New Regime!

Since I last posted, things went downhill again (love fibro!), but it then got even worse than my normal low.  The symptoms that overlap with hypothyroid were intensifying- by the way, a good percentage of people with fibromyalgia have hypothyroid.  Coincidence?  I think not!  So, the most prominent symptoms for me were: weight gain, concentration/logic issues, paranoia/anxiety, pain and stiffness, fatigue, and I broke out like never before- acne all over my face and it wouldn't heal for months, which has never happened.  I got really concerned.  Now what?!

In July, a friend of mine from high school just got diagnosed with fibro, too.  She lives in Riverton, Utah, and heard about a miracle lady who treats fibro.  I called and made an appointment for me and my daughter for the end of September, which was the earliest they could get us in- I took that as a good sign.  Apparently, people come from all over, out of state even, to see her.  Her name is Marcy Rowley.  She is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse who specializes in chronic illness, especially fibro!

So, she spent a lot of time with us.  She ordered an extensive blood panel, but then asked a lot of questions about how we function.  Her theory on fibro (and please realize that everything I'm telling you from this point on is second-hand, so I hope I don't mess any of this up) is that it is caused by physical or emotional trauma, which causes the blood vessels to constrict.  With the blood flow limited, lactic acid and cortisol build up in the system, so our muscles essentially don't ever relax.  I had not heard this theory, so it made me very hopeful.

The two main solutions she offered were
1. An alkaline diet.
This is very similar to the diet I have on this website, but there are some differences, mainly almost all dairy, beef, pork, and seafood is acidic, so it should be avoided most of the time.  But potatoes and sweet potatoes are good.  Woot!
Gluten and sugar are still big culprits of pain.  The worst acidic food you can consume?  Soda. The examples below are just two versions of the diet- there is some differing thoughts on a handful of foods on whether they fall in the acidic or alkaline categories. Also, some lists have foods on them that others don't have on the list at all- just because they didn't happen to list that food, so I found it good to look at several versions to get a better idea of what to eat.   Also, she said it is okay to eat some acidic food if we keep to the alkaline side 70% of the time.

2. Cesium Chloride/Potassium
The cesium opens the blood vessels back up- can't remember how.  It does deplete potassium, though, so I take one in the morning and one at night.  They can't be taken at the same time for some reason.

I have been following doing both of these for a week and a half.  So far:
-My pain level has lowered.  I haven't taken any pain pills all week, although I could have used an ibuprofen yesterday.  So, it hasn't taken it all away, but usually my hands are always cramped and on fire, and now they feel like that low-level burn when you skin your palms after you trip on the sidewalk.
-The spot in my lower back that has hurt my whole life (I have a pinch there from scoliosis), is barely noticeable.
-I have almost full range of motion and no pain in my neck that has given me constant grief since a car accident 19 years ago.  It still has stiffness, but nothing like before.
-My mind is clearing up.
-My acne is finally healing!
-I'm pretty sure I lost some weight, but I was so discouraged about it, I didn't get a starting weight, so I haven't weighed in yet.
-But the one thing that surprised me the most is my feet!  I have plantar fasciitis, so when I wake up, I literally hobble to the bathroom because the  bottom of my feet are so tight.  Lately, it's gotten to the point where it stopped loosening during the day, so that my feet constantly hurt, occasionally preventing me from going to sleep.  About two days ago, I noticed that first thing in the morning, my feet were loose!  Again, not perfect, but I could walk almost normally first thing!


It feels like all these years my muscles have been wound like a phone cord  (or like my daughter called it when she was little, a "curly phone," and now I'm starting to unwind.  It's an amazing feeling!

There are some other things she's having us take.  Again, I'm not recommending you do this without seeing a professional first who can take your blood and monitor how you're doing.  I'm just keeping you in the loop.

MORNING
1. Armour Thyroid- I was already on this, but my daughter wasn't.
2. She kept each of us on our anti-depressant.
3. Tangy Tangerine- for energy
...or she said we could stay on Thrive, that we've both been taking for a while already.   Honestly, Tangy Tangerine smells horrible, but you can't taste it in orange juice.  However, as someone who gags at the mention of pills, I started taking Thrive again instead, because I know the Tangy Tangerine is in there, so it's hard for me to swallow- I am a baby when it comes to medicine, even though I've been on different things since I was very young.  Keep in mind, they do make some pill/tablet versions of Tangy Tangerine, though.
4. Co-Q 10- for energy and vascular support
5. Multivitamin (although that's already mixed in with the Thrive for us)
6. Immunoplex Glanders- Immune system support
Two we haven't started yet:
7. Resvertral- for blood sugar and other things.  It's an anti-oxidant.
8.  L-arginine- for vascular health as well immune system strength and kidney function, and many other things.  It's an amino acid.

EVENING
1. Progesterone- both of our levels were low.  It looks like a tiny paint ball- I get a kick out of that.
2. Taurine- lowers cortisol levels. Cortisol is what regulates sleep patterns and stress, and in people with fibro, it essentially screws up when it is released in the system, thus the weird sleep schedule we all have and the state of constant stress, as there's typically too much in the system, like a constant allergic reaction.  I can already tell I'm doing better in the mornings and getting tired at 10 pm  instead of 1 am.
3.  Diflucan- drops cortisol levels and fights yeast, which most of us with fibro have too much of in our systems- think candida.
4. Magnesium- Helps with inflammation and other things.
5. She kept each of us on our night meds to get to sleep, but I don't think we'll need them much longer.

She also recommended down the line that we add EMDR- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing treatments and said we had something like metabolic dysfunction and some other things I can't remember.  I'll talk about EMDR and metabolic stuff another day.

Overall, she said it will take a year to essentially be healed of all this.  But we are both very optimistic!!