William Hennen, Ph.D., a bioorganic chemist from Sandy, Utah, and author of Fibrornyalgia - A Nutritional Approach, has an interesting take on how the multiple symptoms of fibromyalgia and similar diseases work:
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome because the identifiable factors vary even though the symptoms are present. This can be likened to the operation of a car. A car will not run if its gas tank is empty. On the other hand, a car with a full tank of gas still will not run if its battery is dead. Thus, a whole list of functions must be present for a car to run properly, while the absence of any one function is sufficient to prevent the car from running.
 |
| Frequent Yeast Infections |
The human body is infinitely more complex than a car and many more functions must be working properly for the body to operate efficiently. The body, unlike the car, has an interest in its own well-being. The body has many self-healing mechanisms and many self-compensating mechanisms. If given the right tools, sufficient time and correct instructions, the body can heal itself.
An article in the May 2001 Annals of Internal Medicine discusses the overlapping symptoms of CFS, fibromyalgia and other syndromes with which we are becoming more and more familiar in this blog:
Unexplained clinical conditions share features, including symptoms - fatigue, pain. Disability out of proportion to physical examination findings, consistent demonstration of laboratory abnormalities and an association with "stress" and psychosocial factors ...
Conditions examined were the chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, the irritable bowel syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, temporal mandibular disorder, tension headaches, interstitial cystitis and the post-concussion syndrome. Many similarities were apparent in case definition and symptoms, and the proportion of patients with one unexplained clinical condition meeting criteria for a second unexplained condition was striking. Overlap between unexplained clinical conditions is substantial.
FMS and CFS clearly affect every part of their victims' lives - not in the least their psychological ability to cope. These are not psychological diseases. However, they can have deep-reaching psychological effects when both diagnosis and treatment are so elusive.
One of my favorite authors, Miryam Ehrlich Williamson, a medical and technical journalist from Warwick, Massachusetts, has had FMS since childhood. Actually, she says on her website, "I have had fibromyalgia since early childhood, but fibromyalgia doesn't have me."
In her book, The Fibromyalgia Relief Book: 213 Ideas for Improving Your Quality of Life, Williamson provides superb coping tools that would apply to people with any chronic disease:
- Reclaim self-esteem and don't let the pain make you more tense. Cultivate self-efficacy. Tell yourself that you can do it.
- Build a support system. Surround yourself with people who are positive. Get rid of toxic people.
- Don't expect miracles from your physician and don't overload the physician with too many symptoms. There are many key factors in improvement. Many of them are common sense, but sometimes they're hard to implement.
- You are what you eat, and you should give your body what it needs to heal with proper nutrition.
- Beware of food allergies and sensitivities. Many people have food cravings for carbohydrates and may be allergic to them. Many fibromyalgia patients have problems with malabsorption, and these may be caused by yeast overgrowth. Because of malabsorption problems, many people with FM may need vitamins and minerals, especially the B complex vitamins, calcium and magnesium.
- Exercise can be tricky. Start out slowly. Increase slowly, but once you start, never skip more than one day at a time.
- When the complexity of FM gets you down, divide and conquer. Pick one problem and focus on it.
- Develop a game plan and keep records.
- Don't give up.
- You're the expert on your body. You know what is best for you. Don't waste energy defending yourself or trying to convince others. Stay focused on your goal and ways to achieve it.
 |
| Frequent Yeast Infections |
To find out more, you can check out Frequent Yeast Infections.