The Time of Year When CFS & FM Symptoms Flare

It’s that dreaded time of year again for us ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia patients.  The fall weather, changes in temperature, and the shortening days tend to make symptoms flare full force.  For about the last week I have been experiencing a very noticeable difference in my body and the season changes are really affecting me.  I have been massively flaring and I am thankful that I cut my hours back at work to just one day a week.

My pain level really increases this time of year.  I will notice my legs, back, and hips aching a lot more than what they normally do.  I also am feeling extremely sluggish and while I normally have insomnia, now all my body wants to do is sleep.  I could barely keep my eyes open last night while eating dinner and on the trip to the restaurant.  These symptoms are always to the extreme and it is very frustrating. 

What symptoms of yours flares more this time of year?  Do you notice a marked difference in your CFS and/or Fibromyalgia when fall arrives?  Let me know in the comments!

Sinus Infections In ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia

Well – the last set of antibiotics, $50 for 7 pills, didn’t help because I have another…SINUS INFECTION!  Surprise, surprise.  This is the fifth one since September and I fear that I am headed down the same route I was a few years back.  I had to be treated 11 times for sinus infections in over a year before I finally got better.

Dr. Teitelbaum, the author of the bestselling From Fatigued to Fantastic, says that chronic sinusitis is actually a yeast infection.  Dr. Teitelbaum believes that antibiotics turn short-term sinus infections into a chronic problem.  He also shows on his End Fatigue website a study that found that people with ME/CFS had improvements in symptoms after Endoscopic Sinus Surgery.  However, Dr. Teitelbaum says that ME/CFS & FM sufferers can get some of the same results without going to the extent of having surgery.

According to Dr. Teitelbaum, fungal infections cause chronic sinusitis:

These infections cause a stuffy nose, eventually causing the nasal passages to swell shut. In the body, any time something gets blocked (e.g., an appendix, gallbladder, etc.), it results in a secondary bacterial infection—and the sinuses are no exception. When this happens, your nasal mucus turns yellow-green, and you go to the doctor in pain. She or he then gives you an antibiotic, which knocks out the bacterial infection and sometimes leaves you feeling better. Unfortunately, the antibiotic worsens the underlying yeast infection in your nose, causing more swelling and blockages and therefore more attacks of bacterial infections. This is why sinusitis in the U.S. usually becomes chronic.

Dr. Teitelbaum says that his patients with sinusitis problems usually have success with Diflucan and a compounded nose spray. The nose spray contains Bactroban and Xylitol and these kill the bacterial infections, low dose cortisol to shrink the swelling and an antifungal. While on the Diflucan, Dr. Teitelbaum recommends his patients use one to two sprays per nostril for at least 6 – 12 weeks.  Dr. Teitelbaum sells tihs type of nose spray on his website, End Fatigue.com for $16.95 a bottle.   It is called Argentyn 23 Silver Nose Spray.   I think I’m going to order some tonight to try myself. 

It has also been found that sinusitis causes other problems as well.  Dr. Alexander Chester has found that chronic nasal congestion can actually be a trigger for ME/CFS.  In general, having a chronic nose infection can bring down your energy levels.

Adrenal Fatigue & Problems It Causes

There has been evidence�reported that adrenal dysfunction is commonly found in patients with ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia.� Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, author of From Fatigued to Fantastic and well-known CFS/Fibromyalgia physician, recommends using small doses of cortisol to treat adrenal dysfunction.

The adrenals are glands about the size of a pea located on top of each kidney.� The adrenal glands are responsible for releasing hormones that help us deal with stress.� When the adrenal glands are not properly functioning, as is seen in CFS & FM, it becomes impossible for these patients to deal with stress without causing further fatigue and symptoms.

Adrenal fatigue is typically caused by prolonged or extreme stress or can happen after an acute or chronic illness/infection.� This is particularly true with upper respiratory infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis.

I know I am physically unable to deal with stress.� As soon as I get in a stressful situation, my body shuts down and I can’t function.

Which comes first -the adrenal dysfunction or the chronic illness? The symptoms of ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia alone would be enough to wear out the adrenal glands.� But is it the initial adrenal dysfunction that causes these symptoms and causes the body to start breaking down, making it more vulnerable for illness?

Adrenal fatigue shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it can cause many physical problems.� See if any of these sound familiar to you:

• low blood pressure or hypotension
• low blood sugar or hypoglycemia
• dizziness when initially standing
• depression
• decrease in metabolism
• weight loss
• muscle and joint pain
• hair loss
• weakened immune system
• excess facial and body hair
• diarrhea and/or constipation
• vomiting
• nausea
• excessive skin color changes
• craving salty foods

The symptoms of adrenal fatigue are very similar to those of ME/CFS:

• muscle/joint pain
• fatigue
• lethargy
• hypotension
• hypoglycemia
• fever
• headaches
• anxiety
• sleep disorders
• heat/cold intolerance
• nausea

In more severe cases of adrenal fatigue, the person can be�practically bedridden.� The more severe the adrenal insufficiency, the more every organ and part of the body is affected.� Adrenal fatigue can last for as little as a few days and as long as years or a lifetime.

Any chronic illness will have an effect on the adrenal glands.� If you have a chronic illness where one of your�symptoms is morning fatigue, your adrenal glands are most likely not functioning properly.

Lipomas In Fibromyalgia Patients

I found out something new yesterday regarding Fibromyalgia thanks to Adrienne at the About.com:� FM & CFS Blog.� In her post, Adrienne talks about how it is common for Fibromyalgia patients to have lipomas, which are non-cancerous tumors that are lumps of fatty tissue beneath the skin.� In “normal” people lipomas are not painful but they can be very painful for FM patients thanks to our bodies being hypersensitve to pain.�

I visit the massage therapist on a monthly basis and I always assumed, like Adrienne, that my knots or lumps were due to knotted muscles and myofascial pain knots, which I was told I had in the past.� The therapist has to massage over these lumps for a long time and they still don’t disappear.� I just end up�being extremely sore in those areas.��I also tend to have extremely lumpy breasts and I wonder now if some of these lumps are lipomas.

Once your doctor has determined whether or not you do truly have lipomas, treatment options are available if they are causing you pain.� Treatment for lipomas include hydrocortisone shots or surgery.�

What are the symptoms of lipomas?� According to Web MD�lipomas are typically:

• small and felt just under the skin (size is 0.4 in. to 1.2 in.).
• movable with a soft, rubbery consistency.
• are painless (but can be painful in FM patients).
• grow very slowly and will stay the same size for years.
• becomes bothersome when size increases and depending upon the location.

Anytime you feel any type of lump you should see your physician immediately to rule out cancer.

Have you ever heard of lipomas? Have you been diagnosed with lipomas? Tell me in the comments.

Making It Through the Holidays with Food Sensitivities

It is common for those who have illnesses like ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and Interstitial Cystitis to also have allergies and sensitivities to food.� In speaking with many patients who have either one or all three of these chronic illnesses, food sensitivities seem to affect everyone across the board but what each person is sensitive to varies.

It can be difficult daily to try and avoid the foods that make us feel worse but around the holidays it gets particularly tough.� Just the normal stress of the holidays can make our symptoms flare and then add to that eating all of the foods that are abundant this time of year and we are in real trouble.� If you have food sensitivities, you know that it will make your fatigue worse, your IBS symptoms worse, and your sleeping problems worse.

So how can you still enjoy the holidays without making yourself sick?�

• Search for popular holiday recipes alternatives that you can make for your holiday dinner or take with you to a family dinner.
• Try to avoid the foods that you know will make your symptoms flare.
• If you are going to a family holiday dinner, see if the host/hostess will be willing to work in some alternative foods that you can enjoy.

Don’t Ignore Symptoms, No Matter How Small They May Seem

I have to admit I am the queen of ignoring symptoms so I need to start following this advice myself.� I read an article by a Fibromyalgia patient who also is guilty of ignoring symptoms.� She found out that by ignoring her symptoms, she almost died.� She was diabetic, didn’t know it,�and was�attributing her symptoms to Fibromyalgia, until she had one symptom, extreme thirst, that is not typical with FM.�� You can read Karen Richard’s story in her article True Confession Time.

How many of us with ME/CFS, FM and other chronic illnesses are guilty of the same thing?� I know my hand is raised.� What struck me as what Oprah would call an “Uh Huh” moment after I read Karen’s story is that as patients we often contribute many of our ailments and symptoms to our chronic�illness.� But when a doctor does the same thing, we get defensive and upset -right?� Do we attribute all of our symptoms we experience, even new ones, to our chronic illness because that is what we have become accustomed to hearing in the medical field?� (Doc says, “Oh, I see you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.� You will experience a lot of weird symptoms with that.� I’m sure that is what this symptom is coming from”.)� Or is it because we just don’t want to find out that there may be something else wrong with us?� I think it is probably a little of both.�

I tend to be the type of patient that probably gives the doctor a headache.� I will put off going to the doctor for as long as possible, then I am at her office several times within a few weeks because everything happening comes to a head and catches up with me at one time.� I am also one who will brush off incidents (like a bad fall down the basement stairs) and then a few months later figure out that maybe symptoms I am experiencing might have had something to do with my sudden increase in back problems.�

What about you?� Are you the type who attributes symptoms to your�ME/CFS�or Fibromyalgia, or are you at the doctor at the first sign of a problem or symptom?�

�

Dealing with the Cognitive Dysfunction in ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia

The Arthritis Foundation’s Good Living with Fibromyalgia Workbook �offers some great suggestions on how people with ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia can handle and deal with the cognitive dysfunction that is part of the territory with these illnesses.

It’s so easy for us to lose our train of thought, forget what we were going to say, forget how to balance a checkbook and to even get lost driving in familiar surroundings when the cognitive dysfunction sets in. The Arthitis Foundation offers these basic memory and communication tips that can help you deal with episodes of minor cognitive dysfunction.

Repeat yourself. Repeat things to yourself over and over so you can’t forget them.

Write it down. Writing what you need to do or remember down on paper seems to help keep it fresh in your mind. Use a calendar or whatever works best for you.

Pick the best time of day. If there is something you need to do that requires concentration and memory, such as balancing your checkbook or following a recipe, pick your best time to do it. Many people with fibromyalgia say they perform best early in the day. ME/CFS patients will probably say their best time of day is at night or late evening.

Get treatment. If you are depressed, in pain and/or sleep deprived, these all can affect your cognitive ability. See the doctor for help.

Engage yourself. Reading a book, seeing a play, or working a complex crossword or jigsaw puzzle can stimulate your brain and your memory.

Stay active. Physical activity, in moderation, can increase your energy and help lift your brain fog. Speak to your doctor or physical therapist about an exercise program that is right for you.

Explain yourself. Explain your memory difficulties to family members and close friends. Memory problems often result from stress. Getting a little understanding from the ones you love may help.

Keep it quiet. A radio blasting from the next room, a TV competing for your attention, or background conversation can distract your attention from the task at hand. If possible, move to a quiet place and minimize distractions when you are trying to remember.

Go slowly. Sometimes memory problems can result from trying to do too much in too short a period of time. Break up tasks, and don’t take on more than you can handle at once. Stress and fatigue will only make the situation worse.

To purchase the Arthritis Foundation’s Good Living with Fibromyalgia Workbook click here.

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