Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia – Is it your Fault? A Follow-up!

This article has opened wide the door to how those of us with fibromyalgia can be more proactive with our illness. I asked others to please share their feelings regarding this. Below is a question and answer between a fellow fibromyalgia sufferer and me. I hope you will enjoy it and find it beneficial!

Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia – Is it your Fault? leechiropracticaz.com

If you do not attempt to understand what I am about to share and if you aren’t willing to takes steps to improve yourself then it is partially your fault. Ouch!

A Response from Beth (name has been changed):

So, the theory that whole foods that we buy from the supermarket do not provide is with sufficient vitamins and minerals and by buying them is actually just a waste of money. Question, why do I feel so much better and revived when I have intramuscular Vitamin B6 and B12 injection. My mood is elevated and I just sleep so much better.

Thank you, Beth for your very good question. I am pleased to here of the success you have had in battling FMS!

Food alone most often cannot heal a sick and stressed body. Whole food supplementation, the use of nutrients from a whole food source rather than from synthetics, is what the body needs to heal. Synthetics in high dosage, as many B vitamins come in, can have a pharmaceutical like response in the body. This is not necessarily a “bad” thing initially and can successfully boost the body into feeling better. But to have a chance at complete healing, as my article briefly discusses, the human body needs to be given what nature intended it to have. Whole food supplementation provides just that; a long term continual feeding of natural nutrients.

It is ok to use synthetic vitamins on occasion to assist the body, and often that is better than using a stronger, more dangerous drug. But when possible, I prefer to use the natural approach nature intended; for myself and my patients.

Thanks Mark for coming back to me. Next question, is there a whole food supplement that is formulated for the FM patient that is guaranteed not to cause any weight gain?

Most FM patients gain weight due to the high levels of cortisol, lack of physical activity due to muscular pain and prescription drugs that are supposed to alleviate Fibrofog and general symptoms of depression that most FM patients suffer from depression for a wide range of reasons including the lack of energy and the inability to participate in normal exercise regimes, which is caused by the pain sensitivity from which all FM patients suffer.

I am on a very strict Vitamin D Regime that includes Omega 3 and 6 to feed my brain and assists with the absorption on Calcium and Magnesium and which also helps to feed the damaged brain. Give me a Fibromyalgia whole food that includes Krill Oil, DHEA, Melatonin, and Burn Out(TM) that have helped me to regain some form of sanity. I really was a borderline Alzheimer’s case until I switched to the Solal regime, which is all made up of natural products and not the chemicals obtained through synthetic means.

I have always followed a dietary regime that is specifically formulated by Dr Cohen to stimulate the pituitary gland to make the human growth hormone, which is lacking in most FM patients. Nothing could make me give up my eating regime and I must say that the last full blood tests indicated that the HGH is back and functioning. My natural levels of oestrogen is back to normal and that also helps me to sleep better.

The only problem that I have is the fact that without my Vitamin B and D supplements, I have no means of fighting fibromyalgia. I have been very anaemic until I stated taking the vitamin B injections. The reason for this is that even though the red meat that I consume, is from the farm where the animals live on grass, are frozen at home, because I freeze it in portions for consumption. No need to tell you that the freezing proses destroys most of the Vitamin B obtained in red meats only.

My vitamin D intake includes Krill Oil, which I see as the most successful of the Omega 3 range. Do your supplements include krill oil? Do they include foods that will stimulate the pituitary gland to form human growth hormone? What is in your supplements reduce the levels of cortisol made by the adrenal glands, which is ultimately the cause of brain damage, weight gain and fibromyalgia?

I know that the above are a wagon load of questions, but I need clarity in whole food supplements, as I have not had any success in using any of them. Note that I am gluten sensitive and have to avoid sugars such as in sugar beet and cane sugar. I therefore have to avoid all breads including rye bread. Most starches are included in the group given above with the exception of maize. I therefore use baby maize cobs in my salads.

The fruit that I eat mostly is an apple, which is low in glucose and high in fructose. However, fruit such as oranges and apples are stored in cold storage for months before reaching the consumer. Fresh from the tree is best, but even apple trees and orange trees do not produce fruit throughout the year. This I know from my brother who exports his fruit all over the world and oranges do not sell in the northern hemisphere until the actual orange season, which would affect all people living in the northern hemisphere. Our consumer markets are consumer driven. Therefore the natural fresh product that we need is compromised. What whole supplements do you encourage your patients to take to compromise for the lack of nutrition obtained by having not such fresh fruits that we on the table when we need it most?

Do the whole food supplements address the issue of IBS, which means very often that foods pass so fast though the body that all nutrients are lost?

A whole list of questions that all need specific answers for the benefit of all FM patients who use this forum.

PS Mark, there are are some users on this forum that experience financial constraints. Are whole food supplements covered by their medical insurance? I know that a visit to a health shop can dent a pocket.
Quite a number of FM patients had to leave work or changed work. Read through the threads just to see how many patients fear the onset of winter and pain. Do any of the food supplements actually alleviate the effects of the cold air, and damp conditions experienced by FM sufferers in the northern hemisphere?
I am recently medically boarded and just the fact that I put law behind me, helped me to relax and to regain more rest and deep sleep, which contributed to my current feeling of general well being. However, not all FM patients are as blessed as I am in that I do not have any concerns about money, which enabled me to retire early.
There you go again. More questions, but you can deduce that I have once earned a living by asking questions?

Wow, Beth! Where do I begin? First, you have discovered a very successful regimen that works for you. Why would any body want to change that? I certainly wouldn’t. What you have discovered should be obvious to every FM sufferer and every practitioner that attempts to treat a fibro patient. That is, fibromyalgia requires a specific, customized program for each individual and their specific health care needs. I do believe that there are basics that in almost every case, can be beneficial to just about every fibromite but originality and individuality are required to achieve a higher success rate in treating and controlling fibromyalgia

The reason I prefer to use whole food supplementation is all about balance; the balance of vitamins, minerals, co-factors, etc. But a “one size fits all” approach cannot and will not work. My patients, including myself (did I mention that I too have fibromyalgia?) receive a clinically designed whole food nutritional protocol. Although I prefer and utilize one manufacturer of a line of whole food supplements dominantly, I can and do use others too. If there is a need for something beyond this (medication, high dosage vitamins, a proprietary blend of nutrients – synthetic or not – from a specific company) this can be incorporated into the treatment protocol.

Whole food supplementation can become expensive, especially to the disabled or unemployed! My heart goes out to every person who struggles in this economy to make ends meet. At least in my clinic, we try to assist people with financial difficulties as much as is possible. Each treatment protocol takes into consideration the cost of health care. Even then, there are some who simply cannot afford to take the healthy, whole food supplementation alternative. Thankfully and sadly, (I know that that sounds like a contradiction) these folks have the government to fall back on for help. It is grossly lacking in what I feel they need, but it is better than nothing.

Again Beth, you have been richly blessed to discover a working formula for you. Now it becomes your duty to teach and encourage others who must fight this monster we call fibromyalgia. I know that you are doing just that and thank you for doing so.

Dr. Mark E. Lee