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HIGHLIGHTS:
03:55 Fibromyalgia is not painting the body, it’s a mental disorder. It’s depression manifesting itself as physical pain. It’s anxiety manifesting itself as physical pain and discomfort, fatigue and insomnia and etc.
04:57 over 10 million people in America have Fibromyalgia. Now of that up to 90% are women. Now that’s very interesting. That’s directly according to the National Fibromyalgia Association that up to 90% of the Fibromyalgia sufferers in our country are women. So is there an estrogen component? It’s very interesting because if you think of something, autoimmune disease also has the 10 to 1 prevalence in women to men. So maybe, autoimmune disease should be thought of when we think Fibromyalgia. Now that being said, the American College of Rheumatology is the kind of the forefront leading medical group that is following Fibromyalgia, for lack of better words. But I still don’t think doctors in your town and my town think of Fibromyalgia has necessarily as an autoimmune disease, so some of the things about there, there’s probably an estrogen component.
There’s an emotional component, there’s a mental component there.
06:43 Fibromyalgia is more common as you get older and it tends to run in families.
So does that mean there’s a genetic component? Possibly, but there could just be a familial component. What I mean by that is the stresses that mom and dad are under can affect the stress of the kids and the way the lifestyle has lived, the diet, the movement or lack thereof, the way they handle stress, the way the kids view the parents handling stress, even the bad drive to school or work. It’s familiar in the sense that it’s under one roof, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it travels along the genes, if that makes sense.
08:46 We all fall under this umbrella of human physiology. But the way things present in your doctor’s office is different person to person. The exact cause of Fibromyalgia, as I mentioned, is not, no. It may be due to an autoimmune process. Well, that leads us back to, is there an infectious process, Epstein Barr virus, Lyme. Those are two things that have definitely been indicated or implicated in Fibromyalgia. Genetic subtyping, if you’re more prone to infections like an apoB-33, you have less risk of heart disease with that particular genetic typing, but you seem to have more susceptibility to infectious processes. Also the way you handle even vitamins in your body. MTFHR is a gene we look at to see how you Methylate and if you don’t Methylate as well, you might be at greater risk for Fibromyalgia.
14:45 Pain that’s lasted greater than three months is the diagnostic criteria if we want to diagnose and pain that occurs on both sides of the body evenly. So, and I’ll cover some of the body parts in a minute here. When I covered the widespread pain index. Sleep problems is there’s one of those check marks.
If you have problems sleeping and this widespread pain greater than three months, we start thinking Fibromyalgia. Cognitive difficulties, I think the Fibromyalgia world calls it fibro fog where they’re just kind of have difficulty paying attention, difficulty focusing. And it goes right along with the fatigue component. They feel tired, weak, sleep longer than their friends or loved ones, yet they still don’t wake up refreshed. The sleep issues is huge in the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. They, again, they can sleep just as long as the rest of us, but they wake up not feeling well. There’s some research behind that they don’t reach deep sleep. People with Fibromyalgia don’t tend to reach deep sleep like those without it. So again, it’s the chicken and the egg question, but it’s a very important thing to address in treatment utilizing the RecoverMe method. Stiffness upon waking or being in a position too long.
24:27 Let’s look at your Cortisol curve and what can we do about it then reducing emotional stress, meditating, spending time in prayer or quiet, breathing techniques, self inner looking techniques, all these different things to help lower that stress. Cause again, I’m not necessarily saying that that’s causative, but it’s running parallel with Fibromyalgia. Just the stress of being in pain causes this function terribly vicious cycle. We need to throw a wrench in that engine and change it. So HP axis, huge, both diagnostically and treatment wise in Fibromyalgia.
25:23 Hormones. Huge. I just told you, not only is Fibromyalgia more present as you get older, so there’s definitely a hormonal component, but I’ve fixed people thyroid and all their Fibromyalgia symptoms went away. And I didn’t normalize their thyroid just to, just to emphasize, I optimized it. Most doctors would look at their TSH and their levels and go, “oh, they’re normal”. No, no, no. It needs to be optimal. If you’re dealing with this type of symptoms, cause I cannot tell you the number of people we’ve cured by doing that. Get all the hormones tested, get them balanced and optimized. That doesn’t necessarily mean you take hormones, but the way you eat, the way you move, the way you think, some supplements you can take. Adaptogenic herbs can help optimize the hormones and get them working appropriately. Gut Health and the microbiome. Huge. As I mentioned earlier, I always encourage people when they get, uh, um, or they come into my office with Fibromyalgia.
26:36 Toxins in the environment, huge viral testing’s important, heavy metal testing, organophosphates. You need to make sure there’s nothing else causing some of these symptoms. And along with toxins, I always throw in the word relationships. I think we, you can get in a toxic relationship that affects everything else. It could be a boss at work, it could be someone in your own home, a sibling, a child, a spouse, or loved one, a live in boyfriend, whatever. If the, there’s toxic relationships in your life, you’re going to have a hard time dealing with Fibromyalgia.
27:54 So I start my patients out super slow, my wonderful Fibromyalgia patients come in, I want you to exercise five minutes a day. That’s it.
Go for a five minute walk, maybe a two minute walk starts slowly but, purposely and gradually increase that time by 30 seconds to a minute every other day or so. Once you get to 15 minutes of exercise a day, stay there for a week or two and then start adding a minute on from there. Nice. And slows the secret. When people approach it that way and don’t feel the pressure to exercise two hours every day to cure their Fibromyalgia or they were told to move is the best thing for them. People get better that way. So the RecoverMe movement idea is start slow and go slow. Five minutes a day max with 30 seconds to a minute added on every other day until you get to 15 minutes and then stay there for a few weeks and slowly progressed up from there.
28:55 The saying I’d love to give is “if God made it, eat it, if man made it, don’t”. That is so true with Fibromyalgia. Even Western medicine suggest you stay away from processed foods. It is one of the disease states where they actually admit, “oh, it does make a difference.” So it does make a difference. Possibly get online, get an elimination eating plan, go see a dietician that understands functional eating and have them write you up and elimination eating plan. And I think DET dieting, delayed eating technique dieting also is very beneficial for my Fibromyalgia patients. I’ve had them do very well with it as long as they don’t have any underlying endocrine disorder or depression or some of the other things that can influenced DET dieting. But DET dieting, I think works wonderful for for people. I explained it in detail in my book Obtainable and on the mini course I talked about how to actually set up at delayed eating techniques structure for your day.
29:53 RecoverMe sleep is so important because there’s such a sleep disorder. So simple steps, going to bed at the same time every night. Getting up in the morning, same time every morning really makes a difference when you sleep is as important as how long you sleep, making your room dark, using lavender essential oils, avoiding screentime of any sort for at least two or three hours before bed, and even a small snack before bed. One of my favorites is a little yogurt with protein powder in it or maybe a cup of oats with some pea protein and a little milk on top of it to increase serotonin in the brain therefore melatonin and it helps people sleep. And I’ve had a lot of luck with that. Now that goes against some of the other preachings you’ll hear, both on my website and others about eating before bed. But really we have to help this person feel better, sleep better, get better with their Fibromyalgia before we can worry about those other things.
30:55 The RecoverMe medicine, I tried to help people avoid the neuroleptic drugs and the antiseizure drugs. I think some of the antidepressants are okay in low doses. While we’re working it up, while we’re trying to figure out everything else, while we’re getting your HPA axis, toxins, oxidative stress, gut health, and your hormones balanced, I think they have a role and so I’m not against those at all. They certainly have their place, it just takes a fine balancing of everything else. And then planning with an appropriate date to get off those medications is ideal. CBD Oil really being used now with the legalization of marijuana. I’ve had some patients who use CBDO prescription and do very well with their Fibromyalgia. So I think there’s a place for that. And I’ll cover that in a little more detail in the mini course.
Neural therapy is something that I love. It’s a German technique using procaine, really helps some of the pain issues and some of the gut issues and Fibromyalgia. And we use a lot of IV therapy, both minerals, vitamins and amino acids to help just the person overall balance optimize your immune system is, there’s probably an autoimmune component to it. Again, all those things help to balance that out and work. So those are the medication or medicinal sides other RecoverMe approach for Fibromyalgia.
So in summary, remember Fibromyalgia is a very real thing. It affects real people and it can be quite a life changing if not devastating. And you need to approach it in a very holistic manner. Getting a good history, finding the underlying issues, balancing the five tenants of the RecoverMe philosophy, HPA axis or Cortisol and the Adrenal Glands, hormones, toxins in the environment, gut health and Oxidative stress. Getting those balance and then using movement, diet, supplementation, relationships, all those things under the RecoverMe method to help improve quality of life if not cure and fix the Fibromyalgia. I’ve met many people whose Fibromyalgia was cured, so it’s not impossible. The saying I’d love to give is “if God made it, eat it, if man made it, don’t”. That is so true with Fibromyalgia.
