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The latest research has shown that in FM/CFS patients', that there is an irregular molecular weight for cells and enzymes that act as the body's defense mechanisms. Our viral channels remain open long after viruses have been eliminated, so this means that our body still thinks that it is fighting an infection long after it has been beaten. And as a result, it consumes our energy resourcesResource optisource and starts destroying our healthy cells. So then our immune system basically is still attacking our bodies. Maybe now a CFS or FM diagnosis will fall in the Autoimmune Diseases category ?
You may want to check out the latest. This one article I read by Mark Shaw, proposed a treatment that is very similiar to the one I'm on. I would google "viral channels" + "fibromyalgia".
"what do you think I'm open to any Ideas mabe this goes hand in hand with what you have found"
Well I'm on a research protocol that involves antibiotics... its called the Marshall Protocol and my Endocrinologist prescribed it for me for CFS. There are success stories posted on their website from patients' who have FM/CFS. The drugs they use on the protocol are not research medications. You may want to google, "mycoplasma" + "Dr. Garth Nicolson" + "fibromyalgia" to read more about bacteria in patients' who have fibro, rheumatoid arthritis, CFS & other conditions. It really makes sense if you think about it... especially if you look at people who have lyme disease.
You should investigate the possibility of mercury toxicity. It can cause lots of fibro pain and other symptoms (CFS, bowel problems, neurological issues). I believe it is a huge factor in chronic problems, but rarely treated.
I have a lot to say and have personal experience with this. Reply if you are interested and we can switch to email. I have had a host of symptoms, some of which are fibro-like pain in different quadrants of my body.
Here is good info about someone's personal experience with mercury (including fibro pain): www.mercurylife.com. It is one of the best websites I have seen that is informative and not quacky.
Unfortunately only about 1% of the mainstream MDs/GPs will deal with mercury issues, so you might need to go towards complimentary medicine (NDs, etc.). If you aren't interested, then just ignore this reply.
Hi i was wondering who diagnoses Fibro? I have been really sick for four months now. Docs havent been able to find what I have. First I was getting heart palpitations, then I got tingling in arms and legs, felt tired, and weak. Then one day I got really bad I would start trembling if I were to stand or do something so simple , very weak, unsteady. Now I am very fatigued and lathatgic, and I am getting sharp pain in my neck and upper back, shoulders. I cry because of the pain. Also for the past year if you touch my back it feels very tender and sore. Does this sound like Fibro? I am unable to do my normal activities and I have not worked in four months. Please Help
Just found this forum...your comment about fibro being an autoimmune disorder really struck home with me. I was diagnosed in 1992 after having leaking silicone implants removed. I had developed severe dry eyes and was diagnosed with atypical Sygrones (not spelled correctly), hypothyroid and fibro all at the same time. Now it makes sense...finally....had the implants out against doctors' instructions and the Sygrones went "underneath" stopped it in its tracks and was then told by doctors, that I made the right decision but kept the dry eyes and other conditions.
Actually was doing okay until 2002 when severely rearended and 2003 t-boned by a red light runner which threw my fibro into high gear along with unrelenting back and neck pains. It's been five years and I am near my wits end which is how i found your forum. Just wanted to say thank you for making some sense of my fibro.
German researchers also suggested a relationship between CFS and autoimmune disease, including autoimmune thyroid antibodies. In the a 1994 article in the German medical journal Wien Med Wochenschr, ([link url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=7856214&form=6&db=m&Do pt=r]Chronic fatigue syndrome: immune dysfunction, role of pathogens and toxic agents and neurological and cardiac changes[/link]), a study of 375 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome showed an increased occurrence of autoantibodies in the CFS-patients...especially microsomal thyroid antibodies. According to the researchers, this suggests that "CFS is associated with or the beginning of manifest autoimmune disease."
I was interested in the mercury tooth issue because I'd had two silver fillings used for the first time in the summer before the full CFS onset. An alternative doctor (MD) pushed the hard for me to get the fillings replaced. When I pushed him on details - how often does this work to cure people, and how much of a cure - it turned out maybe 1-4% of his patients it had an impact in spite of the large number of people he'd pushed on it. Maybe 1% it was the root of their problems and he saw miraculous recoveries. Over the years I'd talked with other people that have tried it. I read research articles and summaries that were persasive in either direction. One of the Eurpoean countries, sweden maybe, has banded the fillings. The ADA is adament that it doesn't matter.
Conclusion I came to (specific to the fillings, not other mercury sources) is that, like you, if someone tests high in mercury it's worth looking into. However, just having the fillings doesn't mean it's the cause of CFS, and for most people it's not going to be. For people where it is the cause the symptoms look more like that pattern than like classic CFS (hard to describe those differences), but treating it IS the answer.
Platelet - would you feel comfortable posting some of the Shaw links (or PMing me)? I was never able to find what I think you were talking about, but I'd like to. Actually as I typed I realized there're bound to be on your website...
Erosina - it's not obvious whether you ahve FM or don't. Would you mind posting it as a separate question and include a few more details for us to work with? Are those you're only symptoms? What have you been tested for - kinds of doctors you've seen?
I thought fibro was in the autoimmune category. Does anyone think that if fibro affected more men than it did women, that more doctors would have researched it by now? Now at least more percentage of doctors and researchers are women, so maybe that's why it is only now being researched more. Or am I just being bitter?
I've read that autoimmune diseases in women are more common because it has something to do with our hormones. I will try to find that article and zip it your way if I can locate it.
Thanks! Can you add the Shaw stuff and Nichoson while you're at it? Those are the two that I couldn't find well with googling! For MP, it's interesting reading - but I'm not up for the rigors at this time:- ).
Sure! I think I found it as a link on the bottom of the article you sent. It had his blog and also what i think was his site. I've never heard of him at all, although i'd heard of the alexander techq years ago. i don't know if he's newer on the scene than I've been keeping up with, or just not touched someone in the local group yet. Did you try any of his stuff? Hope the MP is'nt going too rough. But if it keeps working it's worth it : )!!
Hey... the BBC reported on their website that antibiotics could help slow Multiple Sclerosis. This just reminds me that I'm on the right track with the Marshall Protocol. = )
This is what David Moskowitz, M.D. (Harvard Graduate) has to say:
"We have encountered two patients with Fibromyalgia initially diagnosed as having Autoimmune Fatigue Syndrome (AIFS). To investigate the relationship between AIFS and Fibromyalgia, the distribution of the tender points in patients with AIFS was assessed according to the ACR criteria for Fibromyalgia. It was revealed that AIFS patients had 5.6 tender points on average. Patients with headaches, digestive problems, or difficulty going to school had more tender points than patients without. Patients with ana titers or = 1:160. Anti-sa negative patients had more tender points than positive patients."
"These results suggest a relationship between AIFS and Fibromyalgia in terms of the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the numerous tender points. In other words, ana-positive Fibromyalgia patients could be one form of AIFS, as well as ana-positive Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. Thus, autoimmunity could explain the controversial disease entities of Fibromyalgia and/or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome."
Well I'm on a research protocol that involves antibiotics... its called the Marshall Protocol and my Endocrinologist prescribed it for me for CFS. There are success stories posted on their website from patients' who have FM/CFS. The drugs they use on the protocol are not research medications. You may want to google, "mycoplasma" + "Dr. Garth Nicolson" + "fibromyalgia" to read more about bacteria in patients' who have fibro, rheumatoid arthritis, CFS & other conditions. It really makes sense if you think about it... especially if you look at people who have lyme disease.
I have a lot to say and have personal experience with this. Reply if you are interested and we can switch to email. I have had a host of symptoms, some of which are fibro-like pain in different quadrants of my body.
Here is good info about someone's personal experience with mercury (including fibro pain): www.mercurylife.com. It is one of the best websites I have seen that is informative and not quacky.
Unfortunately only about 1% of the mainstream MDs/GPs will deal with mercury issues, so you might need to go towards complimentary medicine (NDs, etc.). If you aren't interested, then just ignore this reply.
(see my above post)
You may have to try different providers until one will test and listen to you.
I had a lot of the same symptoms. Many of them have gone down with the mercury treatments. I am still working on it though.
Actually was doing okay until 2002 when severely rearended and 2003 t-boned by a red light runner which threw my fibro into high gear along with unrelenting back and neck pains. It's been five years and I am near my wits end which is how i found your forum. Just wanted to say thank you for making some sense of my fibro.
German researchers also suggested a relationship between CFS and autoimmune disease, including autoimmune thyroid antibodies. In the a 1994 article in the German medical journal Wien Med Wochenschr, ([link url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=7856214&form=6&db=m&Do pt=r]Chronic fatigue syndrome: immune dysfunction, role of pathogens and toxic agents and neurological and cardiac changes[/link]), a study of 375 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome showed an increased occurrence of autoantibodies in the CFS-patients...especially microsomal thyroid antibodies. According to the researchers, this suggests that "CFS is associated with or the beginning of manifest autoimmune disease."
Conclusion I came to (specific to the fillings, not other mercury sources) is that, like you, if someone tests high in mercury it's worth looking into. However, just having the fillings doesn't mean it's the cause of CFS, and for most people it's not going to be. For people where it is the cause the symptoms look more like that pattern than like classic CFS (hard to describe those differences), but treating it IS the answer.
Platelet - would you feel comfortable posting some of the Shaw links (or PMing me)? I was never able to find what I think you were talking about, but I'd like to. Actually as I typed I realized there're bound to be on your website...
Erosina - it's not obvious whether you ahve FM or don't. Would you mind posting it as a separate question and include a few more details for us to work with? Are those you're only symptoms? What have you been tested for - kinds of doctors you've seen?
Hi Curls,
I'm PM'ing you some good links about the Marshall Protocol.
You have mail (or will have shortly = ) )
I've read that autoimmune diseases in women are more common because it has something to do with our hormones. I will try to find that article and zip it your way if I can locate it.
Hi Curls,
You have mail !
Thanks!!! I've started reading...
Hi Curls,
I can't remember how I stumbled upon his article. He also has a blogsite. If you want that website addy, I'll zip it right to ya.
I zipped you the link.
Hey... the BBC reported on their website that antibiotics could help slow Multiple Sclerosis. This just reminds me that I'm on the right track with the Marshall Protocol. = )
"We have encountered two patients with Fibromyalgia initially diagnosed as having Autoimmune Fatigue Syndrome (AIFS). To investigate the relationship between AIFS and Fibromyalgia, the distribution of the tender points in patients with AIFS was assessed according to the ACR criteria for Fibromyalgia. It was revealed that AIFS patients had 5.6 tender points on average. Patients with headaches, digestive problems, or difficulty going to school had more tender points than patients without. Patients with ana titers or = 1:160. Anti-sa negative patients had more tender points than positive patients."
"These results suggest a relationship between AIFS and Fibromyalgia in terms of the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the numerous tender points. In other words, ana-positive Fibromyalgia patients could be one form of AIFS, as well as ana-positive Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. Thus, autoimmunity could explain the controversial disease entities of Fibromyalgia and/or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome."
source:
http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/id/5007