New Supplement for Fibromyalgia, plus ART

[Guest guest]

[i personally still think that environmental chemicals play a very large

role in fibromyalgia, especially since the disease didn't really exist

until recently, but I agree that there is a hormonal involvement in many

rheumatic diseases. Some alternative medical doctors treat rheumatoid

arthritis by balancing out the main hormones in the body - it's still

medicine but most certainly not the standard practice of poisoning the

immune system. Oh, and ART works very well, but it takes a lot of time

with a skilled practitioner over many visits. -- David]

 

New Supplement for Fibromyalgia:

http://www.myalgistat.com/treatments.jsp

Released 25 January 2005

 

Therapies that have resulted in minor, temporary relief of symptoms in

some patients include Vitamin B therapy, acupuncture, warm baths,

myofascial release, yoga, biofeedback, and Candida control diets (some

fibromyalgia patients test positive for Candida, which is a yeast-like

fungus).

 

However, one physician, Dr. Mike Leahy of Colorado Springs, has had

impressive results by treating fibromyalgia as a metabolic disorder. He

believes that fibromyalgia is a disease characterized by the body's

inability (or diminished ability) to turn one type of thyroid hormone

(T4) into another (T3). (This conversion of T4 into T3 is one of the

driving factors behind human metabolism.)

 

By improving the body's ability to manufacture this vital thyroid

hormone through the use of a dietary supplement called Myalgistat, Dr.

Leahy has found that 100% of his patients have experienced anywhere from

a 50 to 80% improvement in fibromyalgia symptoms.

 

The main ingredient in Myalgistat is a patent-pending compound called

A7-E.™ It's best described as a " metabolism activator. " A7-E, along with

another patent-pending compound in Myalgistat, GZ™ 100, increases the

conversion of T4 to T3 not only in the thyroid, but also throughout the

body (much of this desired hormone conversion occurs in muscle tissue,

at least in non-fibromyalgia sufferers).

 

These compounds are completely new to fibromyalgia treatment. Their

effects are sustained over 24 hours; they have patents filed on them;

they're so effective in their effects on metabolism that there are no

other compounds that compare; and they're only found in Myalgistat.

 

Another treatment that has proved to be beneficial is ART®, or Active

Release Techniques®. ART is state-of-the-art soft tissue treatment used

on problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.

Typically, an ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate texture,

tightness and movement of affected areas. Abnormal tissues are treated

by combining precisely directed tension (via the hands of the

practitioner) with very specific patient movements.

 

These treatment protocols – over 500 of them – are very specific and are

unique to ART.

 

ART was developed, refined, and patented by Dr. Mike Leahy of Colorado,

the very same doctor who's been making inroads into the treatment of

fibromyalgia by viewing it as a metabolic disorder.

 

To find an ART provider near you, please visit Activerelease.com.

 

************************

Kelly Baggett writes at http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=550771

 

This supplement should be really helpful for sufferers not just of

fibromyalgia but anyone with any of the common autoimmune problems. The

slow metabolism is something almost always seen in fibromyalgia. The

faulty t4 to t3 conversion occurs as a consequence of the adrenal

disregulation and subsequent hypometabolism often seen in the rheumatic

illnessess such as fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.

 

For those who have any more interest in this illness here is an overview

I had written for someone a while back. The main difference between the

main rheumatic conditions is the expression of the external symptoms

(muscles vs joints, vs lungs vs skin). They all start off pretty much

the same way.

 

Here's what usually happens. Prior to the onset of illness the

relationship between the negative stress hormones and the positive

stress hormones become altered.....DHEA ( a positive stress hormone)

initially usually becomes depressed while the negative stress hormones

become elevated. This relationship explains the difference between

adults and children and can be thought of as the difference between

vacation type stress vs overwork type stress. You can stay up drinking

night after night after night while on vacation and be fine but do the

same thing night after night working in a job you hate and the body

starts to break down.

 

But anyway, what usually causes the initial problem is a prolonged high

stress state coupled with the genetic succeptibility to that state. This

causes the body to overproduce negative stress hormones like cortisol.

In order to produce excessive cortisol the body has to sacrifice

positive stress hormons like DHEA. This explains why people like nurses

who work long and odd hours suffer from fibromyalgia and RA at a much

greater rate then anyone else. It also explains why those individuals

with these rheumatoid family of conditions are often emotionally

sensitive individuals prone to emotional swings. They are very " stress "

sensitive. This personality type tends to have a very sensitive and

often overactive stress as well as immune response (anxiety, panic

attacks, worry worts, allergies etc.) It should come as no surprise that

a large percentage of those with fibromyalgia fall into this group. More

on that in a minute but the important thing to remember is that

initially the stress axis becomes compromised...youthful hormones wane

and negative stress hormones rise.

 

Now, eventually in this state the body's stress response center will no

longer work optimally. The length of time it takes this to occur can

vary but what's important is that the HPA becomes dysregulated. The CRF,

ACTH, and Cortisone axis does not work the way it should. A given amount

of CRF should elicit a given amount of ACTH and a given amoutn of ACTH

should elicit a given amount of Cortisone but because the body has been

overproducing one or more becomes insensitive to another.

 

So now you basically have a body that doesn't respond to stress

correctly and in fact baseline levels of energizing stress hormones will

tend to be lower then normal. This is what's responsible for the chronic

fatigue, apathy, depression, etc. seen prior to the onset of nearly ALL

the autoimmune family of illnesses and is also precisely the same thing

that occurs in the case of post traumatic stress disorder.

 

Now, cortisone is an antinflammatory and is also an immune suppressant.

So in someone who is slightly cortisone deficient you can expect a

hyperactive immune system with inflammation. BInGO!

 

Now go back up top and remember initially the relationsip between DHEA

and cortisone was screwed up to begin with and that kink right there

means the body would originally be apt to operate in a *confused* state.

Also remember what caused the hypoactive HPA to begin with was the body

perceiving stress for a prolonged period of time.

 

The original high stress state is often responsible for screwing up the

digestive system. During this time blood is shunted away from the

digestive system. It's also worth nothing that the gut is basically like

a 2nd brain...it has receptors for neurotransmitters like serotonin etc.

To make a long story short this means that during this time (the high

stress state) stuff like leaky gut syndrome, yeast infections,

mycoplasmal infections, and all kinds of other bullshit related to

autoimmunity are apt to develop. So, eventually, when the adrenal axis

does become hypoactive and the immune system overactive the gut had

already been compromised and been allowing all kinds of foreign stuff

into the body like pathogens and food particles and crap like that.

 

So when you combine this with the subsequent overactive immune system

from the hypoactive HPA, it should be no wonder that the immune system

is on attack mode. Not only does it mount a strong attack on all foreign

invaders but since it's overactive and confused it gets other tissues

confused and attacks them as well (muscles in the case of fibromyalgia,

joints in the case of arthritis, other tissues in the case of other

rheumatoid illnesses).

 

This is why elimination diets, fasting, and digestive health care work

so well for this family of illnesses.

 

Now as far as teatments go unless you correct what happens furthest

upstream then you're just covering up symptoms. The best treatment is a

permanent vacation. Watch how symptoms disappear on a vacation. In the

absence of that you have to try to mimick the physiological conditions.

 

One should be given a thorough adrenal assessment as well as therapy for

the digestive system and an emphasis on proper diet. It should be noted

that antidepressants are often helpful and they also exert a large part

of their effects by correcting the deficiences in the HPA axis so they

should be seriously considered. The results of the adrenal assessement

would demonstrate the correct treatment and may indicate the need for

hormonal supplementation or replacement as well.