Have you been recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia? Are you a longtime sufferer searching for answers? This blog is for you. This blog contains information on the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, discussions on alternative treatments, as well as the up and coming research in the field of fibromyalgia treatment.
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I am very discouraged. I have had fibromyalgia for 18 years and no one has offered to help me. My regular doctor saw that the fibromyalgia caused me to be insulin resistant and he wanted to put me on diabetic medecine, not admitting it was my disease. I have been to an endocrinologist and a rheumatologist and have had numerous painful tests only to finally be put on a dosage of metformin that made me very sick. My final diagnosis? Fibromyalgia and adrenal fatigue and no one again can do anything for me. The only saving grace is through my pushing I am on DHEA which has made my life bearable. I want someone to help me with the adrenal fatigue so my sugar levels will drop and everyone will leave me alone with the diabetic medecine. I must point out that my pancreas and liver are in excellent shape. Will anyone help me or guide me to the proper source for my adrenal fatigue?
I KNOW SEVERAL PEOPLE SUFFERING WITH FIBRO, ONE OF THEM BEING MY SISTER…ALL OF THEM BEING WOMEN…I HAVE NEVER BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH FIBRO, BUT THESE WOMEN BELIEVE THAT I HAVE FIBRO…I DON’T KNOW OF ANY MEN THAT HAVE FIBRO…I AM MALE AND WONDER IF MEN ARE NOT LIKELY TO HAVE FIBRO…I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT ANYONE CAN HAVE FIBRO BUT I DON’T REALLY KNOW THE SYMTOMS.
Fibromyalgia can be a diagnosis of both men and women. It is not gender specific. It has a multitude of symptoms including generalized body aches, muscle/joint pain, and fatigue. A person that feels that they may have fibromyalgia should have an evaluation to ensure that they do indeed have fibromyalgia, not another pathology that mimics the disease. This can include endocrine disorders, adrenal fatigue syndrome, and bowel disruption (including bacterial dysbiosis).
Two doctor’s have told me I have fibromyalgia, but three said I do not. I do not have the 11 pain points of fibromyalgia, but I do have many of the symptoms such as memory loss, had EBV, metal taste in my mouth, inability to exercise and achey joints. I do have low estrogen and thyroid levels. I am frustrated and confused. I started human growth hormone shots and my symptoms got worse. I am not sure what to do or try next. Very frustrated.
Pam,
I’m not sure what you’ve tried to this point other than the HGH shots, but if your hormone levels are out of balance, that could account for some of your symptoms. Also, newer research is suggesting that people with fibromyalgia-type symptoms have heavy metal toxicity. If you were to see me, I would likely test you for both potential issues, the hormones and the heavy metals.
This will probably be a long post, but will be worthwhile for people who’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia or know someone who has. I would like to tell my story in the hopes that it will help someone else.
About 4 years ago, I began to get sick. I had many symptoms: swollen lymph nodes (the chain in the neck below the ears), extreme fatigue, constant low-grade fevers, contant muscle pain in my legs, and contant and severe pain in my joints (ankles). Overall, it went on for 8 months. The pain caused me to miss many days of work and eventually lose my job. The fatigue had me sleeping up to 16 hours a day. My regular doctor was clueless and began scheduling monthly appointments with me, during which he would run multiple tests and continue to scratch his head. On my forms, the list of diagnoses only got longer. It started with lymphadenopathy (which was doctor speak for I Have No Idea What’s Wrong, But Her Lymph Nodes Are Hard And Swollen). The tests were horrifying: Cancer (specifically, lymphoma), Epsteinn-Barr, Lupus, etc. Fortunately, they all came back negative. He sent me to a Rheumantologist who also scheduled monthly appointments with me, so between the two of them, I saw a doctor every two weeks. This went on for 5 months.
At the rhuematologist, it was more of the same: scary tests, no answers. The pain got worse, and I would sit in the waiting room, sometimes crying from the joint and muscle pain. Both doctors always offered me medications for pain, but I never took them – for many reasons, but partly because I wanted real answers, not temporary suppression. The last time I saw either doctor, my diagnoses were lymphadenopathy, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia. The rheumatologist seemed to really think that if we just watched and waited long enough, we’d find that it was lupus (oh, for joy!).
One day, out of sheer curiosity, I got a colonic. When I was leaving the office, I saw a sign offering an ionic foot detox for $40. I’d never heard of it, so I asked what it was. The woman who did my colonic only told me that it’s meant to help clean some toxins out of your body, and that it’s easy and painless. Again, just out of curiosity, I scheduled one. I had no expectations, I just wanted to see what, if anything, it would do.
I went in to have it done, and the woman put my feet in a bucket of water. She placed a small electric device in the water. The box was connected to a machine, which she turned on. She gave me some reading materials (information about what I was having done), said she’d be back in 30 minutes, and left.
I learned from the reading materials that the detox was going to pull toxins out through my feet. The water would turn many different colors and in it, I would see many different textures. There was a guide explaining each of them. By the end of the 30 minutes, my water was a digusting, colorful mess. The woman came back, dumped the water, cleaned my feet, and took me to the front so I could pay. I had no expectations about this procedure; no wild ideas about it making me feel any better, but it did.
Before I walked out of the building, I realized that for the first time in nearly a year, I felt no pain in my legs or my ankles. None. In the car on the way home, I commented to my fiance that it almost felt as though I didn’t have legs because I had become so accustomed to the pain that to NOT have pain felt bizarre.
I also had energy. TONS of energy. Not just on the day that I got my foot detox – the fatigue was actually gone. That weekend, for the first time since I started getting sick, I cleaned. I mean I CLEANED. I cleaned closets, windows, cabinets – you name it, I cleaned it…just because I COULD.
After one foot detox, I went from being sick, tired, having chronic pain that often brought me to tears and ultimately got me fired from my job, unable to take care of my home, and sleeping all the time to having energy, being pain-free, without fevers, feeling happy, and being a fully functional person.
I do not sell the machine for foot detox and I don’t work in a place that performs it. I’m not selling anything, and there are several places in the Grand Blanc/Fenton/Flint area where foot detox is offered – if you’re interested, go to the one that you like the best. But this thing literally changed my life and my health, and it cost me 30 minutes and $40. I did not have fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome; my body was simply suffering from some type of toxic overload that really looked like fibromyalgia and CFS. I have not seen either of my two doctors since having the foot detox.
I don’t know if Dr. Strauchman’s office offers ionic foot detox, and if not, I hope it will sometime soon. With or without fibromyalgia, it’s a wonderful thing to have done. As an aside, my fiance got one done last May after years of an increasingly horrible “sun allergy”. Just one. For the first time, he was able to spend a lot of time outdoors this past summer with very little reaction. Until then, I know a part of him secretly thought I was a quack.
I would like to post the names of the places in the area that I’m aware of who offer foot detox (if Dr. Strauchman’s office does not), but won’t do that without permission. If your office doesn’t offer it and it’s ok for me to post this info, please let me know and I will.
Either way, if you’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia (or chronic fatigue, for that matter!), please find a place that offers ionic foot detox and get one – ASAP. I still get them occasionally, just for the sake of maintenance, and I always feel absolutely amazing when it’s done. By the way, this is not the same thing as those Kinoki (or whatever) foot detox pads that you can buy on tv – this needs to be done by a machine, with water. The key word is “ionic”.
Rochelle,
Essentially what you are talking about is chelation therapy. Chelation therapy, for those reading this that are unaware, is a procedure wherein a specific substance is introduced into the body that “sticks” to any undesirable heavy metals that are built up in various areas of the body. Once the substance sticks to the heavy metal, it can be pulled out of the body tissue and excreted in the urine.
Heavy metals have long been the suspected culprits in various pain syndromes like fibromyalgia and autoimmune diseases like psoriasis or lupus.
In our clinic, Dr. Strauchman does not use the IONIC foot bath method of detoxification. Instead, she prefers methods that have shown a more consistent ability to remove toxic metals from the body. This is not to discredit or invalidate your experience in any way. Many people have given testimonials on the IONIC foot bath therapy. Dr. Strauchman is simply of the opinion that more people can be consistently helped by DMSA or EDTA chelation, and have their health insurance cover a majority of it.
We appreciate your posting and hope it inspires other to look at alternative methods like these if they have any type of chronic pain.