Tag: Chronic fatigue syndrome

Should You Try Yoga as a Treatment for Your Fibromyalgia?

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Should you try yoga as a treatment for your fibromyalgia?Yoga. It’s everywhere. From passers-by on the sidewalk toting yoga mats, to health headlines in the media, it seems like yoga has saturated the mainstream. But if you live with a chronic condition, like fibromyalgia (FM), you may be unaware of what twisting yourself into a pretzel has do with managing your daily symptoms. In fact, you may be unaware that yoga isn’t about twisting yourself into a pretzel at all.

Research is clearly on the side of trying yoga to manage your fibromyalgia symptoms. The Oregon Health and Science University published a study in 2010 that compared the impact of an eight week yoga program on FM patients against a control group who received standard FM treatment. Researchers found that “pain was reduced in the yoga group by an average of 24 percent, fatigue by 30 percent and depression by 42 percent”.

So what is yoga actually all about? And how can it help you manage your chronic condition?  To answer these questions, I asked my good friend and yoga therapist, Kathrin Gottwald, who also blogs at Soulicious Moments.  Kathrin explains that “A carefully tailored yoga practice can not only lead to more flexibility and muscle tone, but also more awareness and potentially a different way of experiencing yourself and life.” This mind-body aspect of yoga exercise is at the core of what makes it effective. “Yoga means union,” explains Kathrin, “it is a practice to establish a feeling of connection to ourselves, others and the world around us.”

Should you try yoga as a treatment for your fibromyalgia?

Before my diagnosis, I was a beginner yoga student. Although I was never a very athletic person, I found I craved my weekly class. Week to week, I noticed that my strength, balance and flexibility improved. I enjoyed being in my body, rather than in my head, for those 60 minutes. After my diagnosis, I assumed by yoga days were over. I could barely sit on the floor, after all!

Eventually,  I attended a pain management class, which included a yoga component led by a teacher who herself had fibromyalgia. I began to include certain yoga poses into my daily stretching routine. Finally, I found a DVD with a yoga routine designed specifically for FM (see below). The genius part of the program is that they show each pose at 3 levels of ability, so you can customize your program based on your daily level of pain. I try to do this routine twice a week. I have the same benefits as before, even though my yoga routine is much gentler and shorter than before: feeling a positive connection to my body, feeling more present, and feeling my flexibility, balance and strength improve.

Beyond physical benefits, yoga is about developing body awareness and mental presence. Kathrin elaborates: “Yoga is not about perfecting the poses or contorting yourself into difficult positions, but it is all about how you relate to yourself and that which you encounter and experience in life. Especially for people living with chronic conditions it can be very beneficial to find skillful ways of relating to themselves and their illness.”

I also include a breathing practice three to four times a week along with my yoga routine. This is also an important part of yoga. As Kathrin notes, “In yoga the breath is considered our life force. The practice is to consciously move this energy within you and use it skilfully. Observing the breath and resting your awareness on your breath is already a yoga practice in itself.” Even if you are having a flare, and all you can do is breathe, you can still practice yoga. This practice has to do with sitting or lying quietly and focusing on the breath. When thoughts or sensations distract you, as they inevitably will, you gently bring your attention back to the breath as soon as you realize you have gotten carried away.

I find yoga helps me ‘practice’ being in the here and now, helps me to know the contents of my own mind and heart better, and increases my awareness of my body, so I can check in with what I am able to do day to day. In Kathrin’s words, “Yoga practice starts with being. We do not need to constantly strive to be different and improve. When we practice, we are just striving to be more fully ourselves.”

So if you want to start a yoga practice, where do you begin? You can work one-on-one with a yoga therapist or teacher. Kathrin explains that “in yoga therapy you work with a specific intention of finding more skilful ways of relating to yourself and your condition. This is a very personal and individual path. The yoga therapist will develop a targeted practice for you, which will be individually adapted as needed”.

More and more studios are beginning to offer targeted classes, like yoga for back pain or chair yoga, which you may be able to join. I definitely recommend asking if you can observe a class before joining, to ensure it is at your level and uses a therapeutic approach.

If this is out of your price range, several resources you can consider are listed below. These include instructional DVDs or online routines you can do at home. This is usually better for people with some yoga experience, to avoid injury.  However you start, I hope you find greater presence, connection, and health!

 

Digestively Challenged: Overcoming G.I. Tract Problems when you have a Chronic Illness

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Digestively Challenged: Overcoming G.I. Tract Problems when you have a Chronic IllnessIs eating well with chronic illness a luxury? When I first got diagnosed, I thought so. The significant pain I was experiencing in the muscles around my shoulder blades made it impossible for me to chop, stir, or sauté a whole meal – basically, to cook. My partner was more than happy to help (as long as I showed him how!), but it felt unfair. After all, he was now supporting me financially and doing the majority of the housework – since laundry, vacuuming, scrubbing and dusting were similarly impossible for me. We tried to eat the healthiest convenient foods we could. Unfortunately, convenience isn’t healthy, at least when it comes to eating. In a previous post, I wrote about how my processed diet failed me, even though I was making supposedly healthy choices. In one year, I gained about 20 pounds, ate four times the daily recommended allowance for sugar, was woefully short on fruits and vegetables, ate too many servings of grain and too few servings of protein.

I also had hypoglycemic attacks if I did not eat on time. I remember that panicky feeling of being on transit, far away from a convenience store, and starting to feel shaky and sweaty.  I also developed a number of food intolerances.  I felt anxious about eating out or trying a new recipe for fear of having an ‘episode’.  Not only did I have unpleasant digestive symptoms but also strange neurological ones – sweating, pulse racing, excessive salivation, skin crawling, restless legs, and others.  It was these two problems that made me feel like I needed to understand what was going on in my body and to regain control over my eating. It’s important to begin with a good understanding of digestive problems that affect spoonies (people living with chronic illness).

Firstly, we need to avoid food intolerances (also known as food sensitivities). Food intolerances are defined as a physical reaction to eating certain foods, such as digestive symptoms like bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation, or stomach cramps.[i] These reactions do not occur because of an immune response to a particular food – that would be defined as a food allergy. In the case of a food intolerance, some people may be able to eat a small amount of the trigger food without having a physical reaction, up until they reach a threshold level. Food intolerances may occur because of the absence of a necessary enzyme (such as lactase to break down lactose sugar in dairy), having irritable bowel syndrome, having a sensitivity to food additives, having a problem digesting certain carbohydrates (acronym FODMAPS), or for no known reason. Food sensitivities may be more common among people living with fibromyalgia and CFS/ME because of the overall sensitization of the central nervous system associated with these conditions. Research indicates that at least half of people with FM or CFS/ME experience significant relief by eliminating certain foods.

How can you figure out what foods you are sensitive to? Naturopathic doctors, integrative doctors and nutritionists can offer tests that pinpoint sensitivities. However, the least expensive way is to do an elimnation diet. You begin by cutting out the most common foods that cause intolerances and any foods that you are suspicious of for a period of time, usually 2 to 4 weeks. These foods may include: dairy, gluten, eggs, soy, corn, sugar, citrus, peanuts, shellfish, and coffee. Then you gradually reintroduce one food type at a time to notice your physical reaction. If your symptoms reappear, then you know you are sensitive to that type of food. In my case, I am intolerant of eggs, red meat, and to a lesser extent, wheat. I am also sensitive to high concentrations of fiber or resistant starch. The elimination diet is best done with the guidance of your healthcare professional.

A second problem associated with the digestive system and chronic illness is the development of Leaky Gut Syndrome. Essentially, leaky gut occurs when the lining of the intestines becomes more permeable, which allows particles of partially digested food or waste to leak into the bloodstream.[ii] Increased permeability occurs because of damage to the tight junctions between intestinal cells. When the immune system encounters foreign particles in the bloodstream, it launches a response, including inflammation. Symptoms of leaky gut syndrome include digestive symptoms, gas, bloating, diarrhea, fatigue, joint pain and rashes. In addition to chronic inflammation, leaky gut syndrome affects the ability to digest food and to absorb nutrients. Furthermore, it compromises the immune system by tying it up responding to foreign particles in the blood, which leaves it less able to respond to actual pathogens. The intestinal lining actually is a significant site of immune activity, but when it is damaged, overall immune function is impaired. How does the intestinal lining become damaged? Through food intolerance, stress, medication, flora imbalance and autoimmune disease. Emerging research shows that several autoimmune diseases share increased intestinal permeability as a characteristic[iii].

In terms of diet, the usual recommendations include treating Leaky Gut Syndrome through clean eating; in other words, avoiding commonly allergenic/intolerant foods, inflammatory foods, pesticides, herbicides, additives, or sugar and rebalancing intestinal flora by consuming probiotics. For autoimmune diseases in particular, some experts recommend the paleo diet, which emphasizes protein and vegetables, while cutting out grains and legumes. For example, Dr. Terry Wahls has written a book on how she reversed her MS through a nutrient dense paleo diet. Supplements that can help to repair the damaged intestinal lining and reduce inflammation include l-glutamine and DGL.

When it comes to diet recommendations, I think the most important thing to remember is that we are all genetically diverse. We will all have unique responses to different foods and there is no one-size-fits-all diet. For example, I feel terrible after eating eggs or after eating a large portion of cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, etc) because I have a food intolerance to eggs and  am sensitive to large portions of insoluble fiber. The paleo diet isn’t for me. However, a high-protein vegetarian diet keeps my digestion happy, hypoglycemia at bay, and generally gives me more energy. The only universal truth when it comes to nutrition is that nobody benefits from eating a diet high in processed foods, sugar, sodium or fat. We all feel better on a whole foods diet. It can seem overwhelming to change your diet when you are dealing with the multiple, uncertain symptoms of chronic illness. The potential to improve your quality of life is worth the effort in experimenting to find what works. Here are a few resources to help you get started:

  • 100 Days of Real Food is a resource for transitioning to a diet free from processed foods (includes blog, meal plans, challenge, cookbook) http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

Read other great blog posts by writers with FMS on the Fibro Blogger Directory http://www.fibrobloggerdirectory.com/

[i] http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-allergy/expert-answers/food-allergy/faq-20058538

[ii] https://www.womentowomen.com/digestive-health/healing-leaky-gut-syndrome-open-the-door-to-good-health-2/

[iii] http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/021313p38.shtml

Natural Treatments for Fibromyalgia: Why you should Try D-Ribose

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Natural Treatments for Fibromyalgia: Why you should Try D-RiboseThe first part of my natural treatment protocol for FM was focused on healing my digestive tract (which I described in a previous post). The second phase is to begin incorporating d-ribose.

D-ribose is a sugar produced in the body and taken to alleviate fatigue and pain in fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Here’s what the research says about this supplement.

The biggest advocate for d-ribose is Dr. Teitelbaum, a prominent doctor in the field of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia medicine. He has developed a program for treating both conditions which includes d-ribose as a core component. Dr. Teitelbaum contends that CFS/FMS is caused by an “energy crisis” in the body, leading to a cascade of different symptoms like fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, among others. One root cause of the energy problem, he argues, is that the ability of the mitochondria in your cells to generate energy is suppressed. Mitochondria produce the energy, called ATP, used by your cells to carry out all their functions. D-ribose is essential to the production of ATP. Therefore, taking additional D-ribose should help to support mitochondrial function and improve energy output in fatigued patients. (If you are interested in learning more, check out a much longer discussion found on Dr. Teitelbaum’s website here).

The evidence? Dr. Teitelbaum has authored a few pilot studies that have demonstrated some promising results. The most recent study was an open-label study published in 2012. In this multicenter study, 257 patients diagnosed with CFS/FMS were given d-ribose (5 g three times daily for three weeks). Patient symptoms were assessed in terms of subjective change in energy, sleep quality, mental clarity, pain level, and global sense of well-being, and compared to their pre-study baseline. Significant improvements were found; specifically a 61.3% increase in energy, 37% increase in general well-being, 29% improvement in sleep, 30% improvement in mental clarity, 15.6% decrease in pain.

Sounds great, right? There are some limitations to the study. First of all, there was no placebo group so we don’t have a sense of how much a placebo effect might have impacted the results. Secondly, it was quite a short study so long term effects were not captured in the results. Third, I always feel a bit suspicious of studies that lump chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia together because a lot of recent research has demonstrated different causes for the two conditions and mixing them together might conflate the results.

Personally, I have found D-ribose a helpful aid to improving my energy. I would say that it improves my energy by 15-20%. I take 5mg in the morning, and sometimes an additional 5mg in the afternoon. When I stopped taking it, I noticed a worsening of my afternoon brain fog and fatigue. I didn’t notice a worsening of pain or sleep however. I also appreciate that it is easy to take –  just mix a spoonful with a glass of swater- instead of yet another pill. It is also relatively inexpensive.

As with everything fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue related, it is an individual experience, so you have to try it for yourself. In the case of d-ribose, I think it is definitely worth a try!

Check out other great posts on the Fibro Friday Linkup!

References

Teitelbaum JE, et al. “Treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia with D-ribose – An open-label, multicenter study.” The Open Pain Journal. 2012, 5,32-37