Have you changed your life and diet because of Fibromyalgia and did that help?

Question

I have a friend that has been diagnosed with this disease and I'm doing some research for her. I've found many things on the internet, but will they really make a difference? This girl (38) has been health conscious(she is thin and keeps very active) all her life and she is having a difficult time now trying to keep up with 4 children and dealing with this disease at the same time.

Answer 1

I'm a 53 yr. old male and I used to exercise and watch my weight and kept myself in really good shape.Tens yrs. ago something was happening to my body,it started in my left foot but I just ignored it.As time went by my condition was getting worse so I went to see a specialist and he couldn't find anything wrong with me.By the time I found a Dr. that could tell me what was wrong a yr. had passed and now the painful spasms go from my feet to the back of my head.She told me I had fibromyalgia. I figured the Dr. would give me pain killers and a cure all pill (didn't happen). I'm sorry about your friend having this disease, I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I have yet to find anything to help this problem. This has changed my whole life. Haven't been able to work now for almost 10 yrs. The Dr. has me on very stong pain meds as well as antidipressants. Sorry for not having good news.

Answer 2

Yes, I needed to change my lifestyle because of Fibromyalgia. I didn't change my diet, because I haven't felt any symptoms related to digestion, but for example I had to change my sleeping habits. I now keep my sleeping time as regular as possible. I go to sleep every day at the same time and I wake up every day at the same time (including weekends). This has helped me improve my sleep and get better rest, which has helped with the pain and other symptoms as well.

Another thing that helped me was to stay warm. Whenever I get cold the pains get worse, but big heat differences are bad for me too, so I try to dress in a way that keeps me feeling warm without being too hot.

Fibromyalgia can come in so many different forms and severities that there is nothing that works the same for all Fibromyalgia patients. I recommend that your friend read a lot about what has helped other Fibromyalgia sufferers and then experiement with it. Pay close attention to when the symptoms get better or worse and try a lot of different things that might help and see what effect they have on her. It took me a long time to figure out what I needed to do to minimize my symptoms, but it was worth it. Once your friend finds out how she can do self-help by adjusting her lifestyle it will help her live with Fibromyalgia.

Answer 3

First off - good for you for being such a good person and wanting to help your friend deal with and understand her fibro.

There are many different treatments for Fibromyalgia, and the majority of them are aimed at reducing the symptoms.

Nothing can cure fibromyalgia, but there are several things that can help reduce symptoms to help the patient live more comfortably. The treatments vary depending on the patient, the types of symptoms, and the severity of the symptoms.

Some treatments involve medication, diet, exercise, physical therapy, sleeping better (deeper and longer), setting activity limits so that the patient can avoid symptom/pain flares, massage techniques, types of yoga stretching, different muscle stretching/strengthening techniques, meditation and other relaxation techniques to help reduce pain and relax the muscles, etc...

The best recommendation I can offer is to suggest that you buy Devin Starlanyls book for your friend. The book is called Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain; A Survival Manual (second edition). I'll put a link to Devin Starlanyls website below - the website is not set up very well, but the book and the info in the book is the best ever written for people with fibro. The author is a doctor who suffers from fibromyalgia herself, so she writes with knowledge and experience from the medical side of things and the patient side of things.

I know many people with fibro, and all of them have been helped by that book (most of them call it the "fibro bible"). When one of my friends was diagnosed, I bought her that book and she said that out of all the things that friends and family were trying to do to help her, the book was the biggest help.

I hope that helps! :-)

Answer 4

Hey your friend can have a better life. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia for about 7 years now. When I was first diagnosed I was in a level 9 pain most of the time. Through out the years I have learned lots of things that have improved my life.
These are the things that have helped me, I wont go into lenghty explanantions it would take too much time. :
Dietary changes:

I found that sugar and carb loaded foods caused me to have burning muscle pain. I avoid those. I eat a diet as close to natural as possible. I eat plenty of fresh veggies , fresh fruits and lean meats. This has lessened my pain.

I found that MSG gives me migraines. (Migraines are common with fibro)

Caffiene in all forms is a no no with fibromyalgia. The reasons for that are it interfers with sleep and it makes hypoglycemia worse, both of which increase pain.

Carbonated drinks contain phosphates which disrupt the ATP process which is one of the problems with people who have fibromyalgia. The ATP cycle is responcible for the level of sleep we acheive.Without reaching a deep enough level of sleep our muscles are unable to repair themselves . This is one of the major causes of pain with fibromyalgia. So giving up carbonated beverages is a necessity if a person wants to feel better.

Don't substitute artifical sweetners , especially any of the aspartame family of sweetners. Aspartame is a neurotoxin. I found out by accident that consuming aspartame made every muscle in my body go rigid all at the same time, I even had problems breathing. If she is already using it she should consider not consuming it at all for several weeks and then introduce it again to see if it causes her pain to increase.

Drink lots of water , it makes it easier to move wastes out of our bodies. Read at Devon Starlanyls website why it's important.

One of the most important things I found is that changing the way you think can improve your levels of pain. Negative thoughts cause a cascade of chemicals that flood your body with hormones that increase pain. So changing your thought processes away from negative thoughts can actually improve your pain levels. So when a person thinks "nothing helps" then of course nothing will help. Its a self fullfilling prophecy. Get rid of the negative attitude and get better. In a way when people say its in our heads, they are right. The process starts in our brain.

I have found my body doesn't process foods properly , so I need to take vitamins to improve my level of health. That's a common thing with people who have fibro.

One supplement she definitely will need is a Magnesium/calcium/zinc blend. Magnesium is needed to stop our muscles from cramping. The calcium makes it so our bodies can use it and the zinc is for muscle healing and immune support.

I have found that D Ribose reduces my pain, improves my sleep , and increases my energy. DRibose can be safely used by those who do not have diabetes, do not have uric acid problems and who are not pregnant. It is a "medical food" that has been used for cardiac patients to improve their healing following heart surgeries and heart attacks. A study in fibro patients found it helped 68% of the fibro patients who tried it. DRibose completes the ATP cycle , thats why it helps with pain.

It takes a while for people to adjust to having fibro but the worst thing a person can do is give up. We have to make a commitment to actively working at feeling better. Those who don't will never feel better.

Warm water workouts are great. With 4 kids she probably wont have time for that but she can still do stretching exercises and use her shower or tub to ease her muscle pain with warm water. Heating pads help also.

I have written a book here.I just wanted to include the important stuff.

Answer 5

nothing helps