John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

A few weeks ago we looked at the autoimmune disease Polymyalgia and today look at the other major autoimmune myalgia-fibromyalgia (FM).

By comparison, FM is a much more complex disease and while nutritional therapies can really help I have found the benefits less predictable. There are many reasons for this, but FM is often combined with other problems, especially chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and is generally regarded as a multi-system disease.

FM is largely diagnosed symptomatically by identifying pain regions and unfortunately there are few medical options available.

The mainstays of medical treatment are tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline which can really help manage the pain and help with associated sleep disorders. Nutritional therapy can be of great assistance to people with FM and in my experience especially those who also have CFS. Because FM and associated CFS affect most of the body, it is very important to take a wide view to nutritional support. Using diet we target anti-inflammatory and antioxidant dense foods.

An excellent study titled: ‘Free radicals and antioxidants in primary fibromyalgia: An oxidative stress disorder' (Bagis et al Rheumatology International, 2005) provided some real insights into the role of free radicals and antioxidants in FM.

All antioxidants play a role in reducing free radical activity which is why my FM/CFS programmes use all the major antioxidant groups at much higher levels than can be obtained from food. Additionally, we want to target the low energy usually part of FM and add a range of energy co-factors including co-enzyme Q10, B vitamins, R-alpha lipoic acid and a number of other compounds. In most cases there will be a general improvement especially with energy levels. Another useful compound is naturally occurring sulphur as MSM. This has many benefits, but for FM it can be most useful in helping reduce muscle pain by improving oxygenation of muscle cells. A good place to start is 2000mg taken before going to bed.

FM is a frustrating problem for patients, for medical doctors and all who work in complementary healthcare. Despite this, it is worthwhile using targeted nutrition as it may well help take the edge of what can be a difficult problem to manage.

It is very important though to work to a monitored plan as constant feedback is needed to ensure steady progress.

John Arts is the founder of Abundant Health.
For product information visit www.abundant.co.nz If you have questions or would like a free health plan you can contact John at john@johnarts.co.nz
or phone 07 578 9051 or 0800 423 559. You can join his newsletter at www.johnarts.co.nz