Fibromyalgia and Food Allergies

I find that many of my fibromyalgia and CFS patients suffer from unknown food allergies. Uncovering and avoiding these foods often yields substantial improvement in their lingering symptoms. Avoiding potentially symptom-triggering foods can be extremely helpful in the long run.

Food allergies are considered rare, or aren’t even acknowledged, by many traditional doctors. However, research and better diagnostic tests are validating what many health-care experts have known for quite some time; food allergies play a major role in our health. Says James Braly, MD and author:

“The thinking of the majority of health professionals, including allergists and dieticians, is some fifteen to twenty years out of date when it comes to food and allergy.”

Intestinal permeability and food allergies go hand in hand. Undigested proteins can be deposited into any available bodily tissue. This can create an allergic inflammatory response at any site within the body: muscles, heart, brain, joints, etc.

Food allergies can be the trigger for chronic headaches, fatigue, low moods, IBS, bloating, stomach pain, chronic pain, sinusitis, low immune function, and many other conditions.

Food Allergies:

• headaches
• eczema
• psoriasis
• diarrhea
• colitis
• asthma
• hyperactivity
• rheumatoid
• athritis
• gout
• chronic pain
• edema
• ear infections
• anxiety
• depression

All allergy tests are associated with some degree of error. Even ELISA and FICA tests are no better than 85% accurate. False positives and missed allergic foods are a common occurrence on most tests, so the gold standard for uncovering allergen sensitivities is still the two-week elimination diet.

I recommend that everyone try this diet. What have you got to lose but your pain? Following the elimination diet is a challenge, so always have plenty

of snacks available at home, in the car, in your briefcase or purse, and at work. Don’t get discouraged in the short-term! If correcting your problem was an easy thing to do, it would have already happened, right?

For the next two weeks, eliminate:

• all dairy products (except butter) including milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream.
• all corn and related products: corn syrup, popcorn etc.
• all gluten products, including wheat, oats, barley, kamut, spelt, and all flours.
• all soy products (check food labels for hidden soy).
• all nightshade foods, including white potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, tobacco, and eggplant. Nightshades contain a poison similar to belladonna that may cause muscle or joint pain.

Pinpointing Your Allergic Foods

After two weeks of totally avoiding the foods listed above, begin to challenge one food group at a time, beginning with dairy. For one day only, eat three or more servings of dairy while still avoiding the other food groups. Then immediately return to the elimination diet for three days.

Remember, most food allergies are delayed reactions and can take up to three days before any symptoms are experienced. Keep a diet journal on hand to record the foods you eat and any symptoms you experience while reintroducing the eliminated foods.

After challenging dairy (and waiting three days), challenge another food group: gluten, for instance. Have oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and buttered toast for a snack. Don’t eat any other eliminated foods; you’re only challenging gluten.

Wait three more days before challenging another forbidden food group.

If you have a severe reaction, totally eliminate the offending food group for six months. Then slowly reintroduce it back into your diet: eat one small serving and wait a minimum of four days before eating another. Reactions may be avoided by slowly rotating these

foods back into your diet.

In the case of a mild or moderate reaction, avoid the food group for one–three months (depending on the severity of your reaction) and then begin to reintroduce it.

The Number One Thing

Here is the number one thing you must do to start to reverse your chronic pain, fatigue, low moods, and brain fog associated with fibromyalgia. Do this and you can reduce your symptoms by 40,50 or even 80%. Without getting this right you’ll never stand a chance of reversing your fibromyalgia or feeling good again. There is the right way to do it and the wrong way. Must folks don’t know it but they are doing the wrong way and this almost guarantees they’ll never feel good again.

Dr. Murphree’s Fibromyalgia & Sleep Program

In the next few weeks I’ll be sharing a program, one that will allow most anyone, who truly wants to reverse their fibro symptoms, no matter their financial situation, to do so.

Stay Tuned.