Millions of women have fibromyalgia and don't know it!

Check out this link to a great episode of Dr. Oz about fibromyalgia.  I have written several posts about my experience with borderline fibromyalgia as well as chronic fatigue:  feeling like I have the flu, exhaustion, and having constant pain in the thoracic region of my back.  This episode will really wake up everyone who sees it and hopefully help a lot of women who have this condition--according to Dr. Oz, millions of women have it because many doctors are unaware of how to diagnose it.  I lived with feeling like I had the flu and exhaustion for 25 years until it was finally diagnosed as chronic fatigue and borderline fibromyalgia (which is no picnic.)

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/disease-your-doctor-may-miss-fibromyalgia-pt-1

I like my doctor's protocol better than what was discussed on the show.  I have discussed Dr. Edelberg's protocol in previous blogs.  He offers very specific natural treatments and cautions on the use/overuse of pain killers. (He authored the fabulous book Healing Fibromyalgia.)

A Votre Sante (Here's To Your Health,) Alix

How Important Is Vitamin D?

"To give you an idea of the numbers involved, it’s estimated that 60,000 Americans die prematurely of cancer every year because of vitamin D deficiency. Add to this premature autoimmune disease (such as multiple sclerosis), heart disease, allergies (like asthma), diabetes, and Alzheimer’s and the numbers become mind-boggling."

This is a quote from the Whole Health Chicago newsletter which also talks about D3 supplements.  To read the whole article copy and paste this link into your browser:

 http://www.wholehealthchicago.com/5768/mayo-clinics-stunning-vitamin-d-research/

A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health,) Alix

Are you vitamin deficient?

Here is an excerpt from Norm Shealy's newsletter. (www.normshealy.com)  He is the "grandfather" of holistic health, and he also trained Carolyn Myss to develop her intuitive medical diagnostic ability.

Everything affects Everything

Deficiencies of ANY essential nutrient can cause multiple problems. In fact at least 85% of ALL illnesses are the result of deficiencies in essential nutrients, exercise and/or stress management!

Most common nutritional deficiencies, and there are many others:

• Magnesium
• Vitamin D 3
• B 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and/or 12
• Folate or folic acid
• Biotin-B 7
• Omega 3's
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin K 2
• Vitamin E, especially tocotrienols
• MSM
• Iodine
• Boron
• Quality protein, especially in vegetarians
• Zinc
• Carotenoids
• Calcium
• Iron

Everything from Alzheimer's to cancer and heart disease can be partially or significantly related to deficiencies. In general, it is far better to take a GOOD multivitamin/mineral plus essential Omega-3's than to depend upon commercial food, unless you raise your own food organically. 

A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health,) Alix

March Against Monsanto

Last weekend was the worldwide March Against Monsanto with peaceful protests in cities all over the globe.  I talked to a holistic health advisor and personal trainer who attended the March against Monsanto in Chicago.  He said it was very family friendly and that there were up to 3000 people who attended and that the protest had a really positive energy.  He told me that the media reported that 700 people attended, which is very common for the media to under-report numbers on events like this, since the media aren't on the anti-Monsanto bandwagon (that would would be detrimental for their advertising revenue!)

I've written a lot about GM foods, and  now a former researcher--and once supporter--of GM plants is now speaking out about their dangers.  It's important to remember that the Bt corn and soya plants are actually registered as insecticides. Much of the research that touts the long term safety to GM crops has been done by industry-insiders (such as Monsanto) as opposed to external groups.  The longest animal study done by industry-researchers was only 90 days long!

To read more go to:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/28/gmo-dangers.aspx?e_cid=20130528_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20130528

A Votre Sante (Here's To Your Health), Alix

Calcium supplements for men--increased risk for cardiovascular disease

Here is an excerpt from the Whole Health Chicago Newsletter.  This is written by Dr. David Edelberg who is the doctor that helped me recover from chronic fatigue (hypothyroid, estrogen dominance, adrenal fatigue and being at "the foothills of fibromyalgia.")



"The issue of calcium supplements and heart disease risk, for example, has been bandied about ever since two reports emerged from Europe last year showing increased cardiovascular risk among women taking calcium supplements. The best guess was that this occurred because the calcium threw off the delicate balance between calcium and magnesium. It was suggested that a combination product would be safer and, in fact, we’ve been encouraging our patients to make this switch.

Nevertheless, women were really nervous about their calcium. An online report (later published in JAMA Internal Medicine) released a National Institutes of Health study that dwarfed the two from Europe. Epidemiologists tracked (ready for this?) 388,229 men and women for 12 years, starting in 1995, to determine if calcium supplements had any effect, positive or negative, with regard to cardiovascular disease. The answer was this: calcium supplements in men increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, but the increased risk does not occur in women.

For all my readers and patients who have emailed me this year about whether or not to take a calcium supplement, the answer now depends on several factors:

• Keep in mind that dietary sources of calcium are best (click here for a list) and eat them regularly.
• Next, consider your risks. Did your mother, aunt, or grandmother shrink with age due to osteoporosis (a gradual loss of bone density)? Are you a thin Caucasian of Northern European extraction (at high risk) or a stocky African American (at low risk) or somewhere in between?
• Finally, check (or recheck) your gender. If you’re an at-risk woman, I suggest this supplement formulated by Alan Gaby, MD, author of Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis."

A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health), Alix

GMO Alert!

The following is an excerpt from the newsletter at Mercola.com:


Argentina’s population is being sickened by massive spraying of herbicides on its genetically engineered soya fields. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, is blamed for the dramatic increase in devastating birth defects as well as cancer. Sterility and miscarriages are also increasing.

A 2012 nutritional analysis of GMO versus non-GMO corn shows shocking differences in nutritional content. Non-GMO corn contains 437 times more calcium, 56 times more magnesium, and 7 times more manganese than GMO corn

GMO corn was also found to contain 13 ppm of glyphosate, compared to zero in non-GMO corn. The EPA standard for glyphosate in American water supplies is 0.7 ppm, and organ damage in animals has occurred at levels as low as 0.1 ppm

GMO corn contains extremely high levels of formaldehyde—about 200 times the amount found toxic to animals

Unfortunately, President Obama recently signed into law a spending bill that included a devastating provision that puts Monsanto above the law. The provision limits the ability of judges to stop Monsanto and/or farmers from growing or harvesting genetically engineered crops, even if courts find evidence of potential health risks

What does fibromyalgia feel like?

Here is the link to a video on YouTube called "Fibromyalgia: What Does it Feel like." I was only "on the foothills of fibromyalgia," according to my doctor (Dr. Edelberg, author of Healing Fibromyalgia.) I would imagine that people with severe fibro must have the patience of a saint and the strength of a titan. Just from the symptoms I had, I can see that this video really accurate and that the dramatic music is really "on the mark":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME06rbUqDPk&feature=player_detailpage


Dr. Edelberg's protocol has reversed my fatigue and I no longer feel like I have the flu or feel "beat up all over." Fibro and chronic fatigue are often overlooked by medical testing, misdiagnosed, and over-medicated. Fibro is a reversible condition and there is a very specific protocol--see Healing Fibromyalgia; parts of this book can be read for free at www.amazon.com.

The things I identified with directly from the video are as follows:

I felt like I had an "invisible illness," feeling like I had the flu, like every inch of my body ached at times, having brain fog as if I walked into a room and forgot why I was there--all the time. Having a sensitivity to smells and chemical sensitivities, constant pain in my upper back (this is commonly where fibro can start), giving up things I enjoyed (for example, hearty exercise used to always be a part of my life but I hadn't been able to do it in years); feeling like the exhaustion altered the course of my life in that I was so tired I was limited in the amount I could do, thinking no end was in sight, and this is just the way life would be for me, going through the acceptance process that I could not be like others who had normal energy--I felt different that other people, had a hard time making advanced plans, especially on lack of sleep when I felt like I had the flu. I felt repeatedly punched in the morning, like I was "beat up" or "hung over," occasionally having tender skin like bruising, feeling completely drained so I could not drag myself out of bed, and feeling exhausted if I slept under 10-12 hours. On top of that I identified with the part of the video saying that many don't believe it exists, I have been called lazy, said to be depressed when I was actually very tired, and I have been told by folks "it's all in your head," and of course, for years, was told there was "nothing wrong with me" by doctors who were ill-informed.

And I was only borderline fibro--think what people must go through if they have it severely!!! If you know anyone who has fibro, please refer them to Dr. Edelberg's book.  I am not affiliated with him in any way, except that I went in as a patient and no longer am exhausted!  For years I felt like I had severe, constant jet lag as well as the flu at times, and that was my norm--but not anymore!!!

The video says there is not a cure or treatment and that fibro but this is incorrect! Also although fibro is stress related, I am not sure if it is actually a disease of the central nervous system. It is a condition that can be fully reversed or almost completely reversed!

The person who made this video had debilitating fibromyalgia, so I did not experience the following symptoms myself, but I thought the video was very specific and telling about what it is like to have it: I did not experience the debilitation or pain like tin foil hitting a filling, and I did not have any sensations of bad arthritis, full-body spasms; I did not experience constant debilitating full body pain where is hard to stand or walk across the room at a snail's pace. I also did not experience being overwhelmed by sounds.

My formal diagnosis is now hypothyroid--but this went for years and years undiagnosed, and I was eventually told I had chronic fatigue. Because my thyroid is in the low-normal range, it was overlooked as hypothyroid. Furthermore, as I've said in earlier blogs, I was being treated in the holistic health community for adrenal fatigue and also estrogen dominance (a very common hormonal imbalance even in younger women.)

Dr. Edelberg agreed with my prior diagnoses and put me on a tiny dose of natural cortisol (it has to be a small dose to be safe), a small dose of natural thyroid medicine, and also DHEA and progesterone cream, as well as St. John's Wort and magnesium for the muscle aching.

The book Dr. Edelberg pointed me to was his other book, The Tripple Whammy Cure, which is a great book for any woman to read who is experiencing exhaustion. And yes, if you have the conditions listed in the book [the adrenal fatigue, estrogen dominance and sluggish thyroid I have been talking about in this blog,] there is a cure!

A Votre Sante (Here's To Your Health,) Alix