# Fibromalsia



## collared Princess (Aug 16, 2010)

Was wondering if anyone suffers with FM here besides me.I saw that one other person mentioned it on the boards.
I have constant pain in my arms and shoulders..not to metion fatigue(hence my 5am post) I have trouble sleeping..would love to hear other stories ,know what other people go through with this desease


----------



## calauria (Aug 16, 2010)

I have it, hence why I'm posting at 6am. Oh well, time to get the kiddies ready for school! LOL!!


----------



## Aust99 (Aug 16, 2010)

My mother has it.. she's not on this site but I've seen how horrible this disease is...


----------



## GTAFA (Aug 16, 2010)

collared Princess said:


> Was wondering if anyone suffers with FM here besides me.I saw that one other person mentioned it on the boards.
> I have constant pain in my arms and shoulders..not to metion fatigue(hence my 5am post) I have trouble sleeping..would love to hear other stories ,know what other people go through with this desease



My sister ("M") has it & i recently heard from a good friend whose wife has it as well. I recall the frustration M went through when doctors were trying to figure out the cause of her pain. I am convinced that doctors have a dirty little secret about FM: that they usually don't have a clue how to treat it, and therefore they really hate finding new cases. I have a tiny tiny bit of sympathy for them, given that it must be hard to be faced with something for which they're largely powerless.

Me? I suffer from another disease that used to totally flummox doctors --ankylosing spondylitis or "AS"-- which is a kind of arthritis. I did some research online last year when i was hit with a bad case of iritis (an inflammation of the iris that hurts although fortunately hasn't yet threatened my eyesight), one of the associated conditions of AS. There's a wonderful support group for AS known as http://kickas.org/ who gave me a lot of insight. What follows is my own opinion, so please feel free to ignore the opinion of a _*crackpot*_.

AS appears --according to what i read-- to be an infection of the lower Gastro-intestinal tract, the same bacteria that causes pneumonia, except its effects are different in the lower intestine. The theory i read says that starch triggers inflammation. The inflammation may lead to the usual nastiness one gets with AS (neck and joint problems, skin irritations) or more unusual things such as the iritis. My big eye problem in 2009 was likely triggered by a combination of a couple of movies (pigging out on popcorn), a new bakery in my area (i ate a loaf of potato rye over 2 days), and my usual diet (oatmeal, bread, potatoes, pasta etc). When I discovered this website and read their advice (which is pretty radical... give up pasta? potatoes? ) i jumped on the bandwagon, desperate for a solution. While it may seem unlikely it appears to have worked. My eye sometimes bothers me a bit during allergy season (and an allergy probably triggered the outbreak in the spring of 2009), but has been just fine ever since i cut down on starches.

What has this to do with Fibromyalgia? everything. Apparently --according to the theory-- FM, AS, also rheumatoid arthritis & perhaps also Crohns disease, likely have a similar type of origin. The differences are a combination of things. AS has a genetic marker identifying it, so chances are, when you get the infection, if you're ONE gene type it leads to AS, if ANOTHER gene type, it leads to RA, or maybe FM.

Here's the real problem. Drug companies make tons of money on the drugs people take to fight these illnesses. The recommended drugs for AS, for example, even though covered by my drug plan, are called "biologicals", and cost upwards of $10,000 per year. It's all a matter of politics (like everything i guess). *The research to find the dietary cause and therefore a cheap no-drug solution is not being done.* The discovery of the link between starch and AS was completely accidental, almost a JOKE! The researcher --a brit named Ebringer-- told his patient, IN JEST, "i don't know what to tell you. You may as well eat red meat, red wine and red tomatoes". The patient took him literally and OMIGOD it worked! The diet that is permitted (currently recommended years after that accidental discovery) allows meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, but no high starch items (potatoes & pasta). I can eat spelt pasta or spelt bread, sweet potatoes,... 

So to make a long story short (okay okay too late! it's ALREADY a long story) while the connection between AS & starch is barely established (still no real research to prove it... instead they study dangerous meds that could give me cancer...NO THANKS!), they haven't even got that far with FM. Somebody has to study this further.

So i suggest you check out that website, at least to see if what they say there about FM might help you. ALSO google Ebringer & fibromyalgia, or fibromyalgia and low starch diet. (NOTE: it's often abbreviated as "LSD"... don't be alarmed, nobody's asking you to get stoned!).

Good luck, and i hope this might be helpful to someone.

NOTE: i think i recall also reading that irritable bowel syndrome is also one of the same group of inflammatory diseases likely caused by starch.


----------



## collared Princess (Aug 21, 2010)

GTAFA said:


> My sister ("M") has it & i recently heard from a good friend whose wife has it as well. I recall the frustration M went through when doctors were trying to figure out the cause of her pain. I am convinced that doctors have a dirty little secret about FM: that they usually don't have a clue how to treat it, and therefore they really hate finding new cases. I have a tiny tiny bit of sympathy for them, given that it must be hard to be faced with something for which they're largely powerless.
> 
> Me? I suffer from another disease that used to totally flummox doctors --ankylosing spondylitis or "AS"-- which is a kind of arthritis. I did some research online last year when i was hit with a bad case of iritis (an inflammation of the iris that hurts although fortunately hasn't yet threatened my eyesight), one of the associated conditions of AS. There's a wonderful support group for AS known as http://kickas.org/ who gave me a lot of insight. What follows is my own opinion, so please feel free to ignore the opinion of a _*crackpot*_.
> 
> ...



Thanks for your post very interesting..Im wondering if FM is a result of traumatic stress..I had just gotten a divorce, lost my job and was dealing with an issue of being molested as a teenager when I came down with mono..with mono came shingles and double phnemonia..I was very sick..WHen I started recovering from the mono I started aching everywhere..I told my doctor about it and thats when she diagnosted me with F.M..Id never herd of it before then..I read on line that FM and mono can go hand in hand as well..


----------



## GTAFA (Aug 21, 2010)

collared Princess said:


> Thanks for your post very interesting..Im wondering if FM is a result of traumatic stress..I had just gotten a divorce, lost my job and was dealing with an issue of being molested as a teenager when I came down with mono..with mono came shingles and double phnemonia..I was very sick..WHen I started recovering from the mono I started aching everywhere..I told my doctor about it and thats when she diagnosted me with F.M..Id never herd of it before then..I read on line that FM and mono can go hand in hand as well..



Wow sounds like a triple whammy psychologically even before you talk about shingles, mono & pneumonia. I have heard that an infection can serve as a kind of trigger, to get the inflammation started (at least with AS; possible the others too). I believe stress is always a factor, in the sense that our defense mechanisms are always coping (or failing to cope) with the stress in our lives. You had an enormous number of issues all at once. Wow.


----------

