Fibromyalgia: Stopping the Pain

Fibromyalgia is difficult to diagnose early. A person may be treated for arthritis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, chronic headaches, and other health symptoms that appear to be unrelated. Over the course of several months, or years, these conditions begin a cascading effect and the person may suddenly be overwhelmed with a long list of pain conditions that have no single cause.

To think of it another way, remove the fibromyalgia, and you are left with a varying list of seemingly unrelated pain conditions that are unresponsive to treatment. So, it's not really fibromyalgia that needs treatment, but rather the multitude of symptoms that encompass it.

While fibromyalgia treatment is an ongoing effort, there are things you can do to make the pain subside. The following is a list of recommendations:

Avoid all of these completely- They are “fibro-fuel”:

• Sugar- most important to eliminate...entirely!
• Grains, that's wheat, corn, rice, barley, oats and rye.
• Bread, pasta, crackers, pretzels, chips, tortillias and anything else made from grain
• Deli meats
• Preservatives like BHA and BHT
• Monosodium glutamate
• Processed foods, that means pretty much anything that has a food nutrition label
• Food colorings
• Starchy foods like potatoes or beets
• Household cleaning chemicals
• Artificial sweeteners
• Many prescription medications, like acid blockers, cholesterol reducing medications and osteoporosis medicine

The best approach is the elimination diet, where everything is eliminated except foods in their natural form. An easy way to get started is your next grocery trip. Buy only fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, and meat from the butcher counter. No dipping sauces or flavor enhancers for the food, unless spices you buy in natural form...no spice blends!

Do this for several weeks, and it's likely your fibromyalgia pain and other symptoms will subside.