I am currently taking several natural supplements as a migraine prevention and have been very pleased to not be on prescription meds that may or may not work. I am also seeing my chiropractor weekly. We briefly discussed omega-3's one day, and what happens to the body and mind without them. At a later time I asked for more details and he loaned me a book by another Utah chiropractor named Dan Murphy who spoke at a convention. As I have flipped through this book, I found the section on fibromyalgia and was quite excited by what I read. There are many references and a lot of science and research behind it all to which I will not go into the details. I will give the references so you can research if you'd like and I will give the main points of do's and don'ts in hopes that you can find some relief to the great amounts of pain you have suffered so very long! My notes and quotes are taken from Dan Murphy's book he printed for the seminar.
Muscle Pain Understanding Its Nature, Diagnosis, and Treatment
by Siegried Mense and David G. Simons
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2001
Ch. 9 by I. Jon Russel, MD, PhD "Fibromyalgia Syndrome"
"...believed to come primarily from central nervous system nuerosensory amplification of nociception in general and not from muscle pathology."
Lab test show: "...low platelet serotonin levels, elevated levels of spinal fluid substance P and nere growth factor, abnormal cortisol and growth hormone regulation, and lower than normal regional blood flow in the brain."
Causes: "...depression, anxiety, insomnia, endocrinopathies, irritable bowel syndrome, and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system."
Painful Cervical Trauma: Diagnosis and Rehabilitative Treatment of Neuromusculoskeletal Injuries
C. David Tollision and John R. Satterthwaite
Williams & Wilkins, 1992, p. 303
* can be caused by whiplash, which never heals and only gets worse
Management of Fibromyalgia: Rationale for the use of Magnesium and Malic Acid
Journal of Nutitional Medicine, No. 3, 1992, pp. 49-59
Guy E. Abraham MD and Jorge D. Flechas MD, MPH
* lack of oxygen to the brain interferes with ATP process, increasing pyruvate production and lactic acid, which increases pain perception
* to make glucose, the body breaks down proteins from the muscles in the process of fixing the ATP cycle, resulting due to a deficiency of oxygen & other substances needed for ATP synthesis.
* magnesium and malic acid are common deficiencies needed in ATP production.
* causes: "irritable bowel syndrome, tension headache, primary dysmenorrhea, mitral valve prolapse and chronic fatigue syndrome"
* "magnesium is reduced by excess aluminum and/or excess calcium"
* "ATP production is controlled by the vitamins thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), and pyridoxine (B6) because they are essential for the electron transport system, and all three vitamins require magnesium to become biologically active."
* "During anaerobic glycolysis....9 of 11 steps require magnesium." AND "3 of 9 steps in the Krebs Cycle require magnesium."
* "Malic acid is one of the most potent chelators of aluminum and is most effective in decreasing brain aluminum levels."
* "Fibromyalgia patients supplemented with a daily dose of 300-600 mg of magnesium plus 1200-2400 mg of malic acid 'all patients reported significant subjective improvement of pain within 48 hours of starting.' Additionally, the fibromyalgia tender point scores were reduced by about 60% at 4 weeks and 66% at 8 weeks."
Treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome with Super Malic: a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, crossover pilot study
Journal of Rheumatology, May 1995;22(5):953-8
Russ IJ, Michalek JE, Flechas JD, Abraham GE
* "abnormal blood flow may deprive muscle of sufficient oxygen and other nutrients." Chiropractic can help with this as spinal adjustments improve spinal mechanics and increases blood flow throughout the nervous system.
* "the best results were observed from 'use of a higher dosage and longer duration of treatment' with malic acid and magnesium, increasing production of ATP.
Effects of muscle strengthening versus aerobic exercise program in fibromyalgia
Rheumatology International, Nov. 3, 2007
C. Bircan, S. A. Karasel, B. Akgun, O. El * S. Alper
* "The magnitude of change was generally greater in the strengthening group v. the aerobic group" however; aerobic exercise did help improve symptoms.
Why It Hurts: Pain and Inflammation
(Details of author, book title, ch., etc., not included)
* Fish oil relieves symptoms for fibromyalgia and ADD
* fish oil should be taken 2-3 times daily in large doses to keep pain down. (2 TBSP oil, or 2-3 capsules per dose)
* (fish oil is the same as omega 3)
* Yukio's wife started on the oil after being non-functioning due to pain or brain fog as a side effect of narcotic drugs and was improved immediately.
Relief of Fibromyalgia Symptoms Following Discontinuation of Dietary Excitotoxins
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy: Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 702-706. June 2001
Jerry D Smith, Chris M Terpening, Siegried OF Schmidt and John G Gums
* "fibromyalgia can be caused by exposure to dietary excitotoxins in susceptible individuals"
* "excitotoxins are molecules, such as MSG and aspartate, that act as excitatory neurotransmitters"
* "glutamate and other dietary excitotoxins primarily enter the brain at the hypothalamus which is not well protected by the blood-brain barrier.
* "MSG is found in nearly all processed food and can have many names, including gelatin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, textured protein, and yeast extract"
--please note, I have summarized and tried to use easy terminology. Feel free to do more research to have a greater understanding of these concepts.
My personal thoughts:
Avoid: aspartame, MSG, and glutamate.
Take: magnesium, malic acid, omega 3 in large doses
(at least twice a day, if not three times a day!)
Work on building muscle, which should be easier to do with less pain once on the suggested supplements.
Visit a chiropractor regularly.
I am personally taking large doses of magnesium (400 mg) and omega 3 (3 gelcaps) twice daily as a migraine prevention and have been amazed at the improvements I have felt in my brain function! I personally prefer gelcaps and have found magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil) gelcaps at Costco.
Please pass on this information to anyone you know who suffers from Fibromyalgia. It's amazing that natural supplements can fill in the gaps our body needs!
Lots of love,
Christy
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