Romans8

Char123, Be of good courage. Don't give up. I hope I can be of some help with what I've gone through. I've read a lot of the posts and think it is great to have the support of others. Warning, I'm a horrible speller.
I've had FMS for 35 years. I wasn't able to put a name to it until I was reading in a book to treat one of my symptoms which at the time was Irritable bowel syndrom. Drs. can't diagnose FMS and they try to say it is like Rhuemitoid Arthritis but it isn't at all and it can't be found on X-rays. They say it's a catch all word and they all have their own idea of what it is and I too am tired of being treated like I don't know a thing. I also diagnosed myself and it has sense been confirmed. It is known that it can be brought on by stressfull situations, accidents, illnesses etc. I had mono when I was 15 and have Epstein Bar ever since. At the onset of the worst fibro, I did CoQ10 and Germanium. It really helped until we had more bad situations come up. It has continued to get worse due to many stressful events.
I have heard that it is viral which EB is viral. I read that it is a repeating virus and that this DR. had the viral cure but you could only get it through him. Yeah. So I started my own search on anti-virals. I started taking Olive leaf, grapeseed extract, Quercetin (which is specifically for repetivtive viruses) Oregano oil, No Garlic though, in larger than normal quanties, starting slowly and increasing the amount as I could handle it. I noticed after awhile I was noticably feeling better even during the rainy season, then I took a bad fall injuring my ribs and back. Between my Chiropractor, which was a God send, he doesn't use traditional methods, he is truly gifted and has kept me going. I've had major, Verdigo, Myofacia?? Pain all over, and skin crawling from head to toe. Painful where ever you touch me. Pain increasing with the barametric pressure. I saw a naturopath that gave me a metal pill with a battery in it called Sputnik. It worked great. It rids your body of parasites but the side effect is that is gets rid of gallstones too. My side effect is that it cured my Irritable Bowl Syndrom and I haven't had it in 4 years. I use to couldn't leave my house without having my husband pull over so I could go behind a tree.
After more research, I cut out starches, sugars, alcohol, low carbs, lots of fruits and natural sugars, dairy products, eggs, night shade plants, citris and most grains and peanuts as they all have fungus and molds that irritate FMS, not a lot of meats especially red meats. Most all of the people that are doing really bad that I talk to and are on major pain killers, crying and depressed are still eating all the wrong foods and drinking alcohol causing a lot of food allergies, sugars etc. and we all have parsites. And believe I improve as long as I do keep on a pretty strict diet and do cleanses often. I don't torture myself and do treat myself to something on my no no list once in awhile but then you have to get right back to it and drink lots of water. If you crave sweets and carbs that usually means you have candida and parasites. That's what they thrive on. The myth is that you usually have a yeast infection if you have candida overgrowth but this isn't true. Testing won't show anything because parasites are all through your body and yeast also. Very little is in your lower bowel so you won't find any in your stool unless they're dead. If your constantly scratching everywhere especially your anise and skin then you have parasites and candida and parasites go hand in hand. Also symptoms are constipation, being bloated all the time, always have gas, foul smelling bathroom visits. I don't have any of this anymore and when I start to itch I know it's time to do a cleanse. I do take Vicodine and Soma, for pain and Restoril and Flexeril for sleep along with Melatonin. I've had my hormones checked and I'm on Bio Identical hormone therapy which don't give you the bad side effects as replacement hormone theapy. Don't take your Drs. word alone for the test results. Have him consult with your Pharmacist. My Dr. is young and new and wanted to put me on synthetic Estogen but I gave my Pharmacist my lab work and he said that was all wrong that this is what a lot of Drs. do, like estrogen is the cure all. I didn't need any Estrogen at all, but that I was low in Progesterone which I have been low majorly low all my life. Also FMS patients usually have low thyroid and their adrenal is shot. You can have these checked with the same saliva test. Your cortisol level can mess everything up even though you get a normal reading. Read up on it.
Get with a Pharmacist that does compounding (mixing from scratch)as they are trained for this and stay away from synthetics. It makes symptoms worse and the risks are too high.
I recommend a candida cleanse under the supervision of a homeopathic Dr. or one that will work with you because I almost died from the candida die off that nobody told me about, also do a parasite cleanse with herbal tinctures and teas often and wash your vegetables real well. Get organic if possible. It isn't much more than the pestacide laden stuff and it's beautiful now days but you will have to wash it with a peroxide rinse or veggie soap. Chemical sensitivity or intollerance is very prevalent now days and in FMS people. A liver gallbladder kidney, bladder cleanse is essensial especially if you are on a lot of medications. These recommendations need to be a life style not a once in awhile thing. I believe we can beat this thing together. Bowel cleansing made a big difference in me plus I lost weigh. A possitive outlook really does help. Out of the mouth comes life and death. What we speak can affect how we feel. For those of you who believe the Bible, everything I've said is scriptural from diet to cleanses. I'm not talking about being in denial just uplift yourself with things that make you happy. If your hormones are off it can cause so many fibro symptoms in your body. It's so important to get a good reading. There are labs on the net you can get saliva tests sent to you and Pharmacies that have the information on how to go about getting them also. I've experienced everything you've all said and I don't mind you emailing. Even if you just feel like crying, it's okay.
This disease is very hard on marriages. I encourage you to get as much information to your spouse without being too overwhelming to them. My husband has been great and would be happy to talk with you, sympathize and encourage.
I just encourage you all to hang in there and know you are not alone and you are loved.
As for my recent nightmare of an experience all my Drs. wanting me to keep trying anti depressants for pain.
I'm not depressed. I use to be but not anymore inspite of my pain however, they wouldn't treat me until I obeyed and took this last one, the miracle pain manager Cymbalta. I swear I thought I was going to die. I've had many bad effects from several others and at one time Serzone did help me but Paxil had a horrible effect on me too. Suicidal which by the way is not an option. But this one almost did me in. I thought I was going to snap. Scared my husband to death as I lay there catotonic, curled up in a fetal possision afraid to move or I'd lose it. It was like I was leaning over a cliff and felt compelled to go over if I moved one inch or uncurled I would fall. It was a 24 hour pill and 10% of all patients got these side effects.
My Dr. didn't check into it well enough. His info told him only .1% had the side effects.
Please don't be a guennie pig. It almost cost me my sanity.
I don't feel that the new drugs are tested enough. My husband read that a totally healthy 19 year old hung herself in the study clinic. She was there to earn money for college and this is what I was on.
Massages are very good and hard isn't better. They have to be very in tune to your painful areas. Hot baths and light no impact excersize. Degenerative bone disease is also a symptom of FMS usually spondilolisis in the lower virtabre so watch your back, literally.
I hope some of what I have put here helps. I definetly don't know it all and I would love to hear from anyone who has imput as to what helped them. It's also very important to incorperate this lifestyle into the rest of the family. If you do a parasite cleanse but your husband doesn't it won't do you much good just by sleeping in the same bed with him. This goes for kids too. Everybody has parasites. My family refuses to think about it but this doesn't make them go away. You'll be very pleased at the results. Check the subject out on the web. You'll be surprized
I've probably broken every rule here. I hope not. I really just want to help and uplift. I hope I haven't confused anyone.
Thanks to everyone for your input.