Fibromyalgia and diet

I've been reading again. I had heard of Fibro diets but never really considered that my diet might be affecting by fibro pain and energy level. If you haven't been to the National Fibromyalgia Association site you need to go( www.fmaware.org/site/PageServer). They have numerous articles on Fibro and Diet.

Also they have an article about coping with fibro that is informative. The article mentions celiac disease, which I had never heard of before (and I'm a nurse). On further reading I find that celiac is common in fibro patients and is very under diagnosed. (http://www.fmaware.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6726). I checked out the Celiac Disease Foundation site (www.celiac.org/) which gives a lot of information. Needless to say my doctor will be ordering the tests for me as soon as I can get an appointment.

Fibromyalgia and the holidays

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with our daughter and her family. My husband and son-in-law slept in front of the tv and my daughter and I played games all afternoon with the kids. We all enjoyed the day. Of course we ate too much ( I gained 2 pounds). The bad part of the day for me was preparing dinner. My daughter and I shared the work but I still wound up having to stand for quite a while which made me hurt pretty bad. I had to take a pain pill which I don't like to with the children around. But by the time we had eaten I was feeling better.

Another problem I had with Thanksgiving dinner is a problem I have with every meal. I have lichen planus in my mouth and I have dentures. It is amazing that I can eat as much as I did because every bite is painful. It is particularly bad if I get food under the dentures, which unfortunately happens frequently. I have had to give up a lot of foods that I like because of the pain. I can't eat anything even mildly spicy or very sweet because those foods burn my mouth so bad. I can't eat anything hard because it hurts to chew. I do on occasion eat things that really bother me just because I like them, but those times are becoming less frequent. Everything I've read about lichen says that it usually goes away after a year or two, but I've had it for about 7 years. I also have vuvular lichen and lichen in my fingernails. I'm told it is rare to have more than one form but that's me, if I can have anything that makes a person miserable I will get it.

I have been doing some Christmas shopping but I find that I need to know what I going to buy because I can only stand to walk around in the stores for a few minutes. When I go to buy groceries or if I try to wander around the store and look for things I wind up hurting big time.

I got our store decorated for Christmas but that took more than a week. It is very hard to get done the things I need to do.

But despite all my problems the holidays so far are going well. I've almost finished my Christmas shopping and I'm wrapping the gifts 1 or 2 at a time, instead of waiting til the last minute and having to do them all at once like I usually do. I spent some time yesterday addressing and writing cards to go our troops overseas. Now I need to do cards for family and friends. We didn't decorate at home last year and I haven't decided if we will this year; it takes an awful lot of work and pain.

How to lose 10 pounds

Howto lose 10 pounds by Peter Zijl


Imagine what a pound of weight off your waist line could do for your confidence. Now imagine what 10 pounds could do. It could change your life!
With day to day life getting more and more stressful people are finding it difficult to eat correctly and even more difficult to find time to exercise. With a little bit of dedication and the right mindset you can be on your way to losing those pounds, one pound at a time! Here are 4 great tips to get you started on your way to losing 10 pounds:
* Eat correctly. This is more powerful than any medication you can ever take. Medications are expensive and often very unnecessary. What you are not told is they need to be taken with a good diet and regular exercise to work! A proper diet is essential to weight loss.
* Regular Exercise: Ok this can be a little tricky if you have a hectic life style. Changing your habits slightly with things like walking up the stairs to work, cycling to work if possible or even taking an evening stroll can reduce weight considerably.
* Cut down on alcohol. Do you spend you weekends drinking on Friday and Saturday nights? Alcohol is adds to your weight dramatically, so why not only go out on one night of the weekend.
* Take up a hobby. Sometimes we eat because we are hungry. Sometimes we eat because we are just plain bored! Do something about your boredom. Take up a hobby. Do something you love or are interested in to take you mind that burger and chips you were about to devour.
* Set yourself goals. Make sure your goals are reasonable though! Don't try and lose 10 pounds in 3 days! Keep at it one pound at a time.
Ok so sometimes this is easier said than done I can understand. The key points I have highlighted here are a very good start though and they are not difficult to maintain.
About the Author
Peter managed to lose 32 pounds in 6 months eating correctly.

More Fibromyalgia

Back when I was diagnosed with fibro, I looked up everything I could find on the subject. But this was 15 years ago and althought there was some stuff out there their wasn't a lot. From time to time a go looking again and as time passes there is more and more information. Some is helpful, some is not. Some is true and some is very doubtful. But the think that really gets my attention is that over time the information available sounds more and more like the fibro I have. At first, when I read discriptions of fibro symptoms I said that just doesn't sound like me.

I guess what I've taken the long way around to say is that the medical community has finally gotten around to understanding that all fibro is not created equal. And in doing this reading I can at least find out that I am not and alone and completely weird.

I'm going to talk a little about my symptomalogy, it might help someone else. Who know?

Since I was a child I have had sharp shooting pains all over my body. Of course as a child everyone said they were growing pains. As I got older doctors would shrug and say they didn't know what caused them and if they didn't last more than a few seconds there was no point ind trying to find a cause. I have also for most of my adult life had transatory pains. You know the ones where your elbow or side or you ankle will hurt so bad that you can't perform normal task, but they only last hours or some times a day or two.

I started having migraines the summer I graduated from high school. The first few years they were very bad; sometimes 1 or 2 a week and often lasting 2 or 3 days. This was in the 60's and at that time there were no magic pills for migraines. The only medication available was Cafargot. Sometimes it stopped the headaches and sometimes it didn't but it always made me sick as a dog. So after a few months I refused to take it any more. The only other help was Demerol and all it did was let me sleep through the headache. Until Maxalth came along a few years back I had never taken anything that actually stopped a headache. Now I take Toprimate to prevent the headaches and I have very few. I have to say its one of the few things the doctors have ever been able to improve.

Back when the migranes were so bad I used to tell people that as long as I could sleep through my pain I would survive. Back in those days I never had any trouble sleeping. In the last 15 years the only time I have slept through the night is when I have been drugged. For a while I took Ambien and it really did help me sleep but it left me sleepy in the daytime and I walked in my sleep when I was taking it. The first time I woke up and found my kitchen rearranged it really freaked me out. I quit taking the Ambien after I realized that it was causing as many problems as it was helping. For the last 3 or 4 years I have been going to bed for about 10 hours a night. And I do sleep most of that time but I am up and down all night. Needless to say I don't usually feel very rested.

There is a ton more stuff. Like most fibro sufferers I have had and still do have all kinds of medical problems. Ill talk about some of them next time. I hope some of this can help someone. If anyone wants to comment I'd be glad to hear from you.