Fibromyalgia and Gut Health
In the 1990’s, during my time in medical school, I had not heard of the term “fibromyalgia”. As a matter of fact, this condition came directly into my consciousness only after I started to practice regenerative medicine. That’s when patient after patient started coming through my door with “Fibromyalgia” - fatigue and pain of unknown origin. Over the years, the quest for the root causes for fibromyalgia led to an understanding that they are no different from the root causes of all chronic conditions. I share insights from our Regenerative Protocols That Work™ that we have used to successfully address root causes in thousands of patients. This includes the >20% physicians or their family members that seek our care and learn these methods from our workshops. Chronically ill patients who adopt this regenerative model achieve a full recovery over 85% of the time.
The Long-Living provide the best model for regeneration
In the literature one finds a myriad of possible causes of fibromyalgia including physical inactivity,, infections, parasites, toxins, heavy metals, leaky gut, vaccines, dysbiosis, nutritional deficits, adrenal insufficiency, mental abuse, depression and chronic stress. Chasing any one of these causes never results in a complete, sustainable cure, because these are downstream from the basic factors that control the internal environment. A regenerative lifestyle is all about addressing the causations to how the long-living thrive. Here, we can learn from the long-living cultures who are regenerating in the Blue-Zones. Around the world there are well-studied zones, where people live long healthy lives, climbing mountains, herding goats and flourishing until they are above 100 years old.,, These people experience aging biomarkers at the cell-level after an age of over 80...
What is the secret of the long-living? Is it the food? Is it the water/ soil? Is it the lifestyle? Is it the purpose and joy?
Regeneration Effect
In the past decade, we have begun to understand the critical components of that regeneration effect, components that can be applied in a customized fashion to reverse chronic conditions and keep us happy, healthy and free of dis-ease. When the patient truly “feels like they’re thriving,” regeneration is occurring and chronic disease is reversing. Specifically, when a person experiences:
- Vibrant energy
- Restorative sleep
- Tranquility
- Joy
- Healthy gut microbiome,
- Pain-free
They are regenerating!
The Five Point Model System to Regenerative Medicine
There are 5 basic, foundational areas that need to be optimized in order to produce a regeneration effect at the DNA level that will reverse any condition, including fibromyalgia. Together, they comprise our Regenerative Protocols That Work™. These areas are
- Mind/heart
- Body
- Hormones
- Nutrition
- Detoxification
When these 5 basic, foundation areas are optimized and coordinated, it replicates the factors causing the people of the Blue-Zones to thrive.The long-living folks in the Blue-Zones connect themselves to everyone and everything around them through Joy, Oxygen, Sun, Earth/soil, and Structured water. When practiced all together and concomitantly, our Regenerative Protocols That Work™ are created, which in turn facilitate each patient to enter “the driver’s seat to their recovery” and feel their life is thriving.
Optimize 5 Areas of Regeneration
1. Mind/Heart Stress is the base of all chronic disease
The easiest way to gauge this is to assess whether JOY is present or not. If joy and purpose are not present, the body has no reason to stick around. One can think of Mind Stress as those stressors that are in our consciousness like relationships, finance, health and hope. These account for ~10% of what affects our body. Then there is the Heart Stress or emotional stressors, which can account for approximately 90% and can often be in our subconscious, so we need to address both. A few main components of optimizing this area include:
- Help people become aware of their life activities (thoughts, words and actions) and to prioritize laugh, play, simplifying life, and reduce draining activities
- Use Heart-Focused Meditation, which can convert the nervous system in 30 seconds. We ask every patient to utilize Heart Rate Variability (HRV) application (i.e. InnerBalance App) and aim for a “coherent heart rhythm” for 5 minutes twice a day, through creating a feeling of joy.
- State one's affirmation to fully recover with vibrant energy and a pain-free life. Often the subconscious program or belief in chronically ill patients is a major source of continued illness.
- Address leaky gut as it affects 70% of the nervous system. We have correlated incoherent heart rate variabilities with gastric inflammation, which is a component in every chronic disease including fibromyalgia. Gut imbalances present in a variety of ways including IBS, colitis, autoimmunity, bloating and leaky gut syndrome.
2. Body Stress is ultimately related to the level of oxygenation in the small vessels
The physical body stressors are gauged by the level of pain and the level of physical activity. When pain and physical activity are high, the “fuel tank” of hormones and nutrients is being depleted and oxygenation to organs is low. A few main components of optimizing this area include:
- Reducing physical activity where heart rate is above 120 beats per minute. Replacing that with oxygenating restorative exercise, such as yoga, tai chi, qi gong, stretching, gentle walks.
- Using techniques of conscious breathing such as pranayama and alternate nostril breathing.
- EPSOM salt baths with 6-8 pounds of EPSOM salts or 1-2 lbs of magnesium chloride flakes. This helps with magnesium, which is a mainstay.
- Aggressively reducing pain with anti-inflammatory agents such as liposomal curcumin, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) and Cannabinol derivatives (CBD). Reducing pain also occurs with the aggressive correction of cortisol pathway depletions and nutritional deficiencies.
3. Hormonal imbalances are centered around insufficiency in adrenal and thyroid function
Every fibromyalgia patient has a chronic stress response that depletes the “fuel tank” of hormones and nutrients. While addressing the chronic stress response, we must “optimize” the fuel tank. Hormone imbalances are quite straightforward to correct when one uses a natural order of correcting the adrenal imbalances and then the thyroid. A few main components of optimizing this area include:
- Whether male or female, we start with oral progesterone to calm down the nervous system and the HRV. We titrate this until the patient is sleeping for a solid, restorative 8 hours without interruption.
- We optimize (>75th percentile) DHEA-S, testosterone and pregnenolone. Often, we use a short course (less than 6 months) of up to 40 mg of oral cortisol to break the cycle.
- We optimize thyroid until symptoms are resolved. These include fatigue, brain fog, depression, weight gain, constipation, skin dryness and even pain.
4. Nutritional imbalances always accompany hormonal imbalances
When the “speed of the engine” is high over a prolonged period, the fuel tank gets depleted and nutritional levels fall below the 75th percentile, as we have learned through thousands of Spectracell™ micronutrient tests. A few main components of optimizing this area include:
- The mainstay of the program is to optimize dietary food intake. We recommend organic food in a balanced plate ratio of 50% vegetables, 25% lean protein and 25% complex carbohydrates.
- Eliminate all inflammatory foods like dairy and sometimes meat and fish.
- When using supplements, we aim for the least number of vegetarian capsules with no dyes, preservatives, fillers or magnesium stearate.
- In addition to correcting measured deficiencies, the core nutrient needed in healing leaky gut is a probiotic food supplement.
5. Detoxification aims at correcting water intake and pH
We have learned that addressing specific toxins through measurement is to be done only after the patient feels better, because chasing toxins when a patient is feeling ill usually leads to further deterioration. Still we always start with detoxification basics, which address over 75% of toxins. A few main components of optimizing this area include:
- Drinking clean, structured water at least 100 ounces per day with pink salt and lemon. Water molecules comprise over 98% of all other molecules in human cells. Studies in the 1800’s actually show reversal of chronic disease with adequate water intake.
- Monitor AM urine pH. Aim for >6.7. With proper hydration and alkaline pH, the toxic acids and xenobiotics stored in the body fat are automatically eliminated, often returning optimal immune functions.
- Addressing the lining of the gastrointestinal system is critical in these patients. If there are gastric symptoms, we use our gut-protocol with broad spectrum probiotics and enzymes.
In conclusion
It is very encouraging to realize that all chronic conditions are treatable by addressing underlying root causes, that also control our self-healing gene expression. When faced with a chronic condition like fibromyalgia, one must empower the patient’s self-healing mechanisms to take the driver’s seat for a complete cure. We aim at giving the least steps and fewest capsules, so that the patient is not overwhelmed. Over time we have learned that regardless of the condition, when the patient truly begins to thrive, regeneration has been optimized, and their dis-ease is reversing.