FIBROMYALGIA / ACHING MUSCLES

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Did you know that Fibromyalgia (and aching muscles that have not been diagnosed as Fibromyalgia) can often be helped by Nutritional Terapy? In my clinical practice, I have seen it happen time and time again - and now you can receive tailor-made advice online from www.nutritionhelp.com!

My name is Erica White. I’m Nutritional Director of Nutritionhelp, and also a Fellow of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition and an Honorary Fellow of the British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy. I have now retired from clinical practice, but we have set up an online Questionnaire and Report system which can give you all the advice you need, with an optional facility to have contact with one of our associate team of qualified Nutritionists.

I’m going to answer a few questions about Fibromyalgia which I hope might be helpful to you.

Q. Erica, what exactly is Fibromyalgia ?

Fibromyalgia is the term used for pain in the fibrous tissues of the body – muscles, ligaments and tendons. It used to be known as fibrositis. Fibromyalgia is experienced as aches and pains in various areas of the body and can even be ‘pain all over’. The symptoms are very much like the severe muscle pain that is experienced in a bad bout of flu, but whereas flu eventually comes to an end, fibromyalgia goes on indefinitely – sometimes for years.

Probably the main symptom of Fibromyalgia is muscular pain which is thought to be caused by improper energy-production in the muscles, and it is sometimes helped by taking good levels of magnesium and also malic acid, derived from apples. Stress is a major factor in fibromyalgia because it burns up magnesium in the body. It might be the initial trigger, but equally the trigger might be a virus or an overload of toxins, because when toxins reach the muscles, the result is inflammation and pain. An over-production in the body of certain organic acids, like tartaric acid, can also cause muscle pain.

Q. Are there any other symptoms besides muscle pain?

Yes, there can be fatigue, poor memory and concentration, tingling in hands and feet, headaches, irritability, depression and irritable bowel syndrome. The fact that it can present as a wide variety of symptoms makes it very similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or M.E., and as with CFS/ ME, various factors should be suspected including food allergy, adrenal exhaustion (as a result of stress), nutritional deficiencies or imbalances - and yeast infection, by which I mean an overgrowth of the common yeast Candida albicans. In fact, both Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome could be a misdiagnosis of severe candidiasis!

Q. Why do you believe that Candida is so strongly implicated in fibromyalgia?

In the first place, Candida is known to release at least 79 known toxins – and, as I’ve already said, toxins cause pain in the muscles. Even Candida sufferers who do not have Fibromyalgia very commonly suffer with aching muscles. Another effect of toxins in the blood is fatigue, both physical and mental, together with poor memory and an inability to concentrate. They can also cause numbness and tingling sensations. Secondly, Candida releases tartaric acid, an organic acid known to cause muscle pain. Dr. William Shaw in the USA has found that tartaric acid is invariably raised in the urine samples of adults with Fibromyalgia, which further reinforces the Candida association. The similarities between the symptoms caused by Candida and those experienced in Fibromyalgia are many.

Q. So presumably you believe that an anti-candida regime can be helpful for Fibromyalgia?

Yes I do. By bringing Candida under control, the level of toxins and inflammatory organic acids in the body is reduced, and their associated symptoms are overcome. In the process of following appropriate Nutritional Therapy to achieve this improvement, support is given to the liver’s detoxification processes to speed up the elimination of toxins and to counteract the effects of harmful organic acids.

Q. What does the anti-candida regime involve?

It’s necessary to follow an anti-candida four-point plan which involves a carefully-controlled diet, appropriate vitamins and minerals to strengthen the immune system (preferably a tailor-made programme), natural anti-fungal supplements to destroy the Candida overgrowth, and probiotic supplements to re-establish a healthy colony of friendly bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

Q. Apart from the anti-candida diet, are there any specific foods to avoid because they encourage inflammation?

Red meat and animal fat, in particular.

Q. And any foods which are anti-inflammatory?

Oily fish and seeds and their oils, especially flax seed oil.

Q. What else would you say to anyone who is looking for answers to Fibromyalgia?

If you haven’t considered it before, you may well find that appropriate Nutritional Therapy could be very helpful. Of course, we can make no claims for you as an individual, but we can say that many people have seen significant improvement.

Maybe you would like to register for an online report from www.nutritionhelp.com. A detailed Questionnaire enables you to be provided with personalised advice based on my clinical experience over nearly twenty years. In addition, it will tell you about various optional supplements which can help to relieve your symptoms while you are tackling the root cause.

For just £47 you will receive an extremely detailed report giving tailor-made nutritional advice to help you on your road to recovery. Read how the system works on www.nutritionhelp.com/quest_more.php.

Register now for an online Questionnaire on www.nutritionhelp.com.

I wish you well!

Erica White, Dip.ION, FBANT
Nutritional Director, Nutritionhelp Ltd