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Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome


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Hey Everyone,

I am on day 16 and am just looking for some advice and support from people who have benefitted from this program with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome or chronic pain. I only became ill about 8 months ago and was previously very healthy and active, I am a 33-year old woman. I have felt some increased energy but not much pain reduction yet. I plan on doing the program for at least 45 or 60 days. For now I am mostly doing the autoimmune protocol but am eating some nuts. If you did benefit, how long did it take?

Thanks, wishing health and happiness to all

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I'm new, so I don't have authority with Whole30. But I have Celiac Disease and a Fibro diagnosis and have bad periods of fatigue. One thing for sure is that probiotics -- in very large amounts -- are very important to heal or improve these kinds of conditions. Maybe you are already on them, but I just wanted to mention it.

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Thank you, I could definitely up my probiotics, I am trying to eat Sauerkraut too. Sigh, so I am on day 26 and still have pain. I do have more energy I think and have had some less painful days. I even did the autoimmune protocol for the first three weeks. But fibro is a complex illness so I am going to give this at least 90 days to evaluate. Best of luck to you.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm glad to hear your energy is a bit better. I was diagnosed with CFS in 2011, then fibro in 2013. I am on day 1 of my Whole30.  I have read amazing stories from people living with chronic diseases who became significantly better on this food plan. I will be extatic if I can keep my house clean and go for walks every day ;)  I hope you continue to see improvements. :D

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I have a question. I deal with severe chronic fatigue syndrome. There are days when I can barely get out of bed I'm so exhausted. My diet has not been great because I stick with very simple things, i.e. cereal for breakfast, a huge salad for dinner, then some sort of munchy thing in front of the TV. Awful, I know, which is why I decided to do the Whole30.

 

But as I draw near the end of Day 1, I'm already feeling overwhelmed at the extra work involved, not to mention that I don't like eating 3 meals a day. I know this eating is going to make me healthier but I need to simplify things somehow.

 

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Kristina

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As a long time shift worker, I feel you on the extra work involved. Fact is, eating healthy is harder than eating crap from a box (I used to live on things in boxes, they were always ready, whatever the time of day). The box-crap is designed to be easy, but it's not good for you and it makes you feel like crap. Preparing a meal of real food will never be as easy as opening a zip lock, a bag or a box. A hard learned lesson from me: If you let cooking work be the excuse, it's ever present and will trip you up.

 

I was also a meal skipper too, especially breakfast. I got a lot of health problems, Whole30 has made a huge difference to my health.

 

Whole30 is a lot of work the first time, but I can tell you it gets easier. It's more like learning to cook for the first time, everything is weird and hard at first, sometimes you don't know how to do healthy stuff.

 

Don't make it harder than it needs to be if you're struggling. Cook in bulk. Baking and slow cooking are good ways to do big batches of food with little work. You need some kitchen hacks, learn how to do it easier. If you hate chopping, find ways to cook that do it less or get a machine to do the hard yards.

 

Always make extra meals for freezing and freeze them in meal sized portions, so you always have a fail-safe on a bad day. Keep a food log, including how you cook/prep/chop stuff, you might find faster ways to cook :) As an example, I like zucchini noodles, but they were soooo slow for me to make. I got a spiraliser and now I can make a huge bowlful really quickly. Not all kitchen hacks are machines though, some are just new ways of thinking, like NomNomPaleo's "cook two chickens at once". Sounds silly maybe, but it nearly broke my brain reading that, I would never have considered it myself.

 

I know it's hard right now, but it's soooo worth it.

 

How much work would you do, to be able to get out of bed easier in the morning?

 

Your best health won't be found in the bottom of a box or bag of crap.

 

Don't give up, it's only been one day. At the end of 30, I would be very surprised if you're not feeling better.
Eat your breakfast ;) I bet it's delicious.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just found this thread while getting acquainted with the forums - I haven't started my W30 yet, but I did start a few days ago logging my joint pain, fatigue, and other symptoms every day so that when I do jump off the W30 deep end I can see exactly what changes.

 

I have struggled with fibro and CFS symptoms since I was in my early 20s but wasn't diagnosed until I was 42 (I'm 47 now). At one point I was on so many meds and so brain-fogged that I had to have my husband watch me take my pills to make sure I wasn't accidentally taking my sleep meds in the morning (and then trying to drive my car when the Ambien kicked in. It happened once. I survived by the grace of God, but it was terrifying).

 

About a year ago I purged almost all of the artificial flavors/colors/preservatives out of my diet and started eating whole real foods incl. mostly organic and local veggies and pastured meat and eggs. I have had massive improvements just from that and am off all the meds, but I am still in at least moderate pain every day, struggle with sleep more nights than not, and have a few days a month where my think just forgets how to brain. I thought that was as good as it would ever get without going down the crazymed path again - but now I am excited to find out if maybe I can improve even further by identifying what exactly causes all the inflammation I obviously still have in my body.

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For anyone with inflammation problems, removing nightshades and the Autoimmune Protocol are recommended steps.

 

It's worth keeping a food diary, along with meds and any other factors which might impact inflammation.

 

I had huge improvements without grains and dairy and cutting down nightshades :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

We used to have a moderator here who had several conditions that caused incredible fatigue - one of which meant that she was often unable to stand for more than ten minutes at a time.  She kept several things on hand for when she wasn't going to be able to get up.  She talked about keeping compliant tuna on hand at all times, as well as frozen broccoli and other veggies (um, remembering not to get the mixed veggie packs that include peas and/or corn).  Then if she was having a day where she could barely get out of bed, she could eat a can of tuna, some veggies, and put some olive oil on it all, and that was a meal.  Not fancy, but compliant and sustaining, and doable on the really really bad days.

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We used to have a moderator here who had several conditions that caused incredible fatigue - one of which meant that she was often unable to stand for more than ten minutes at a time.  She kept several things on hand for when she wasn't going to be able to get up.  She talked about keeping compliant tuna on hand at all times, as well as frozen broccoli and other veggies (um, remembering not to get the mixed veggie packs that include peas and/or corn).  Then if she was having a day where she could barely get out of bed, she could eat a can of tuna, some veggies, and put some olive oil on it all, and that was a meal.  Not fancy, but compliant and sustaining, and doable on the really really bad days.

 

I do something similar. And I use my good days to stock the freezer with individually-portioned meals I can get quickly later. But it has to be a REALLY good day to do much of that.

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  • 9 months later...

I know all of these posts are from  along time ago, but I had to put my 2 cents in. I have suffered from Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for about 7-8 years at least. It's hard to tell when it really started. I recently went organic in attempt to feel better. Anyway, a few thing I know affect my CFS and Fibro:

 

Gluten and lactose. I felt better (though not great) when I stopped bread and milk.

Pharmaceuticals: Statins were the worst. I tried to tell my doctor it was causing fatigue and he said no. I said yes and I stopped them while on vacation. When I got home, he retested me and said my cholestoral wasn't high enough to warrant meds. Too funny. So far every prescription I have tried affects my fatigue. Others give me weird side effects...benadryl keeps me awake.

 

If you can't sleep, try 5-HTP (NOW brand). I take 400 mg a night. No side effects.

 

For the food and pharmaceuticals, I think the problem is additives and preservatives. Homemade bread or stuff that I bought at Whole Foods that just had  yeast, flour, salt, and water didn't affect me nearly as bad as Wonder Bread type breads. Though i always took gluten enzymes just in case. So this Whole30 should help if you make sure there are no preservatives in them.

 

Good luck.

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If you can't sleep, try 5-HTP (NOW brand). I take 400 mg a night. No side effects.

 

Just putting a word of caution out there: 5-HTP can be great for some people, but it isn't something to take lightly. Depending on your personal serotonin levels and the other medications you may be taking, 5-HTP can cause your body to produce too much serotonin, which in turn causes a variety of side effects (over-stimulation, muscle spasms, diarrhea, vomiting, shivering, tremors and so on). If you aren't on any SSRIs and you want to experiment, start with a low dose and see how you feel. Other less risky supplements for sleep include magnesium and melatonin.

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I was diagnosed with CFS just over 12 months ago, but can trace it back to a virus I got nearly 14 years ago. I was hit with periods of exhaustion, lethargy & I would often say to my hubby that it felt like the virus was coming back. I was hit with it hard & bedridden for 3 weeks. After tests & back & forth to the GP, they said there was nothing else they could do.

 

I refused to believe that, having 3 kids under 10, it wasn't a life I was prepared to put up with, with having small children. I started a Paleo transition for 12 weeks. I started to feel so much better & with the help of a chiro/kinesiologist I was able to get up & about again. Once I finished the transition I started a Whole 30. I was so excited to be able to have potatoes again, so around half way I introduced them again for the next couple of days. Day 18 hit me hard - I was back in bed for 4 days. Potatoes are a nightshade and turned out to be one of my major issues. I'm gradually finding what foods affect me, which are inflammatory etc. 

 

Over the last few weeks I've had some nasties sneaking back into my diet. Of course I "crashed" again, so I new it was time to go back and do a reset, then back to a Paleo diet. Overall it's helped me immensely. I just have to be very careful with what I eat. 

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