FMS symptoms exaberated by food additives, statin drugs and vaccines?

is that what is in a flu vaccine? if so, I reckon that might have contributed to mine...Had my first one back in Oct and ive never had proper flu before, been on a downhill spiral since then

Gave up aspartame straight away, don't have breast implants, not overweight...don't have cholesterol meds...

What is MSG? oooo might have had a few of these

I've traveled in many places including Africa as well as was in the Fire Dept. for 10 years and have had to get so many vaccines/shots I can't even count! LOL Never had any issue with them over the years in regards to my Fibro.

I haven't had anything to eat with MSG in years but now that we know so much about it, it isn't too hard to just avoid that particular additive.

People who need statin drugs should NOT stop taking them due to any possible issue with Fibro as controlling your cholesterol is imperative and can cause serious heart and health issues not doing so.

As Sherrine mentioned, there are so many articles, books, theories, by all sorts of folks out there about what causes Fibro or what "may" make it worse.

This particular website that you posted is just some woman trying to sell her book with the same title. She is NOT a medical professional in any way. So, I tend to pay more attention to Board Certified Rheumatologists who have spent their training and practice with Fibro...

It is just way too easy to start living in some bubble eating bread and water fearing every single food, every single activity, every single item around us as we think it all causes our Fibro to be worse.

This is where many of us have said that scouring the internet, you will find tons of things out there that are "theories" or just personal stories about Fibro that don't fit everyone. We all have to find our own path.

For me, it's about exercising each day, eating healthy to maintain a good weight, but I also allow myself treats once in awhile, stay hydrated, staying positive, and then use supplements that work for me and any type of medication that a Dr. has prescribed which is a muscle relaxer when needed.

I don't get vaccines anymore. I'm allergic/sensitive to the sulfite preservatives and the sulfites in the gelatin in them. I get tachycardia and flu symptoms, have to take Benadryl for at least 3 days.

People with MSG reactions should also consider sulfites. They may be in t he same things or otherwise connected, depending on what information you read.

Aspartame is loaded with sulfite. I really hate being forced to take medicines and test preps with artificial colors and sweeteners. I know I will have a reaction. It's another case for taking Benadryl. I can't take liquid or IV Benadryl either - more sulfites.

I get horrible muscle pains from statins. I found out I can take Crestor once a week - read it in a journal and my cardiologist agreed. I have familial high cholesterol, but I found a way to combat it: no wheat! I went from 260+ to 100 aand got my good cholesterol higher than my bad. I can feel the difference. I have much less difficulty walking up a hill. I've read and been told by my doctors that it's possible to reverse plaque in my arteries by getting cholesterol quite low.

Unfortunately getting my weight and cholesterol down hasn't helped with my fibro. Didn't help with hot flushes either.

We all hope for that magic bullet, be it a cure, a pill, a dram, or a definitive list of no-nos.

Overlapping conditions can cause confusion.

Now, it may be that someone is bothered by MSG. When they eat MSG, they feel worse and assume it is fibro. Ditto, vaccines. Ditto, statins. I do not say that people do not have problems with these substances, just that connecting them to increased FMS is correlation not causation.

I have an issue with MSG. I cannot take statins, for they put me to sleep. I get vaccines with regularity. I currently am on a restrictive diet for Crohns, so no aspartame.

If there are connections, the medical community will state it definitively. The word will spread. Until then, anecdotal experiential evidence may help some people be healthier but might not do anything for their FMS.

Jasmine,

You're a uni student, if you want to find a cure, go to the library computer and look into current researches that is going on. Unlike many people in this forum, we do have access to many of the medical journals available to us freely because we're students to a tertiary entity. Use it, make some real research about it.

It's a way to get yourself familiar about it and if you believe there's a cure, hey, if you can start contributing towards those journal, you may be an OT with a PhD.

All I'm saying is please do cite your findings that's from proper medical journal, not snake oil company, here say is sometimes not enough.

Myself - good points. Thanks.

Clarie, part of the reason why I want to be an OT is so that I can develop an effective set of treatment guidelines for FMS/CFS patients. I totally do want to go into research! I did start off by looking on the university database for information; but I must admit I was turned off by the fact that pretty much all the kinds of research papers were on psychological treatments or drugs with horrid side effects. Yes, the psychological aspect is important - I can see that from the research - but I was looking for something physical to do (without drugs) and I was having a hard time finding it! The database did, however, contain papers that reassured me that this is a real physical condition, which helped me to accept my diagnosis. I actually did research quite a bit on the uni database and wrote down my ideas and the findings, but I never really posted it on here because I already felt comfortable trusting the resources. I guess I really only post it on here if I'm not sure that it's true and I need to see what you guys think before I believe it.

Sherrine, thanks for the encouragement. In Australia, I am actually one of the lucky few with access to the papers. With regards to studying fibromyalgia too much - don't worry, I think I've about had my fill. Except for brand new research, there isn't really anything else that I would be interesting in looking at from now on. It makes me feel better to know that you did the same thing at first (researching too much) - it makes it easier for me to accept your advice to not worry about it excessively. I will try to be more balanced :)

P.S. The one track mind thing... that's just me. Whatever the subject may happen to be. I went through about 7 months where I obsessed over World War II, researching Hitler and the Jews and disabled people and all that stuff. There were a couple months when it was all about fantasy - the ideas it represented about human nature and all that stuff. One time it was all about the various major religions. One time it was classical music. One time it was neuroscience. I won't list all of the obsessions I've had in the past, or I'll just bore you and embarrass myself. The point is that I think about one subject A LOT for several months... and then I move onto something else. I think I'm nearing the end of the fibromyalgia stage (in fact, I'm sick of reading/hearing/saying/writing the F-word) and I'm starting to think about the performing arts a lot...

I do have more pain when I have aspartame and MSG. I thought it was all in my head! I'll have to investigate the sulfite thing!

AND a PSA: if anyone has to take statins, and you have additional muscle pain (from what you were already experiencing), be sure they check your blood for signs of muscle tissue death. I know they routinely check liver enzymes when people are on statins, but you have to watch how your muscles feel, too. This happened to my mom; her legs would hurt so bad she couldn't go up the stairs, and her arms felt weak and hurt all the time. The meds were causing her muscle tissue to actually die! The way she described how her muscles felt sounded a lot like the pain I get. I think she was on Lipitor at the time, though she's tried them all (and currently not on any of them-her doctor wanted her to break from them for awhile).