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Fibromyalgia: The Very Painful Mystery Disease

This is a subject dear to my heart because I have a very, very mild form of Fibromyalgia, otherwise known as Chronic Fatique Syndrome (CFIDS), Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy ( RSD) and Mitochondrial Dysfunction Syndrome. It has also been called muscular arthritis. The typical symptoms of these disorders are extreme fatigue, pain, recurrent sore throats, sleep disturbances, and exquisitely tender points upon 5 lbs of pressure at specific places on the body. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being in bed on morphine, I am a 1or 2 or if any weather change is coming, I will climb up to about a 4/5. Believe me, this is nothing compared to what some other people (women are 70% of fibromyalgia sufferers) endure. Read on, I possibly have some help for you.

Dr. Russell Jaffe, an M.D. PhD. who has developed an excellent line of natural products called Perque, has developed a program for treating Fibromyalgia which he has clinically examined with a randomized control trial using NIH model studies. Here is what he found and what he recommends. He found that fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disorder with chronic inflammation and immune reactivity, and that, prior to the development of fibromyalgia, these now depressed people were happy and optimistic. Then there occurred some major blow - either emotional (divorce, death) or physical (auto accident, viral infection) after which the symptoms gradually developed. For the trial, he chose people with multiple prior treatment failures who had no expectation or hope for help. He then randomized them into a control group (the people who did nothing to change their lives and took no supplementation) and a treatment group which (presumably) avoided everything he told them to avoid and compliantly swallowed all the supplements that he suggested.

Dr. Jaffe first tested everyone with the Elisa Act lymphocyte Response Assay blood test which measures sensitivity to environmental reactants such as foods, molds, pollens, dusts etc. He asked the treatment group to avoid the things to which they were sensitive, plus he gave them targeted nutrition. He found that all sufferers had multiple food allergies and many mold and candida overgrowths; 42% reacted to MSG and food colorings; 37% to candida albicans; 35% to caffeine and chocolate; 25% to cow dairy; 22% to sulfites, the solvent xylene, yogurt; 20% to aspartame, DHA, cadmium, lead, oranges and sodium benzoate.

Supplements: These, of course, are all Perque products: Perque Multi, two twice daily for a total of 4 per day, Detox in Guard, two twice daily for a total of 4 per day, Potent C Guard 1/2 t. twice daily, Pain Guard, 4 twice daily for a total of 8, Magnesium Plus Guard 2 twice daily for a total of 4 along with 1t. of Choline Citrate wiht every dose of Magnesium. He suggests these amounts only as a guideline and recommends that the program be tailored to the individual (which is what I do with my muscle testing). He recommends an alkaline diet and to measure your first morning urine to make sure that you are on the right track to alkalinity. Optional: He also suggests that low dose Elavil - very short term - may be a wise adjunct to the supplement therapy in the early transitional stages. He calls Elavil a "pre-therapy" to be used briefly to lift the mood and engender hope and compliance, to be withdrawn once the supplement program is in place.

Results: At six months Dr. Jaffe measured pain, energy, depression and overall health: Pain: The control group showed a 25% increase in pain at 6 months while the treatment group showed a 60% reduction. Energy and depression: No change in control and a 33% decrease in the treatment group. Overall Health: The control group was unchanged at 6 months and the treatment group scored themselves as 80% healthier.

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