Supplements I Have Taken for FMS/CFS That Help

 Copied from my comment on the FB wall-

One of my biggest issues is the fatigue.   So, I take 3000 mcg's of B-12, sublingual.   I also am finding D3, liquid, 2500 IU's to help with my pain levels.   Not a lot, no miracle cure, but, it's a definite bonus!

Long ago (long, long ago, lol) when I was 14, I started learning herbalism and along the way came learning of vitamins, minerals, supplements, homeopathy, etc. I cannot stand the effects that so many medications have on me and more often than not they make me feel so much worse or eventually stop working. I have tried many things to help with FM or at least to help cope. When it is a severe flare-up though there is little that helps but it can ease. I use Valerian to help stay relaxed or if I feel a little anxious. I use kava kava tea to help with muscle spasms and tremors and it helps with anxiety as well so I rarely take the two at once. I find that kava kava as a tea works much better than in a capsule, etc. I also take CO Q10 and B12 for energy which does help me get through the day, especially the sublingual B12. Magnesium seems to help with the vibrating or squigglies I get though it does not get rid of it, it does seem to calm it.

Besides FM, I do have DDD and when it is really inflammed I take Cat's Claw as well as a Echinace/Goldenseal complex which really helps fight any inflammation, cold. infection etc by helping our bodies produce more white blood cells and helping direct where they should go. I highly recommend echinacea/goldenseal in the flu season.

I am trying to remember everything but I am in a dense fog today so will try to add more info as I remember.

Wow -- everyone today that's writing in is doing such a GREAT job.  This was a good listing and I like the word 'squigglies'.  I initially used a lot of herbs and I pay pretty good attention to this area and what Sheri has posted above appears to me to be a very well rounded and reasonable compliment.  And she says she is in a dense fog.  .. doesn't show in the writing and then I ask 'what can WE be thinking about that might help Sheri with that'. 

My first thought is hormones .... real all over on Lumigrate blog and forum about bioidenticals as options and at least consider that as an option possibly.  Are you sleeping well ... progesterone, melatonin might be things that would be appropriate for you.  

I had a doctor before Dr. Rollins, who is just an amazing physician, who every visit (I had to go quarterly at that time) would say 'you're not sleeping enough' and he finally one time said 'the only people who statistically get better are those who sleep 8-9 hours a day'.  So I took MORE sleep aid and I changed my routine and committed to 8-9 hours in the bed even if I wasn't sleeping and you know what?  He was so right.  I had another doctor about that same time (the old 'two heads are better than one' .. in this case, one took insurance and the other didn't) who said 'are you waking up in pain?' ... and I didn't notice that I had been but that night when I woke up too early I self monitored and darn if I wasn't, I just was so used to it I didn't think.  SO I added a pain med at night.  I know you don't like Rxs, but those are the concepts to think about how to apply withing your individual paradigm of preference.  

Hope by the end of the year you're not foggy!  I rarely get 'fog' anymore.  I have trouble tracking -- it's like my brain used to be like a golden retriever and now it's like a Jack Russell.

Hi Fibromyalgia Folks -- I wanted to give you a link HERE to a topic I set up over in the Forum area on Nutrition and Supplements about water, because someone with fibromyalgia has written a nice piece about a product she found that has helped her and it's related to water.  That 'fits' best in Nutrition but I wanted to be SURE there was a reference (and link) here to get you there!  Cheers!  ~ ~ Mardy

www.lumigrate.com/forum/water-and-its-importance-our-body [12]

Mardy asked me a while back to post my recommendations. My 'story' is on FB. Basically I have found a mix of supplements that has helped me recover my life. I have been using these supplements for almost 6 years, and I also became a wellness consultant because I wanted to share what I had found. What I did find out was that not many people could afford to do what I was doing, and weren't willing to wait 4-6 months to see results. Recently I found myself in a position where I was strugging to afford my products. We ran out of a few of them, and my health began to decline again. As I prayed for answers, God introduced me to the Moringa tree through an orphanage in Swaziland. (I am going on a missions trip there.) Then, just a few months later, I was introduced to Zija which is a company that has brought the best quality Moringa to market in the US. A Discovery Channel Documentary was done on the Moringa - you can see a short clip of it at www.all4jesus.myzija.com [14] (videos)

All that said, I made a commitment to see if just taking Zija could replace everything else I was doing, and it has. Zija has all the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, phytosterols, glyconutrients, anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatories, and Omega fats that your body needs.  I am actually seeing better results than before in some areas because I had never found an Omega fat supplement that worked for me. Even the most expensive, high quality fish oils disagreed with my digestive system. One thing I LOVE about it is that I am not having to swallow a hand full of pills every day. I didn't realize how much of a chore it was before, because it had become a way of life. Zija has produced a powder called Smart Mix that you can either eat plain, or mix in water. Plain it tastes like  pixie stick. In water it tastes like peachy green tea.

I posted the link above because it is connected with the orphanage, and all proceeds from any purchases will go towards planting Moringa trees in Swaziland and supporting the orphanage there. I have already been working with several other people who suffer with Fibro using this product, and they are seeing phenominal results. One friend who was on 11 different meds, is now down to one, and weaning herself off of that. She has only been using Zija for about 3 weeks. From what I am hearing from others, that is typical results. I guess because it meets ALL the nutritional needs, it leaves no links broken, and so results are typically much faster than when you add in targeted supplementation. 

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to make a quick post regarding Vitamin D.   As we've learned from the information here, Vitamin D can help us avoid getting sick this winter or at least make any illness less.

Well, Vitamin D also has some link to fibromyalgia, in my opinion.   I run two support groups and asked ALL my folks to get their vitamin D tested.   It's a simple blood test.   ALL of us came out with very low vitamin D levels!    I'm also a member of several online support groups and a large number of those folks have also gotten tested and also have very low levels.

Now, some of these folks living in sunny Phoenix, some are even on beaches in Florida!   A couple are sun worshippers, admitting to being outside day in and out.    So, somehow, despite plenty of rays from the sun, their D was still low.    Several of us also take good multivitamins, I know mine says I'm getting the recommended daily allowance of D.

So now, I am taking in 2500 IU's of liquid D3 daily in addition to my multivitamin.    Some of the other people I know were put on mega doses, 50,000 IU's weekly for 12 weeks and then retested by their doctors.    We all seem to have trouble getting our D back into the normal range and then keeping it there.

I don't know if it's the fibro affecting the D, the D affecting the fibro or quite what, but I do know that with taking the additional supplement, I feel a bit better.    My pain has been out of control for some time, and I can say that it's a bit better of late.   Adding the D liquid has been my only change.  

So, I highly recommend asking your doctor for a blood test to check your levels of vitamin D.   Once you know that number, it's easy to see if you need the mega doses, just a good additional supplement, or if you are getting plenty of D in other ways!  

Take care everyone!

Aimee

my heart Doctor put me on a glass of tonic water a day and some vitamins called COq10 that was for my heart but they have helped my Fibro.  the tonic water is for inflamation and pain to tolerate the Liptor he put me on. In doing this i noticed it helped some of my Fibro pain and my PMR pain..   I just had open heart surgery and as soon as i got home i started back on the tonic water. the fibro was really flaring up in the hospital and my panic attackes got worse.. i know it is helping with the pain and i am feeling better everyday.I have had no panic attacks since i got home.    i also take elavil for my sleep apthea and have a cpap machine that has helped me sleep alot better too.  i could not take neurotine or lyrica.. i suffer from low via D as it was 10 on the scale.  Now it has come up to 32.  I was amazed at this as i live in the south.  i am not telling anyone what to do and please talk to your Dr but i was just sharing what is helping me

If it helps, there is a blog from a while back about Vitamin D and pain (from late July)... here's the link...( and Thanks Aimee... GREAT writeup / setup above! ~~ Mardy)

www.lumigrate.com/blog/vitamin-d-and-chronic-pain [18]

One of the Grate Group gals asked about what Supplements for sleep worked .. you might see her come in here and ask personally...

Calcium ..... before bedtime has helped me.  I just do it with the the magnesium and malic acid and all that stuff twice a day generally. ....

I'd say that an overall good supplement that is broad spectrum and perhaps based on whole foods if possible or one of the brands or similar as what the Products section of this website kind of guides a person to (they can be ordered via the Amazon.com / trusted by all mechanism but mostly the Products tab and info there was done as a fast, on the fly resource for people to go and look at 'what do they suggest and maybe I can find it here locally or I will get something similar'. 

Melatonin is not technically a 'supplement' it is a hormone but it's sold at the health food store so many people think of it as a supplement as a result.  Those can be helpful but some people don't have receptors for melatonin I heard from one of Chris and Cheryl Young's nurses and she has a PhD and teaches and writes a lot and I would think she likely was right on that one, though to my recollection I have not heard Dr. Rollins or Lepisto say that in their seminars and so it maybe is something they have yet to learn.  I have had a Rx for sublinguals in the past as I was told that is the best route to update it (from a compounding pharmacist) and I was actually looking around for it recently to try again but when I tried it when I purchased it I was very groggy the next day. 

Chamomile tea at bedtime except the downside is that liquid late makes you have to get to pee so as an OTR I used to suggest people get their fluids all in a few hours before bedtime.  There are MANY MANY herbal supplement mixes and I have tried several and they all make me zonier than .... well, about as zoney the next day as if I had taken an OTC sleep aid in the past as I recall.  I really am sensitive to many herbs and then need a horse tranquilizer for sleep.  As you might know that kind of 'oddness' is very typical with full barrel syndrome (if you've watched the FREE video at Lumigrate.com at least you know it).  That might have been stated in the Detox and Cleanse video of Dr. Lepisto's actually, which has a $20 fee and comes with a full hour of 'next best thing to being there' and literally describes how to do a cleanse that you can do on your own for no cost if you wanted to just not do the supplementation to support the organs and just do a looonger and less major cleanse.  

I hope that gets you started if you were asking and if you're reading here I hope it is helpful to you too!  Great question from the Grate Gal who asked, so thanks!

Ok, I'm going to talk a bit more about Melatonin for sleep.    As Mardy said, it's a hormone that you can get at most any drug store for pretty cheap.

I, like so many of us, have a terrible time with sleep.   I have tried chamomile tea, warm bath with lavendar salts, lavendar sheet spray, warm milk, blah blah blah.  If someone's mother once suggested something, I tried it!

My doc tried all the "standard" sleep meds and for some reason (I'm difficult) most would keep me awake..... for days!   Lunesta allowed me to be awake for 84 hours.   Uh huh, that was nice.    And boy was I cranky.     Rozerem made me loony, and Ambien let me wake up in my car in the garage (not to mention my garage is 20 yards from the apartment and it was December and freezing and I was naked), eating pudding.    Yup, that was fun, thank goodness I didn't have the keys with me (no place to put them??).

So after all this, I'm quite hesitant to use sleep meds of any sort.   My mom also has some issues and she's the one who found Melatonin.    So, she convinced me to try it.    The "standard" adult dose is 3 mg, but I have heard up to 10 mg suggested by doctors.    I started with the 3 mg and slept wonderfully the first time I took it.   The problem was I woke up feeling hung over.   Dry mouth, scratchy eyes, felt like I was walking in glue.    I kept with the 3 mg for about 2 weeks and had the same morning reaction.  

Then I saw the 1 mg Melatonin.   I don't know why I hadn't tried cutting the 3 mg in half but I didn't.    The 1 mg is consider the pediatric dose and I know several pediatricians who suggest this for children.    So, I tried the 1 mg dose.   I fell asleep within about 10 minutes.    And I slept!   Well!   I was thrilled.

Now, after several months of the 1 mg dose, sometimes I wake back up within an hour or so.   I have found I can take another 1 mg dose and still wake up not feeling like death.   

So for me, Melatonin was the right choice.   Because it's relatively inexpensive, my opinion is that it's worth a shot for someone struggling with sleep.   Don't mix with any other sleep med and don't try taking it during the day, you'll mess up your body's internal clock more than our's already are!

Hope this helps someone!

Along those same lines, tryptophan balances seratonin levels naturally. It used to be available as a supplement and was commonly used. It is tryptophan in turkey that makes us sleepy on Thanksgiving day! Anyway, tryptophan in a natural source is an almost guaranteed good night's sleep. I recently found a product that provides that. I posted under another thread about Moringa - Zija - a complete nutritional supplement that is just food - straight from the tree. If sleep is an issue it will help!

Its very important to have your B-12 , Vitamin D and Iron levels checked. A high percentage of FM and CFIDS patients are deficinent. I was very deficient of Vit. D and Iron. I used a natural iron found in the health food store and it didn't harm my stomach. I've reciently written a book which contains many proper supplements which help these illnesses.

I'm a 17 yr. survivor and have done a lot of research.  Its not about a single supplement but several working together to improve the immune system and to help with energy and to clear the brain fog. 

You may read an article concerning this at "All About Women " magazine www.aawmag.com [23] . Click on the archives and put Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue into the search bar.  "Find Your Way", the book I refer to above,  is also located on www.amazon.com [24].  I just want everyone to benefit from what I've learned . 

There are also breathing exercises which do wonders for pain and brain fog.  Check out the article for yourself.  Best of wishes to you.

 I could never understand why my mother liked chamomile tea for relaxation and sleep, every time I drank it I got nauseous. While working in the health food store I would read every thing we got in about the supplements and herbs and discovered that if a person is allergic to ragweed, they could have problems with chamomile! Bingo!!!

I switched to a kava kava based tea from Yogi Tea, Kava Stress Relief, and have wonderful results! In fact, it helped me keep my sanity while my Soldier son was based in Baghdad.

Im cross posting this~

http://www.4lifesite.com/pb/index.asp?CurrentCatID=C46288437634675339 [27]
 
Above is the web site for the natural supplement I take for sleeping~ its called:
"FibroAMJ Night-Time Formula''  it is put out by the company 4Life.
 
If you look at the web site you will see there is a ''Day-Time Formula" as well as the "Night-Time Formula". 

When my doctor first told me about this, i tried both. I found the Day-Time Formula did not improve my being enough to balance the cost. I actually did not see a great improvement by taking it. Though I am sure there are many who would differ with my opinion.

The "Night-Time Formula" on the other hand~ I can not live with out!! If I run out of this, my sleep pattern, and my consistency of sleep becomes all messed up. With it~ I have a full night's sleep~ deep sleep.

Since starting this  "Fibro AMJ Night-Time Formula"  i have changed rhummys over the past 10 yrs a few times~ each time, I take the bottle, so the doctor can read the ingreadients. I have never had a negitive comment thus far.

I will list the ingredients for you:

Vit. B6  (as pyridoxine hydochloride)                      15mg

Melatonin                                                                    2mg

Pregnenolone                                                           10mg

5-Hydroxytryptophan (Friffonia simplicifolla seed)  15mg

Proprietart Blend                                                       596mg

     Creatine monohydrate

     N-Acetyl Cysteine

     Cysteine

     Pau D'arco (4:1 extract  Tabebuia impetiginosa)(inner bark)

     Valerian (.8% valerinic acids)(Valerian officinallis)(root)

     Kava kava (30% extract)(piper methysticum) (root)

     Grape extract (Naturally contains concentrations of polyphenois,    

           anthocyanidins, catechins, proanthocyanidols, and resveratrol

           (vitis vinifera) (seed, skin and stem)

     Alpha Lipoic Acid

*** pardon any misspelling there, the letters on the bottle are tiny, and i had to take my glasses off to read the bottle, and then I can see the computer moniter w/out the glasses...sorry**

One pill at bedtime~ I slowly relax and get sleepy. The only downfall is I have to drink a good amount of water with the pill or I get indigestion.  I wish I could say I wake up perkey, but I very ever do~ but I do get a good nights rest~ and I no longer have restless legs.  Once in a very great while, i get the racing thoughts then even this doesnt work~ its useally when im over stressed out!

I do take Amitriptyline, but that is for my painfull nearve endings in my legs, which I couldnt sleep due to the pain. The Amitriptyline works wonderful for me for this reason.

I was taking my "Fibro AMJ Night-Time Formula'' before I started the amitriptyline, so I know its the NTF that helps me. Also if I run out~ I have a heck of a time going to sleep~ even if i take Tylanol Pm

Cymbalta is my nuttsey koo koo med~ I dont know if that is susposed to help with sleep or not, but it does work well for my anxiety and depression.  The rhummey I just saw said it was approved for Fibro.

All in all I take 14 different meds~ isnt that pathetic?!!!  Some for seizuers, stomache, asthma,  fibro, pain....ugh!!!

But they help me. So i am grateful.

If anyone has any questions let me know!

Oh cost~ I think we pay 24 or 26 for a 1month supply.  Its well worth the money~ I'd even pay more if i had to.

best wishes to everyone!

Cherie