) medical conditions (although some do). Therefore, they are not accustomed to taking medications regularly.

Are there really ways that patients can help themselves? Yes. Here are the big three...

Learn the three ways to cope with the signs and symptoms of fibromyalgia »

AN EPIDEMIC OF FEMALE HORMONE PROBLEMS

If you are a woman, you are well aware that the rate of cancer associated with the female organs is increasing. As is the number of non-malignant female organ problems. Everything from severe PMS to endometriosis, cervical dysplasia, and fibrocystic breast disease is increasing. You no doubt wonder, "This can't all be due to a high stress lifestyle, isn't this really just because we have better detection methods today than in the past?" To a small degree, the answer is yes. But the greater part of the answer is due to something entirely different.

Women of today live in an entirely different world than the women lived in 100 years ago and beyond. Today's women live in a world that is a chemical soup. There are chemicals in the air we breathe, the water and beverages we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, our work places, the household furnishings, cleansers, and even the our doctors prescribe for us. An enormous number of these chemicals have been created from coal or oil and consist of what is chemically known as a benzene ring with a chlorine side chain. These compounds are known as organochlorines and are very dangerous, especially to the female hormone cycle. Many times one chemical in the environment, such as an herbicide will supply the benzine ring and another, such as a pesticide will supply the chlorine, and with a little help from water and sunshine they combine to create this dangerous compound. They are everywhere!

For decades it has been known that these compounds have powerful estrogenic activity. This means they have an effect upon the body similar to the hormone estrogen. Because they are not true estrogen, each of these compounds only produces a limited number of the different effects which estrogen does.

Unfortunately, these are often some of the most dangerous effects which estrogen produces. In addition, in producing these effects they are often much more powerful than a woman's own estrogen. Thus they severely upset the body chemistry. A disturbance made worse when there is an inadequate amount of natural progesterone available to oppose it.

Studies of birds, animals and fish in the wild show just how powerful and widespread the danger is. Everywhere the scientists look they find wild creatures developing cancer and becoming deformed because of these estrogenic compounds. As Dr. Lee points out in his book, these estrogenic compounds are so powerful that as tiny an amount as a single grain of sand in an Olympic size swimming pool is sufficient to exert a harmful estrogenic effect upon fish.

These compounds are known as xenobiotic and xenoestrogenic, meaning "strange or unusual biological agent" and "strange or unusual estrogenic agent". Today there are literally thousands of these strange and unusual estrogenicly active compounds in our world. As compounds enter a woman's body they activate estrogen receptors on the various cells in the organs and tissues of the body. These receptors are intended to be acted upon only by the estrogen generated by the woman's own body. These xenoestrogens are also stored in the fat tissue. Because estrogen stimulates the creation of fat, these xenoestrogens cause women to create even more fat. Which in turn allows them to store even more of these dangerous compounds. It is a vicious circle.

Next you take a woman's own estrogen production, which is often unopposed by the protective effects of progesterone, and add that estrogen to that of the xenoestrogens in her diet, environment and that which is stored in her fat tissue, and the effect can be disastrous! The various estrogen sensitive tissues of the body become excessively stimulated. This leads to enormous disturbances of not only their function, but also to a disturbance of their very structure. Altered tissue structure is manifest as fibrocystic breast disease, endometriosis, tumors, cancer and an enormous number of other health problems women now experience.

Given these circumstances, you can see the disaster which may occur when the modern woman is also given a prescription for an estrogen drug. Her body may be thrown completely out of hormone balance. Her chance of experiencing a major increase in health problems associated with her female chemistry is greatly increased. This is the recipe for today's epidemic of female health problems, it is the biggest reason behind the tremendous increase in cancer of the breast, uterus and ovaries.

IT'S GOING TO GET WORSE

The worst part of this problem is that it is going to get worse before it gets better. Women will continue to face ever increasing pressure as more is expected of them, before it is realized that women need relief, just as it is now recognized the over stressed male executive needs relief if he is not going to die from a premature heart attack.

The number and use of the xenoestrogenic compounds is going to get worse, long before it gets better. Also the use of estrogen and the synthetic progestin drugs are going to increase before the medical
profession wakes up to the disaster they are creating. All of this will take years, and if history is any example, it will take decades.

Meanwhile the epidemic of female health problems will continue to get worse. Our mothers, aunts, sisters, wives, neighbor ladies, and women coworkers will continue to suffer and die needlessly. Let's consider natural progesterone supplementation and let's tell other women we know and care about too.

Progress update

It's been about two weeks since I started this new regimen of supplements. I've noticed a big change in my skin. It's most likely going to take a little bit to work through my system.

I've not taken any SAMe or other supplements that I have taken before that are condition specific.

Keep your eyes on this journal to follow my progress.

Thank you for visiting.

New supplmental program

Hello,

This past week I started a new regimen of supplements given to me for trial by a new Christian friend I met on www.ryze.com.

I've noticed a change in my skin so far. Minor, but still noticable.

I will know more toward the end of this trial use how it's working.

But, for today I'm in miserable pain. My head, neck and shoulders are giving me fits today. It makes me sleepy and makes my eyes blurry.

Hopefully it will calm down during the day.

I came across this interesting article in Ohio.com:

Doctor is pain-savvy
By Katherine Spitz
Beacon Journal medical writer

Phil Masturzo / Akron Beacon Journal

Brenda Haggerty is examined by Dr. Mark
Pellegrino, a specialist in physical medicine
and rehabilitation. Like Haggerty, Pellegrino
has fibromyalgia.

Dr. Mark Pellegrino of North Canton has to make excellent eye contact with his patients; ... (read more)

Joy

"Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are." Marianne Williamson Author

FM in the News

Click here at Google News and see all the news posts on FM

The millions of Americans who suffer from fibromyalgia live with a two-edged sword: excruciating pain, accompanied by the doubts of many who dismiss it as a made-up illness invented by a troubled mind.

But researchers at the University of Florida and elsewhere are beginning to piece together clues that reveal the physical basis of the puzzling syndrome that causes severe fatigue and aches, and has defied easy diagnosis.

Fibromyalgia Pain Isn't All In Patients' Heads, New Brain Study Finds

ANN ARBOR, MI A new brain-scan study confirms scientifically what fibromyalgia patients have been telling a skeptical medical community for years: They're really in pain.

FMS/CFS Case Studies

Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue View Related Case Studies Fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue is a disease of exclusion. In other words, these patients have an array of symptoms and complaints, which mimic many illnesses. Physicians usually do very extensive workups only to find that everything appears pretty much normal. This disease used to be called "psychosomatic rheumatism." I fear that many physicians still believe this disease is simply in the patient's head. More and more doctors, however, are beginning to realize the seriousness of this disease and its tremendous affect on patients’ lives. Statistics estimate there are over 8 million people in the United States alone suffering with this disease. Eight out of nine are women. Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue are considered by many to be different expressions of the same disease. All of these patients suffer from overwhelming and usually disabling fatigue. Fibromyalgia patients experience total body pain, unrestful sleep, and a myriad of other symptoms. Patients with chronic fatigue, on the other hand, have more swollen glands, recurrent fevers, and frequent infections. Fibromyalgia is diagnosed by excluding other possible diseases and then by doing tender point testing. By eliciting tenderness in at least 11 of 18 predetermined spots, a physician is able to diagnose the disease. Essentially all laboratory tests, X-rays, biopsies, and MRI's will come out negative. Chronic fatigue patients are diagnosed by eliminating all other possible causes of fatigue. Anyone who has suffered for more than six months with disabling fatigue essentially has chronic fatigue. The sad truth is that it usually takes approximately 6 to 8 years for these patients to finally be diagnosed by their physician with one of these diseases. Traditional medicine has no specific treatment for these diseases. With fibromyalgia, physicians typically place patients on a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory for pain, amitriptyline for sleep, perhaps a muscle relaxant and anti-depressant and then they tell the patient to find a support group and learn to live with it. What is even more concerning is the frequency with which these patients are being treated with narcotic pain medication. Now, they not only have a horrible disease but are also hooked on narcotic pain medication. My wife has suffered with fibromyalgia for the past 18 years. During the first 12 years of our marriage she needed to be in bed before 8 P.M. She never had a restful night's sleep and would get up just as tired as when she went to bed. Living with this illness for the past 17 years has totally changed my perception on the seriousness of this disease. Early morning stiffness, mental fog, muscle spasms (my massage technique has certainly improved), fatigue, and pain were daily encounters with which she had to learn to live. My wife has always joked that she thought marrying a physician would allow her to improve her health. But I’m afraid I was not the answer. The frustration felt by a physician when he or she is unable to do anything for a patient cannot be overstated. And I now realize, first-handedly, the frustration patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue have with their doctors. When my wife was struggling with the most difficult fatigue, she asked if she could try some nutritional supplements given to her by a friend. For 23 years, I would do most anything to get my patients off any kind of supplements. However, my response to her shocked even me. I told her she could certainly try since I had not been able to find anything to help her through traditional medicine. Within a week she saw marked improvement and within three weeks she was back to her normal self and off all medications. Over the next year she not only totally recovered, but felt more energetic than she had in years. She has added three to four hours to each of her days. She has significantly less pain and fewer muscle spasms, and her energy level has now surpassed mine. Obviously this caught my attention. Her recovery challenged me to try to understand what had happened. This was the beginning of my newly found interest in nutritional supplements. Shortly after this experience, I read a book by Kenneth Cooper, M.D., called "The Antioxidant Revolution." I have always admired Dr. Cooper, who started the exercise revolution back in the early 1970s. I became so intrigued with his book I researched his research. One part of the book especially caught my attention: at his aerobics clinic in Dallas, Dr. Cooper evaluated several athletes suffering from over-training syndrome. His theory was that oxidative stress was the cause. When people exercise moderately the body is able to handle the amount of free radicals produced. However, in cases of excessive exercise as in the training of professional athletes, the amount of free radicals goes up exponentially. It struck me that these athletes with over-training syndrome had the same symptoms as patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. I was baffled and wondered, Could it be possible that the root cause of fibromyalgia /chronic fatigue is oxidative stress? As we learn more and more about how oxidative stress can cause degenerative diseases, one has to wonder if this is the cause of the fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndromes. These syndromes are not high on the totem pole for research dollars. I have been unable to find any significant studies that have considered this as a possibility. I am hopeful more funds will be allocated toward these disabling diseases in the future. For the past six years, I have been evaluating and treating a group of patients with the belief that the underlying cause is oxidative stress. Since these diseases are able to mimic many other diseases, I must first rule all other possibilities out. I then place these patients on a complete and balanced nutritional supplement program. I have observed a fairly consistent pattern of improvement in my patients. The most common response I get at the two-month follow-up exam is their thinking and focus is significantly improved. They feel they have come out of a mental fog. At the four-month exam, they are usually sleeping better and noticing some improvement in their energy level. The last things to improve are the pain, fever, and frequent infections. The decrease of infections and fevers is evidence that one’s immune system is definitely improving. Many of my patients comment, “I actually have my life back!” I have now been involved with over 500 patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and have been able to achieve good to excellent results in over 70 to 75% of these patients. By bringing oxidative stress back under control, their disease has been captured. The majority will have significant improvement while using high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional supplements along with necessary optimizers. I have found that the optimizers must be varied or increased depending on the initial response of the patient or the severity of one’s disease. It often takes six months for these patients to be convinced of their improvement and they may still not be fully recovered at that point—but they know they are on the right track. Once I see a significant clinical response, I keep my patients at that level of optimizer (in this case, Grape Seed Extract) for another two to three months. I then slowly start to back off the level of grape seed extract until the patient reaches what I call a maintenance level. If she becomes worse for any reason while pulling back the amount, I move her to a higher level again until she begins improving. Economically, it’s best to use the least amount of grape seed extract necessary in maintaining the patient's improvement. Patients usually continue to improve even at lower levels once oxidative stress has been brought back under control. Patients with fibromyalgia /chronic fatigue have flare-ups and remissions. Therefore, I advise my patients who have had a great response and are now on a maintenance nutritional program that they will have flare-ups and some difficult days. When this happens, I simply have them increase the amount of antioxidants and grape seed extract they are taking. They may need to stay at this increased level of antioxidants for 10 to 14 days or until they are feeling better, and then they slowly drop back to the maintenance level again. Everyone needs to review the web page on "Oxidative Stress" to learn what factors increase the amount of free radicals produced by the body. Patients do best who’ve learned to anticipate situations that cause more oxidative stress. This may include a highly stressful situation, a vigorous work out, or even exposure to an increased amount of toxins which otherwise cannot be avoided. By increasing the amount of antioxidants before a potential setback, it allows the patient a jumpstart and the possibility of even avoid the setback altogether. Nutritional Supplement Recommendations I recommend that all my patients take the basic nutritional support I refer to as cellular nutrition. This foundational regime provides all the necessary micronutrients to the cell at ideal levels (not RDA levels) for significant health benefits as documented in the medical literature. When the cell is given maximum support, it can then determine what it does and does not need. Over a six-month period each cell is able to not only overcome nutritional deficiencies but also to optimize ALL the nutrients, which are needed to combat oxidative stress. The synergistic affect of providing all the nutrients needed by one’s body at the most advantageous levels results in optimizing and rebuilding the body’s natural immune system, antioxidant, and repair systems back to their fullest fighting potential against disease. Minimal support for Cellular Nutrition: My minimal recommendation for creating cellular nutrition is to simply take Usana’s Mega Antioxidant and Chelated Minerals, called "The Essentials" at their recommended doses (3 of each daily). The Essentials offers the cell ALL of the antioxidants, B-cofactors, and antioxidant minerals needed by the cell at ideal levels. In order to achieve the best results, I recommend taking 1 Mega Antioxidant and 1 Chelated Mineral with each meal. Nutritionals should always be taken with food because of better absorption and better tolerance. However, as a physician, I realize that compliance with taking supplements three times a day is a major issue. Therefore, if you tend to frequently forget the lunchtime dose, I suggest taking the supplements twice daily: taking 2 Mega Antioxidants and 1 Chelated Mineral in the morning with breakfast and 1 Mega Antioxidant and 2 Chelated Minerals in the evening with the evening meal. Optimal support for Cellular Nutrition: For the most favorable results for basic cellular nutrition, I also recommend adding to the Usana Essentials either OptOmega (2 tsps daily) or BiOmega-3 (4 capsules daily), which provides the essential fats and Fibergy, which assures the individual is receiving the additional fiber his or her body needs. I also recommend adding Active Calcium (4 tablets daily) to provide additional calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D that our bodies need. These recommendations provide all the nutrients at their ideal levels creating the cellular nutrition I recommend in my book, What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You. Optimizers It is critical that you know the necessity of adding optimizers to your foundational cellular nutrition for optimal results. Patients who are suffering from a chronic degenerative disease or illness are under more oxidative stress than the average healthy individual. Therefore, adding potent Optimizers to the basic cellular nutrition offers you the best chance to bring this oxidative stress back under control. The synergy and increased potency created by this approach to nutritional medicine is why I’m able to get such consistent results in my patients. However, to suit each individual’s unique needs, I always offer both an optimal and a minimal plan for cellular nutrition and for adding Optimizers. Obviously, one’s improvement will be quicker and more consistent with the optimal recommendations; however, a minimal regime can still produce significant clinical results. Recommended Optimizers: Optimal: Proflavanol 90*--3 tablets daily Coquinone 30—2 capsules daily Minimal: Proflavanol 90*--2 tablets daily *Proflavanol 90 is equal to 3 Proflavanol C Optimal Recommendations Nutritional Supplement Breakfast Lunch Dinner Mega Antioxidant (Mega AO) 1 1 1 Chelated Mineral (Multi Mineral) 1 1 1 Active Calcium 1 1 2 Proflavanol 90 1 1 1 Coquinone 30 1 1 Optomega 2 tsps Biomega-3 (an option instead of Optomega) 1 1 *Adding at least one serving of Fibergy daily will enhance these recommendations. Minimal Recommendation Nutritional Supplement Breakfast Lunch Dinner Mega Antioxidant (Mega AO) 1 1 1 Chelated Mineral (Multi Mineral) 1 1 1 Proflavanol 90 1 1 If you are frequently going to miss taking your lunchtime dose, it is better to simply take your nutritionals twice daily. I recommend taking 2 Mega Antioxidants, 1 Chelated Mineral in the morning with breakfast and then taking 1 Mega Antioxidant, 2 Chelated Minerals in the evening. You should try to divide up your Active Calcium, essential fats, and Optimizers equally as possible between the AM and PM dose. Consider a Power Shake USANA has a fantastic line of nutritionally balanced drinks that many of my patients consume as a meal substitute. In fact, I personally start every morning with 2 scoops of Fibergy, 2 scoops of Soyomax, and 2 teaspoonfuls of OptOmega. This provides me with a perfect, balanced, unpolluted meal to start my day. It allows me the opportunity to supplement my diet with soy protein; extra needed fiber, and essential fat. This meal is also a low-glycemic meal, which will not spike my blood sugar. Likewise, many USANA associates are using their imaginations to create exceptionally tasting meals with Fibergy and OptOmega. By blending in frozen, whole fruit for added flavor they are creating a variety of great tasting drinks. Isn’t it remarkable that by simply taking USANA Essentials, Active Calcium and a power drink (remember, to consider this part of your food budget, since it is replacing an entire meal), the body is supplied with complete, and balanced cellular nutrition for every cell in the body? The synergy that is created, especially when adding needed Optimizers is phenomenal. Remember, the underlying problem is oxidative stress NOT a nutritional deficiency. Why I recommend USANA Products USANA strictly follows pharmaceutical-grade Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). This means they not only purchase pharmaceutical-grade raw products, but also manufacture the products according to tough pharmaceutical-quality guidelines. In addition, USANA Health Sciences follows USP guidelines for potency, uniformity, and dissolution of the tablet. In a nutshell, USANA manufactures their products to the strict standards of over-the-counter drugs even though not required to do so—assuring all of their customers and associates that what is on the label is actually in the tablet. Usana's essentials are complete and balanced and provides the cellular nutrition that I strongly recommend in my book, What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You. This improves compliance and makes taking these advanced levels of nutritional supplements easier. Starting Your USANA Nutritional Program Over eighty percent of my patients are able to start the USANA Nutritional Program with absolutely no set backs while beginning to experience the health benefits of high-quality nutritional supplements immediately. Please keep in mind these supplements are extremely potent and optimal levels of nutrients are being provided that the body has never had before. The body is therefore able to finally rid itself of toxins, which have been accumulating for years (called detoxification). This is especially true in those who are suffering from a serious illness and are taking a significant amount of medication. It is important to understand the possible signs and symptoms of detoxification so that you can deal with them confidently and properly. Detoxification: The most common detoxification reaction is muscle aches and/or mild headache. These symptoms will usually pass within a few weeks. If the discomfort is not unbearable, I simply have my patients continue their program as I have prescribed. However, occasionally there is a more severe reaction. The patient is not in danger, rather, the amounts of nutrients are just too much too fast. In this case, I have my patients quit their supplements for a few days until the reaction subsides. I will then have them start back on their program but initially at lower doses (approximately one third of the recommended dose). Once they are tolerating this amount of supplementation, I suggest slowly building up to the recommended doses. Some of my patients actually develop a "detox" skin rash somewhere on their body. As you know, the skin is an important route for ridding the body’s toxins. This rash is a dry, red rash that looks almost like a mild sunburn. Some people confuse this with an allergic reaction to the supplements. This is not typically so. I have never seen an allergic reaction to the USANA Essentials and can only recall a couple of patients who reacted to Proflavanol because they were actually allergic to grapes. Patients may also experience some aspect of loose stools or even diarrhea. This again is a common "detox" reaction because the GI tract is another prime route for eliminating toxins from the body. This symptom will usually diminish within a couple of weeks. It is an important part of the detoxification and healing process. Therefore, I usually encourage my patients to continue the supplements as recommended unless their bottom gets too sore. I will then again recommend lower doses of the supplements until they feel better and then begin adding the supplements back more slowly until the recommended doses are reached. Diarrhea can be the result of the magnesium in the Active Calcium or by the Proflavanol. Again, this is usually a mild reaction and will improve over the first week or two. However, some of my patients need to discontinue the Active Calcium and/or the Proflavanol until this settles down. I then have them slowly add back the Proflavanol and eventually the Active Calcium. Increasing dietary fiber may also increase the amount of intestinal gas and the frequency of bowel movements. This will improve with time as the body adjusts to the higher intake of fiber, but is an important aspect of getting rid of the toxins, which have accumulated in the body. Natural Relaxation Response: A small percentage of patients develop a natural relaxation response when minerals are absorbed into their body. This is of great concern to those patients who have just been told that nutritional supplementation will help improve their energy level. They take the supplements as recommended only to find themselves more fatigued and dragging themselves through their day. If you experience this response, I recommend that you take all of your minerals (including the Active Calcium) with a light bedtime snack. This allows you to take advantage of your body’s response while getting a good night’s sleep. Stomach Upset: A small percentage of patients have difficulty tolerating vitamin C. It can cause an upset stomach that will usually become evident a couple days after starting their nutritional program. With USANA’s specially combined vitamin C into Poly C, I have seen many of people who could not previously tolerate any nutritional supplements do very well with USANA’s Mega Antioxidant. However, if nausea is experienced, I suggest taking one Mega Antioxidant with the largest meal. Once this level of supplementation is better tolerated, I suggest slowly adding another Mega Antioxidant to the next largest meal. I anticipate building them up to the recommended level of supplementation, but sometimes this is just not possible. For those extremely sensitive, I advise using Body Rox (the teenage dose of Antioxidants and Minerals) as the best alternative option. Taking Your Supplements with Your Medication I am often asked, "Can I take my nutritionals with my medication?" To this I respond with this question, "Can you eat?" I hope my point is made gently but clearly—nutritional supplements simply contain nutrients we should be getting from our foods, but at levels we can no longer obtain from our foods. If you can eat anything, you can also take nutritional supplements. The only exception to this is for those taking the medication, Coumadin (Warfarin), which blocks vitamin K in the body as a way of thinning the blood. If a patient is on Coumadin, I recommend he or she take the Canadian Essentials and Canadian Active Calcium because they contain no vitamin K. Also, patients who are on thyroid medication should take their medication on an empty stomach at least 1 hour prior to meals or prior to taking supplements. Thyroid medication should not be taken with food or with supplements because calcium can block the absorption of the medication. Disclaimer Every effort has been made to make this web site as accurate as possible. The purpose of this site is to educate and inform. As such it is based on scientific evidence and my clinical training and experience. No individual should at any time use the information found on this web site for self-diagnosis, treatment, or justification in accepting or declining any medical therapy for any health problems or diseases. Any application of the advice herein is at the reader’s own discretion and risk. Therefore, any individual who has a specific health problem or is taking medications must first seek advice from his or her personal physician or healthcare provider before starting a nutritional supplement program. Dr. Strand shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this web site. We assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of people, places, or organizations are unintentional. Return To Home | List All Recommendations © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Ray D Strand, M.D. P.C.

Busy Life

There's been a lot going on. It can take a toll on the FM body.

God has much for me to do. HE knows what my limits are.

There's supplements one can take to help you cope and function.

I've discovered there are many who have given up on the traditional holistic approach and depend on chemical drugs.

I hope and pray God will show you the way!

Kimberly