FIBROMYALGIA

Fibromyalgia is a good impersonator - It can look like Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, rheumatoid arthritis and many other conditions. The condition may be due to a dysfunction of the nervous and endocrine systems. It is hard to pin down -doctors can't diagnose it by testing, and as a result, fibromyalgia often goes undiagnosed for five years or longer before being identified. (from Solve It with Supplements, by Robert A Schulman, M.D.)

It is an elusive disease, sometimes starting with a flareup that is hard to diagnose, only to go into remission, sometimes for years before it reappears. 

One way to identify Fibromyalgia is that people afflicted by it often feel extreme tenderness in up to 18 "tender points" in specific locations of the body. Common symptoms are musculoskeletal pain, extreme fatigue, poor sleep and insomnia, and "fibrofog" or unclear thinking. Other symptoms include digestive upset, female pelvic pain, and sometimes, depression.

Medications for fibromyalgia include low doses of antidepressant, and muscle relaxant medications. One medication, Lyrica, which can be given in low doses, and is non- habit forming is often given to help with flareups. Lyrica does have some side effects for some people.

Massage often helps relieve symptoms. Regular gentle and aerobic exercise helps keeps muscles strong and more resistant to pain. It is believed that consistent exercise will not aggravate the condition. Gentle stretching and acupuncture have been found to help alleviate some fibromyalgic symptoms.


NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS that help some Fibromyalgia patients :
( From Solve It with Supplements, by Robert A Schulman, M.D. page 448)

Magnesium - 200 mg, up to 3 times daily, with 1200 mg Malic acid,  1 tot 3 times daily.

Calcium- Age 19 -50- 1000 mg of Calcium Citrate or other formula. Age 51 and over;
          1,200 of Calcium Citrate  divided in 2 or 3 doses per day.

Chamomile- Tea- 3 grams of dried flower heads to 1 cup boiling water, up to 3 times daily.

Vitamin D, or D3- follow normal amounts advised.

Co Q10, - 60 Mg 2 to 3 times daily, reducing amount as symptoms decline.

5 HTP, Take  100 mg up to 3 times daily.

Ginsing, - 200 mg of standardized extract containing 4-7% ginsenosides 2 times daily.

Melatonin - 3 mg tablet  1-to 2 hrs before bedtime. Do not increase dosages because
          Melatonin ingested is depleted later in the sleep cycle, helping the person to sleep.

Same - 800 mg, twice daily, taken 1/2 hr before meals.

Vitamin C, 500 mg, taken twice daily.

Vitamin E - 400 IU taken with Selenium 100 to 200 Mcg Daily

St. John' swort - 300 to 375 mg capsules, 1 to 3 times daily, of standardized extract to
           contain .3% hypericin. This has a leveling effect on the emotions, lowering 
           depression for some people.

Valerian Capsules up to 400 to 900 mg daily, before bedtime. Valerian products vary 
           widely. Be cautious. Valerian causes disturbed dreams for some people.


USE CAUTION - As with all Nutritional Supplements, do not start adding all items to your plan at once. Start with one at a time, at a lower dose at first, increasing until symptoms of the condition recede. When you feel well, taper off the supplement over a week or two.

Remember, with AutoImmune Conditions, Natural Supplements offer a benefit largely because your system is not accustomed to the substance. If you don't take a supplement forever, you will not become sensitive or allergic to the herb. That way if you have a future flareup or outbreak, you can use the Supplement later on in the future when you need it.


Article researched and written © by Ruth Zachary

TOO MANY SUPPLEMENTS?

Mulberries, one of the berries reported to have cancer preventing nutrients.  © by Ruth Zachary

The following information was slightly abridged from an article By Tom Philpott, food and ag. correspondent for Mother Jones (July 23, 2014) The article was sent by a friend of mine, about the complex chemistry of plants, and how it works within the human body, is relevant to much that is included on this blog, and I thought it might be interesting to people who follow my health information.  I like the fact that several contributors were credited with parts of the general challenge to conventional beliefs about plant and human biochemistry, including possible ill effects from supplements. Readers may want to pursue the topic further on their own.

“Plants can't move. They're sitting targets for every insect, two- and four-legged creature, and air-borne fungus and bacteria that swirls around them. But they're not defenseless.... Under pressure from millions of years of attacks, they've evolved to produce compounds that repel these predators. Known as phyotochemicals, these substances can be quite toxic to humans. 

“But other phytochemicals have emerged as crucial elements of a healthful human diet. Indeed, they're the source of several essential vitamins, including A, C, and E. But according to a Nautilus article by the excellent science journalist Moises Velasquez-Manoff (author of a recent Mother Jones piece on the gut microbiome), our view of how these defensive compounds benefit us might be wildly wrong.

“The accepted dietary dogma goes like this: The phytochemicals we ingest from plants act as antioxidants—that is, they protect us from the oxidative molecules, known as "free radicals," that our own cells produce as a waste product, and that have become associated with a range of degenerative diseases including cancer and heart trouble.

“Many phytochemicals and the vitamins they carry have been proven in lab settings to have antioxidant properties—that is, they prevent oxidization. And so, Velasquez-Manoff shows, the idea gained currency that fruits and vegetables are good for us because their high antioxidant load protects us from free radicals. And from there, it was easy to leap to the conclusion that you could slow aging and stave off disease by isolating certain phytochemicals and ingesting them in pill form—everything from multivitamins to trendy antioxidants like resveratrol. "A supplement industry now worth $23 billion yearly in the U.S. took root," he notes.

“And yet, antioxidant pills have proven to be a bust. In February, a group of independent US medical researchers assessed 10 years of supplement research and found that pills loaded with vitamin E and beta-carotene (the stuff that gives color to carrots and other orange vegetables) pills are at best useless and at worst harmful—that is, they may trigger lung cancer in some people. Just this month, a meta-analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that antioxidant supplements "do not prevent cancer and may accelerate it."

“And a 2009 study found that taking antioxidant supplements before exercise actually negates most of the well-documented benefits of physical exertion: That is, taking an antioxidant pill before a run is little better than doing neither and just sitting on the couch.

“So what gives? Velasquez-Manoff points to emerging science suggesting that phytochemicals' antioxidant properties may have thrown us off the trail of what really makes them good for us. He offers two key clues. The first is that plants produce them in response to stress—e.g., pathogenic bacteria, hungry insects. The second is that exercise itself is a form of self-imposed stress: You punish your body by exerting it, and it responds by getting stronger.  Leaning on the work of Mark Mattson, Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging, and other researchers, Velasquez-Manoff proposes that phytochemicals help us not by repelling oxidant stresses, but by triggering them.

“Consider that exercise actually generates free radicals in our muscles—the very thing, according to current dogma, that makes us vulnerable to cancer and aging. But a while after a bout at the gym or on the running trail, these free radicals disappear, replaced by what Velasquez-Manoff calls "native antioxidants." That's because, he writes, "post-exercise, the muscle cells respond to the oxidative stress by boosting production of native antioxidants." And these home-grown chemicals, "amped up to protect against the oxidant threat of yesterday’s exercise, now also protect against other ambient oxidant dangers" like ones from air pollution and other environmental stressors, he writes. In the exercise study, the supplements may have interrupted the process, the study's main author, Swiss researcher Michael Ristow, tells Velasquez-Manoff—they prevent the body from producing its antioxidants, but what they deliver doesn't offset the loss.

“Yet phytochemicals found in whole foods—"the hot flavors in spices, the mouth-puckering tannins in wines, or the stink of Brussels sprouts"—may work on our bodies much as exercise does. Velasquez-Manoff writes: "Our bodies recognize them as slightly toxic, and we respond with an ancient detoxification process aimed at breaking them down and flushing them out." “

"To bolster his case, Velasquez-Manoff cites the example of sulforaphane, the compound that gives broccoli and other members of the brassica family of vegetables—such as Brussels sprouts—their sulfurous smell when they cook. It's what's known as an "antifeedant"—i.e., it's pungency discourages grazing (and makes many people hate Brussels sprouts, etc). Unlike many phytochemicals, sulforaphane isn't an antioxidant at all, but rather a mild oxidant—that is, it mimics free radicals and thus under the old dietary dogma, we should avoid it. And yet...

"When sulforaphane enters your blood stream, it triggers release in your cells of a protein called Nrf2. This protein, called by some the “master regulator” of aging, then activates over 200 genes. They include genes that produce antioxidants, enzymes to metabolize toxins, proteins to flush out heavy metals, and factors that enhance tumor suppression, among other important health-promoting functions. In theory, after encountering this humble antifeedant in your dinner, your body ends up better prepared for encounters with toxins, pro-oxidants from both outside and within your body, immune insults, and other challenges that might otherwise cause harm.

"In this theory, what causes cancer and general aging isn't oxidative stress itself, but rather a poor response to oxidative stress—"a creeping inability to produce native antioxidants when needed, and a lack of cellular conditioning generally." And that's where the modern Western lifestyle, marked by highly processed food and a lack of physical exertion, comes in.

"[The National Institute on Aging's] Mattson calls this the "couch potato" problem. Absent regular hormetic stresses, including exercise and stimulation by plant antifeedants, “cells become complacent,” he says. “Their intrinsic defenses are down-regulated.” Metabolism works less efficiently. Insulin resistance sets in. We become less able to manage pro-oxidant threats. Nothing works as well as it could. And this mounting dysfunction increases the risk for a degenerative disease.

"While this emerging view of phytochemcials is compelling, Velasquez-Manoff acknowledges that it isn't fully settled. For one thing, it's unclear why isolated phytochemicals in pills don't seem to work the same magic as they do in the form of whole foods. 

Here's Velasquez-Manoff:

"Proper dosage may be one problem, and interaction between the isolates used and particular gene variants in test subjects another. Interventions usually test one molecule, but fresh fruits and vegetables present numerous compounds at once. We may benefit most from these simultaneous exposures. The science on the intestinal microbiota promises to further complicate the picture; our native microbes ferment phytonutrients, perhaps supplying some of the benefit of their consumption. All of which highlights the truism that Nature is hard to get in a pill.

"But human nutrition is a deeply interesting topic precisely because it resists being settled. As Michael Pollan showed in his 2008 book In Defense of Food, humans have adapted to a wide variety of diets—from the Mediterranean and Mesoamerican ones based mostly on plants, to the Inuit ones focusing heavily on fish. The one diet that hasn't worked very well is the most calibrated, supplemented, and "fortified" of all: the Western one."

THE YEAST CONNECTION

October Raspberries,  photograph.                                         © Ruth Zachary

Yeast and fungal infections can affect many parts of the body; the vagina, the bowels, the skin, and in other parts of the body. Three of every four women will have at least one yeast infection before menopause, according to Robert A Schulman, MD, in his comprehensive book, Solve It With Supplements. (Rodale Books)

We have known for a long time, too much sugar causes diabetes.. My grandmother found a diet for my grandfather that removed his diabetic symptoms, over 100 years ago. Other conditions are slow to be connected to carbohydrates. The link between sugar and yeast infections is rarely mentioned, and is not mentioned in Schulman’s book.

Dr. Oz recently did discuss this link on his daily program. Yeast thrives on sugar and carbohydrates in the diet. A high glycemic diet is known to cause inflammation. Yeast infections often cause inflammation. Yeast and Inflammation may or may not be linked to each other.

Antibiotics given for a yeast infection, can cause it to virtually explode in one’s system. Antibiotics can destroy the natural flora in the digestive tract,  that counteracts yeast.

Schulman, explains vaginal fungi, Candida albicans can cause outbreaks, when there are hormonal changes in the body. Usually a sexual partner is not responsible for a recurrent yeast infection. He says to avoid bubble baths, wear clean cotton underwear and to avoid tight fitting clothing.

Precautions include taking Lactobacillus acidophilus, in the diet – (8 oz. of yogurt)or as a supplement, or taking boron, garlic (with anti fungal properties), Lavender, or tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is a proven germicide, and will inhibit 11 different bacteria, according to Schulman. See his book for details.

Yeast in the system may be a secondary, sometime problem, but it may also be a major malady on its own. A person can be allergic to yeast, even as it multiplies in different parts of the body. A blood test can reveal a yeast allergy or sensitivity.

Yeast infections in the body may go away on their own. Even if we try to avoid starchy or sweet foods, it is hard to realize the full extent of sugar and carbs we are consuming every day. Even if we look at the ingredients on canned goods, boxes, cereals, and condiments, the chemical names are a mystery, hard to identify by only looking at the names, which are unfamiliar. Processed foods are filled with high glycemic ingredients and various kinds of sweeteners and sugars, starches, flour, (as well as gluten which has other impacts).

If you have an autoimmune disease, and inflammation is part of your problem, it is critical to know how to avoid these ingredients in your diet.

The food industry is invested in selling these products. They tell you sugars, grains and starches are staples and are healthy. In regulated amounts this is probably true, but the volume of such products consumed in this country is not healthy. In addition, the amount of exercise we don’t do contributes to obesity and diabetes. Physical labor is not part of a person’s life style and occupation, to the degree that it was 100 years ago.

How to reverse yeast in the system? Learn to identify and avoid the sugars and carbohydrates that contribute. Some people think fruits and berries, a source of natural sugars must also be withdrawn from the diet. I am still researching that subject.

Another thing that will probably help is to take a probiotic, containing the natural living cultures to restore your intestinal health, and which will put the various cultures that live in the gut, including yeast into balance. Natural immunity to disease is dependent upon a healthy intestinal tract. 90% of a healthy immune system depends upon the intestines.

Next time: Lists of sugars, starches, high glycemic foods and additives.


Images and Writing are the Copy right © of Ruth Zachary