This is good news that there is nutritional help for this painful condition. We don't have to rely on medications that cause more problems. It is also interesting that it is linked to leaky gut. The people I know who suffer from this have digestional problems. They have been told to stay away from many healthy foods for fear of further damaging their digestion. It looks like rebuilding the digestion should be the first step.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic inflammatory condition consisting of muscular and joint pain and fatigue. Three to five percent of the population suffers with this condition with over 80% being women. This is one of the fastest growing disabling conditions in the US. Beat fibromyalgia now with natural lifestyle strategies.
Fibromyalgia is classically diagnosed with positive reaction to 11 of 18 specific tender point sites on the body. Other classic findings include chronic fatigue, sleep challenges, normal blood tests, and a history of widespread pain particularly in the neck and back. This is believed to be a chronic inflammatory condition of the muscle fascia.
Chronic inflammation is a sign of a mal-coordinated hyper-responsive immune system. In order to modulate and stabilize the immune response it is critical to avoid inflammatory foods and food allergens, repair the gut, optimize vitamin D3 levels, and improve neurological connections.
Most individuals with chronic inflammatory based pain have a leaky gut that allows large food particles to pass thru easily and end up in the bloodstream. These undigested food particles are tagged as foreign invaders by the immune system. The immune cells then create a massive inflammatory reaction to destroy the food particle. This results in varying levels of insensitivity and allergenic reactions that damage many systems of the body.
The most common food allergens to avoid include all processed foods, artificial sweeteners/preservatives, and gluten containing products. Soy, peanuts (and often other nuts), pasteurized dairy, eggs, and other heavy proteins are often tolerated well. The nightshade vegetables eggplant, potatoes, and tomatoes are often challenging as well.
Anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle
Anti-inflammatory foods help to modulate the immune system and reduce inflammatory activity in the body. Great anti-inflammatory foods include coconut products, avocados, olive oil, berries & phytonutrient rich vegetables. Healthy meat sources such as grass-fed beef, wild game, wild salmon, organic poultry, and organic eggs are great if the gut can tolerate them.
It is advisable for anyone with chronic inflammation to include loads of organic vegetable juices, fermented foods and functional beverages in their diet. Homemade sauerkraut, kombucha, coconut water, keifir, and kimchi are great. Fermented dairy products from grass-fed cows/goats are highly advisable. These include amasai, fermented whey drinks, & raw cheese. Often times a probiotic supplement with biodiverse range of cultures and over 50 billion colony forming units is advisable.
Non-denatured whey protein from grass-fed cows is also very good for rebuilding the gut. Whey is loaded with L-glutamine and enhances cellular glutathione stores which are both needed to repair the intestinal wall and de-inflame the body. Powerful herbs such as turmeric, ginger, garlic, onion, rosemary, thyme, cinnamon, & oregano, among others, should be used as much as possible to improve immune coordination.
Healthy vitamin D3 levels are especially important for aiding the body's ability to recognize foreign and self-proteins. This improved immune recognition reduces inflammation and auto-immune reactions. Vitamin D also helps drive immune cells to destroy pathogenic microbes and prevent & destroy infection. Chronic infection results in hyper-inflammatory levels in the body. Vitamin D3 (25-OH) levels should be between 70-100ng/ml for optimal immune function.
People with fibromyalgia, chronic pain, & fatigue are highly likely to have neurological dysfunction in their upper neck. Subluxation, or neurological interference, at the bottom of the skull, C1 & C2 alter endorphin release into the body. This leads to increased states of pain, fatigue, anxiety, and accelerated stress, as well as mal-coordinated immunity. Well trained chiropractors can analyze these regions of the spine and give specific corrective adjustments to restore balance and optimal neurological expression in these regions.
Sources for this article include:
http://donnasteiner.hubpages.comhttp://www.naturalnews.comhttp://chronicfatigue.about.com
