The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Oil Pulling
Posted by Willia (Detroit, MI) on 03/25/2008
★★★★★
oil pulling sesame oil. after reading on your site about oil pulling March 2008; I tried it and it worked wonders for my fibromyalgia pain. I used the recommened amount 2 tblsp; swissed it around in my mouth for 15 minutes, spit it out, brushed my teeth and drank two glasses of water. I have tmj--i did not think i would be able to do this for 15 minutes due to jaw pain but after 2 1/2 minutes my jaw pain left. The stiffness, pain and soreness in my body was gone before the 15 minutes was up. I have been suffering from fibromyalgia since 1991 and this is the only thing I have tried that gave me immediately relief. Today I sent my sister-in-law who lives in Louisiana a large bottle of sesame oil. Bless you and I thank you and your readers so much.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Cindy (Tallahassee, Florida, Usa) on 08/11/2010
BINGO! FMS/CFS suffer here... I can't take narcotic pain meds, so I've been doing a lot of research on natural ways to cope and improve the symptoms. Regarding dietary changes, I have been watching some documentaries regarding the effects of chemicals in our food chain. They support what I've been suspicious of for some time. I'm also learning from posts like yours about other toxic chemicals like aluminum, plastics, and fluoride. As a result of finding this site, I am on my 5th. Day of using ACV, eliminating all artificial sweeteners and most sugar out of my diet as well as MSG. I'm drinking distilled water and eating more healthfully. My question is... I have a filtered water pitcher and didn't know if this is a safe alternative to tap water, so I'm drinking distilled water until I find out for sure. While at the store yesterday, I read the box from a filter for my pitcher and it said it delivers a safe level of fluoride for health. I bought the filter, but won't use it until I find out if it's safe. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Thank you! Cindy
Dietary Changes
Posted by Jay (Toronto, Ont, Canada) on 08/12/2010
Cindy, I have been using only distilled water for drinking( with the only exceptions being occasional fruit or vegetable juices) over 15 years now. In my opinion there are way too many differemt substances that are in the ground water of our planet to ever think that filtering will remove them. Only the distillation process completely eliminates a vast number of them. Again, in my opinion filtering is a cosmetic treatment and is promoted mainly based on taste, appearance and a few pollutants only. There are some that suggest distilled water will leach out minerals from your body but again I feel that it is great if distilled water leaches out materials then it could also possibly leach out other sourced toxins from the body. For those that don't feel they already ingest enough good and necessary amounts of minerals they can add a small quantity of sea salt to the containers of distilled water to provide safe trace minerals. Regards
Dietary Changes
Posted by Francisca (Michelbach-le-bas, Alsace, France) on 08/12/2010
From the information I have read, no level of fluoride is safe for the health. As far as I know, fluoridation has been forbidden for many years here in Europe. Still, my daughters, born in Holland after that were prescribed fluoride tablets by their pediatrician for many years. Nowadays I avoid anything which contains fluoride, especially toothpaste but even the floss contains fluoride and salt at well. One has to read all the labels! Water here in France seems to be quite bad (and expensive too! ) so we have a Brita filter on the tap but when we buy our own house we want to have a well and maybe have a system to filtrate it and use only that water.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Lynn (Somewhere, Nevada) on 06/21/2011
Fluoride is found naturally in the water in many places in the world. I know a family of 5 children who were all conceived and grew to adulthood in an area where there is a lot of fluoride in the water. They all had wonderful teeth and bones, no cavities. Three of them lived into their 90s, one over 100, and the fifth one to age 79 even tho having suffered rheumatic fever in her teens. People were having fibro, although not called that, long before fluoride was added to drinking water. I think we need to look elsewhere for our problems.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Wayne (Indiana) on 08/03/2016
The problem with flouride is that the ratio too much / not enough is small. To paraphrase from J. D. Wallach's books Rare Earths and Let's Play Doctor, In 1972 Schwartz proved that flouride was an essential mineral. 1.5 mg/day is needed but the average dayly intake by Americans is 4.4 mg. Skeletal reserves in an addult man reach 2.6 grams.
Dark Chocolate
Posted by Meadowsweet (Halifax, England, Uk) on 07/15/2011
Dark chocolate is a good source of copper. Maybe you were short of copper?
Dark Chocolate
Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 10/24/2014
One of the project leaders at my job kept a box of Hershey's dark chocolate bars in his drawer and ate one every day after lunch. I did the same thing. I still buy them today.
Iodine
Posted by Tilefreak (Orlando, Fl, Orange) on 10/13/2010
Sounds like all of you should be checked for food allergies, both IgE (immediate reaction) and IgG (delayed reaction/hidden).
Blood testing should give you a starting point. If positive, eliminate the offending foods (entirely) for 7 days. Both types of allergies were causing my fibromyalgia symptoms and chronic fatigue, as well as an array of other symptoms. When I follow a strict diet, my symptoms are gone. On a rotation diet, my symptoms are very, very minimal. The top allergens are: wheat, soy, milk, egg, corn and nuts
General Feedback
Posted by Joyce (Joelton, Tn) on 12/27/2007 490 posts
Just finished reading
case history questionaires tonight and I have a suggestion for whoever is doing this. I suggest he/she include another question re medications taken - now and before getting sick, as many people don't think of medicine as being chemicals or toxins - They might even want to read the
article on fluoride toxicity by the person who developed fibromyalgia after two months of ciprofloxacin following a possible exposure to anthrax powder and inquire about specific medications such as ciprofoxacin and the antidepressants that contain fluoride (Fen-phen) in them -especially if he/she notes a more rapid decline in health in those taking antidepressants -
I wonder if the tremors & brain fog they complain of might be helped by taking a good stress tab with meal time and bedtime. I usually tell people this timing because lots of people skip one or more meals - so I always tell them to take them when normal people eat their 3 meals a day whether they eat then or not
- Another question that might be useful in trying to pinpoint causes, any vaccines they were given prior to onset/or prior to overseas travel (I noticed that on fellow said his started after a trip to Korea -no military- This could indicate trouble starting from vaccines given prior to the trip. I especially suspect this since I recall reading an article by a female doctor with the VA system who made a darned good case for blaming the lupus-like symptoms of the Gulf Storm veterans on the mercury preservative in the injections they were given before leaving the states. Her theory was based on a study of blood work from many of those veterans after they developed the problem during the time that the VA system was denying that there was a syndrome with a cause.
A funny thing about that I was talking to a coworker at the VA where I worked one night who was one of those Gulf Storm vets about this doctors theory. He also expressed doubt that such a syndrome existed and told me that he was over there in the midst and didn't develop the syndrome. He later told me that he had refused to take the injections and took oral medications instead. I couldn't help laughing when I told him that he was the exception that proved her theory to be plausible.
I also noticed that many symptoms in lupus, fibromyalgia, fluoride/MSG/aspartame toxicity are the same, so I think they are going to all be involved. I remember being told in Family Nurse Practitioner pharmacology course that all antibiotics are toxic- the idea being to give enough poison to kill the causative organism without killing its host (patient).
General Feedback
Posted by Jason Uttley (USA) on 01/01/2008
I appreciate Joyce's suggestions and feedback, even if I don't agree with them. First of all, I don't think there's much evidence to support a conclusion that mercury is a cause of fibromyalgia. I've read theories on that subject, including how it might be able to explain gulf war syndrome, but (at least in my opinion) it is a very weak theory and one usually tossed about either by those that don't know a lot about fibromyalgia, or those that don't really care much about the statistics of fibromyalgia. After all, how does mercury fit with a condition that exploded out of nowhere in the early 1980's? How does it relate to a condition that effects 95% women to only 5% men? And, perhaps mostly notably, why is it almost unheard of for children and newborns (who are known to be particularly sensitive to mercury and other toxins) to develop fibromyalgia? Children would be developing FMS en masse if mercury were really a cause of FMS (assuming mercury based vaccines were a major source of exposure, as has been discussed in the autism debate). Mercury maybe a plausible theory on autism (although not necessarily one I believe in anymore), but not for fibromyalgia.
Besides that, to anyone that says that the symptoms of mercury exposure are the same as fibormyalgia, I say....prove it!! Show me what the leading authorities in the world wrote of the symptoms of chronic mercury toxicity prior to the emergence of fibromyalgia. Show me that....explain how the statistics fit the primary source of mercury exposure.....explain what changed in the early 1980's with respect to mercury exposure....explain why children almost never develop FMS....and then, I'll be more than happy to listen. By the way, I believe MSG & aspartame have been linked to Lupus and MS, but not to fibromyalgia. Many of those with FMS, including myself, are very sensitive to those kinds of excitotoxins, but the symptoms are not the same. The symptoms are very much more in-line with MS. I don't think there's any question in my mind that excitotoxins are linked to MS, the only question really is can excitotoxins cause MS without fluoride exposure? I believe Russell Blaylock joined the fluoride community, in part, to answer that very question. A question I don't think we really know the answer to yet. As for adding a question regarding medications taken to the FMS Questionnaire.....I would just ask, what is the point of such a question? We already know based on what we know of fluoride toxicity that there is often a delay between when exposure occurs and when major symptoms begin (as is the case regarding the chronic toxicity of many major toxins). We also know that fluoride is cumulative in nature, so for many people, there may be more than one major source of exposure that triggered the related symptoms. This means that a lot of people won't be able to recognize the point of exposure that caused fibromyalgia. Adding such a specific question only serves to highlight that fact. From what we've seen, respondents to the questionnaire already use the Theories question to give us their thoughts on potential causes, be it, medications or otherwise. I tend to think that's the way to go, but that's just my opinion.
Finally, I think most of those suffering with fibromyalgia would probably find the following statement of Joyce's a little offensive..."I wonder if the tremors & brain fog they complain of might be helped by taking a good stress tab with meal time and bedtime." The problem isn't that it's wrong, is just that it sounds like what someone who doesn't really understand fibromyalgia might say. The brain fog associated with FMS is often described in it's most severe forms as if the person is developing dementia, or Alzheimer's. Can you imagine telling someone with dementia that they should just take a stress tab? And what of all the other symptoms?
General Feedback
Posted by Ellen (Austin, Tx) on 12/31/2010
In 1816 Dr. William Balfour, surgeon at the University of Edinburgh, gave the first full description of fibromyalgia. Can you prove that fibromyalgia emerged in the 1980's? It was in 1976 that it was given its name. Unfortunately, medical science moves so slowly that many diseases that have existed for ages are given names and recognized in the 20th century, especially when previously it was considered to be psychosomatic, which slowed down the progress of its study. If you could prove these statistics, I would be ever so happy, as I would know the cause of my suffering, but I think you should provide more data or tell us where you got yours. I've been avoiding fluoride for years and still have fibromyalgia. Thanks for your research.
General Feedback
Posted by Tom (Regina, Sk) on 12/31/2010
Ellen:
Have you looked into the possibility that exposure to mold and its neurotoxins sometime in your past may be the root cause?
Did you ever work in a old musty damp workplace?
Or a friend's house perhaps?
Most buildings built or renovated going back to the 1970's energy crisis were basically sealed, leading to SBS Sick Building Syndrome which has been traced by experts to not just noxious outgassing of manmade materials, but to acres of molds living in the duct systems. In a skyscraper, there's an unbelievable square footage for it to cling to, and that doesn't even count damp dark corners in the rooms, etc. Fibromyalgia has so many 'signatures' that it is commonly misdiagnosed by the medicos as CFS (another vaguely defined illness), SBS, psychosomatic, or whatever. There is a world expert in all this in the USA, and he as an active medical practice around this. He is Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker in Maryland. He has several websites, each very thorough, and now has another new book SURVIVING MOLD just out with his research updated from 2005. He has an entire medical treatment protocol based on removing the circulating neurotoxins which some people cannot break down and eliminate, even after exposure to the molds is eliminated. Check it out please!
General Feedback
Posted by Ellen (Austin, Tx) on 01/01/2011
Tom, thank you for your advice! I used to live in a very moldy house in a rainy area, and I felt very sick at the time. I'm not sure if that's when my problems started, but it might be. Al is right, turmeric helps! I make a warm ayurvedic drink with lactose free milk (if you can tolerate that), rice milk, turmeric, ground black pepper, honey, and cinnamon. It helps. Hypnotherapy combined with reiki (in the same session) has helped me deal with the pain a LOT and is very powerful. It can address the root of pain if there is an emotional component as well. The fluoride theory is intriguing and convincing but I'm not entirely convinced, since there seem to be holes in that logic, for instance, fibro was around way before fluoridation of tap water and cipro. Furthermore, is it really mostly women who take cipro? Everyone drinks tap water, too.. So why is it 95% of women who have fibro?
General Feedback
Posted by Brooke (Montgomery, Tx, Usa) on 01/04/2011
I have given 3 of my clients an Egdar Cayce Health evaluation for the treatment of Fybromalgia and they all benefited from it. It is $50 and you can print it off your computer and send it the the A. R. E. Here is the link to the evaluation:
http://www.edgarcayce.org/are/spa/pdf/evaluation.pdfYou can search the internet for the A. R. E. And Edgar Cayce.
General Feedback
Posted by Brooke (Montgomery, Tx, Usa) on 01/04/2011
It was around a long time before the 80's. It use to be named muscular rheumatism.
General Feedback
Posted by Deb (Melbourne , Melbourne) on 01/09/2011
General Feedback
Posted by Sarah (Cincinnati, Ohio) on 01/18/2011
The more I question the fluoride connection, the less sense it makes. Perhaps there is a link for some, but the evidence is not strong in my opinion. I've known about fluoride for years and steered clear of it. I've done detoxes for fluoride. It hasn't done anything for my fibromyalgia. In fact, I started avoiding it aggressively long before I even got fibromyalgia.
The main thing that has helped me more than anything is attacking the biofilms that bacteria and candida form in the body. There is so much medical literature out there linking hidden infections to many chronic and poorly understood diseases, like MS, fibromyalgia, CFS, etc. I study biofilms in a biophysics research lab and after some point even bleach can't kill them. Antibiotics and antifungals can't do anything to permanently rid the body of an infection if the bacteria have formed a biofilm, and biofilms also allow bacteria and yeasts to evade detection by the body's immune system. One day I will put the time to write a detailed article, but until then, research it. There's a lot out there. I use EDTA, enzymes (serrapeptase, nattokinase, protease etc. ), Betaine HCl HCl (that's lowercase L) Activator, and some antimicrobials like garlic, neem, etc. I am currently having a die off reaction. Once I see more results and write a coherent article I will post it.
General Feedback
Posted by Tommy (North York, On, Canada) on 01/20/2011
Hi Sarah, Thank you for your Post. I believe also that the biofilms are responsible for the bacterial resistance. NAC seems to help against biofilms. Aspirin also helps against candida biofilms.
Ph Balancing
Posted by Patti (Canton, Ohio) on 11/24/2007
★★★★★
Thank you Ted for opening my eyes to PH balancing. I have fibromyalgia and cfids. My story began about 12 years ago with stomach problems, h pylori, acid problems, depression, anxiety; and the list goes on and on. over the years the condition got progressivly worse with symptoms such as numbness and tingling in arms hands feet,pain everywhere,headaches,insommnia,visual disturbances,hair loss. I began using the formulas in your posts and have found them to be helpful. especially baking soda and baking soda with lemon and lime,magnesium citrate. I have also been trying thr borax water as well and am hopeful this will add more healing power. I also have found a good Dr. who is helping too,she started me on compounded T3 therapy and antivirals because I have epstein barr syndrome. Thank you again for helping me and so many others with no hope. Patti from Canton
Ph Balancing
Posted by Patti (Canton, Ohio) on 12/10/2007
Thank you Ted for your reply. I will try the hydrogen peroxide with the baking soda for energy. Lately I have had a setback in my recovery by the way of an increase in pain everywhere. Am really trying hard to keep a positive attitude an thank all on EC for all the great remedies. I tested positive for EBV, Negative for mycoplasma, neg for lyme, and had antibodies for cpn. I also have a small tumor on my anterior pituitary gland, but the Dr. doesn't think my illness has any relation to it. Thanks again for your feedback. Will not ever give up.
Borax
Posted by Tonia (Collierville, Tn) on 05/07/2015 2 posts
How can I tell if borax is food grade? The one in all the stores, walmart, kroger, target... is 20 mule team Borax, is this the correct one?
Borax
Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee) on 05/07/2015
That is what we use!
Borax
Posted by Tonia (Collierville, Tn) on 05/07/2015 2 posts
Thank You!!! I have been diagnosed with Fibro, (which my md and myself believe is bs) chronic pain, and CFS. I believe I've tried every med possible and they all have a side effect of more "Fatigue" finally am down to adderrall and provigil, and it helps but I am still exhausted by mid afternoon. Ready to be off all meds!
Borax
Posted by Nicki Q. (New Zealand ) on 09/26/2018
Hi, what type of borax is it the powder you can buy at a chemist? I'm in NZ
Borax
Posted by Carmel (Essex, England) on 05/26/2022
I doubt it is fluoride in my case, I distill my own water and use very little fluoride.
And am worse now than before when I drank tap water all of the time, full of fluoride.
ACV and Baking Soda
Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 10/24/2014
I just mixed some ACV and water and stirred in 1/2 tsp. aluminum-free baking soda. It's giving me a bad headache and tastes just like beer. I
HATE beer. Has anyone else noticed this?
ACV and Baking Soda
Posted by Kennywally (Midwest) on 08/17/2015 46 posts
That headache could be a herxheimer reaction, give it a week or so. kw
Rhodiola
Posted by Margie (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) on 04/03/2007
★★★★★
While visiting earthclinic's site to see what I could fine to help my anxiety, I saw information about 5HTP as another source to use for anxiety. So I wanted to find out more information about this little pill, because it was a toss up between the two (Rhodiola) I decided to use the Rhodiola which worked out perfect. I then did some more research on 5HTP to see what other benefits it was good for, and I found out that it was recommeded for Fibromyalgia. Such as sleepless nights, waking up 4-5 times in the night, the headaches, the pain in the joints, stiffness upon waking up in morning, I felt like the tin man on the wizard of oz. I also had other related problesm. I have been taking it now for five months and I am a happier person, more energetic, not as moody as before, mine is more clear and well the list goes on, and I don't wake up stiff like before; so getting more rest has made me more alert.
In addition, I have a question for anyone out there to answer if possible. Since I take Rhodiola and 5HTP together I wanted to know if this harmful since both are a mood relaxing vitamin. I take the one for anxiety the other for the Fibroymyalgia. In addition, after reading more information about 5HTP and some side affects I was wondering if I should stop using it for awhile. If anyone has an answer please respond. I want to say though that since I have been using it I have had no side affects that were bad only good ones.
Rhodiola
Posted by Jason Uttley (USA)
Much like Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), the herb Rhodiola, appears to have the ability to enhance cellular energy production. Given that a decline in ATP production is known to be associated with fibromyalgia and fluoride poisoning, Rhodiola might be worth trying. Dr. St. Amand, the champion of the guaifenesin protocol, advocates CoQ10. Since CoQ10 is found within the body naturally that's certainly the safest choice. However, it may be that Rhodiola is also of some help as well.
5HTP, the precursor to serotonin, claims to help elevate mood, promote deep sleep, increase mental function, and normalize digestion. Such claims may well be true, but I would still highly encourage people to eliminate fluoride from their diet first instead, since that will go a long way toward doing the same thing.
Thyroxine
Posted by Cristina (Bucharest, Romania) on 01/31/2007
★★★★★
I had muscle cramps leading to pain and headaches for years. Recently my doctor prescribed tyroxine. Ever since my muscle cramps are 98% gone. I had some cramps every 30-40 days only. They were less severe and went away easily with advil.
EC: Thyroxine is a medication used for the treatment of hypothyroidism (under active thyroid gland). It is used as replacement therapy in people having a lower thyroid function than normal.
Sam-E
Posted by Laura (Natchitoches, LA) on 12/24/2006
★★★★★
I am taking Sam-E for Fibromyalgia. I have experienced amazing results for reducing flare-ups and increasing length of time between flare-ups. Amazing. Also tried your cayenne pepper for
sore throat today with superb results.
5htp
Posted by Lily (San Antonio, TX / U.S.A) on 09/30/2008
What is 5HTP? My grandmother suffers from Fibromyalgia, and I hate it. If there is something helpful, I would really like to know more. Please respond ASAp. Lily.
5htp
Posted by carmel (Essex, England) on 01/08/2022
★★★☆☆
I have fibro and tried 5 htp, a dose of about 200 mg per night. To help with relaxation and sleep. I found the first day it helped, and the day after it made me feel less pain and more relaxed. But if I took it for two or three days in a row, I would feel rough/worse the second and third day.
Linseed Oil, Tyrosine, Echinacea
Posted by Arcely (San Francisco, CA) on 12/12/2008
Dear Anonymous from Australia, re: fibromalgia remedy ....you didnt say how long to take this remedy. Also you say 5 tablespoons each meal or 5 tablespoons during the whole day?Can you please let me know...please? Thank you very much.
