What has helped me the most

This post is dedicated to Joanna http://myfibrolife.wordpress.com/ who asked me “What has helped you the most?”

There is a book called “What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Fibromyalgia” by R. Paul St. Amand, M.D., and Claudia Craig Marek. A couple things from that book have helped me the most.

First, Guaifenesin is a drug that your doctor will probably not tell you about. It is still a somewhat controversial treatment for fibromyalgia. Controversial, not because of any danger or side-effects, but because many do not believe it helps with fibromyalgia. It is intended for other ailments. To the mainstream medical community, it is an expectorant and is intended to make your mucus flow. It helps loosen up your chest so you cough up mucus from your lungs. It also helps to keep your sinuses more clear. It is sold over-the-counter as “Musinex.”

If you want to know about Guaifenesin for the treatment of fibromyalgia, please get your information from the source, the writings of Dr. Paul R. St Amand. The web site is http://www.fibromyalgiatreatment.com/

My personal comments about Guaifenesin –

• Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by the advice to avoid salicylates. You need to understand the answer to the question, “What is the worse thing that will happen if I don’t avoid salicylates?” The answer is, “Nothing.” In other words, If you don’t avoid them, the drug won’t help. But it won’t hurt you either. So do your best, but don’t let it obsess you.
• It is true that when you start the Guaifenesin protocol, you will feel worse before you feel better. However, I knew this when I started, and I can only really verify it looking back. On a day to day basis I’ve always felt better one day and worse on another. For me it wasn’t that dramatic. Don’t let it scare you. I've found Guaifenesin has almost no side effects.
• Make sure that you take “long acting” or “time release” Guaifenesin, which means Musinex. I could digress into quite a tirade about the Adams Drug Company at this point in my writing, but I decided long ago that accepting things I am unable to change is better for my stress level, and therefore better for my Fibromyalgia. My own experience tells me that you need to have the drug in your system at a pretty constant level over time. The regular, cheaper Guaifenesin won’t do that for you.

Guaifenesin works slowly. When I started, I was told I’d feel better after taking it for about one and a half months for every year that I’d had Fibromyalgia. It works so slowly that you might question if it works at all. It works for me. I continue to take it, and there is a possibility I might continue for the rest of my life.

The one single thing that has made the most dramatic difference in my well-being is the “Hypoglycemic Diet”. Hypoglycemia is also discussed on Dr. St Amand’s web site and in the book.

The Hypoglycemic diet isn’t supposed to work all that fast either. But for me it did, and it does. I started it on January 1, 2000. I felt better immediately. I’ve been keeping to some variation of it for the last nine years.

I can’t emphasis enough that my diet is the biggest single factor in how I feel.

My personal comments about the diet –

• Dr. St Amand’s advice will tell you it is ok to use sugar substitutes. I don’t! I eat sugar occasionally, but I never, ever ingest any artificial sweetener. For me, they are worse than poison. It may be because I am also chemically sensitive, and I will write about that subject on another day. You will need to decide this for yourself, but be aware that it might be a problem.
• I find that I feel very much better if I eat protein at every meal. In fact, I build my diet around protein. Unfortunately, the protein in drinks and even in nuts doesn’t seem to work as well as meat and fish. I admire vegetarians, and they have a good health-record statistically. I will never be one. For me, the way to freedom from pain includes animal protein at every meal.
• If you absolutely positively have to have some sugar, do it right after your last meal of the day. The sugar will have less effect if eaten with protein, and there is something about going to sleep that changes your blood-sugar reaction. There is a book about this called “Potatoes, Not Prozac.”

You might have tried diets before, perhaps to lose weight. They can be difficult to stay on. However, when you experience freedom from pain, you might be surprised how easy it is to continue. As the years have rolled by, I’ve made adjustments based on what I tolerate well and what doesn’t agree with me.

The diet, with the help of Guaifenesin, has given me back my life.