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Fibromyalgia and Fish Oil

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Scottsdale Chiropractic Neurologist Comments:

I just read an article on dietary fish oils and thyroid hormones from The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.  They discussed the effects of fish oil on thyroid hormone signaling in the liver.

From my other blogs you may recall that 60% of inactive thyroid hormone (T4) is converted to the active form (T3) by the liver.  So it is paramount for your thyroid health, as well as the rest of your body’s health to have a properly functioning liver.  I will discuss this in greater length in a future post.

Of course cost of fish oils fan fair comes from the benefits it has on the heart.  Consumption of dietary fish oils can lower triglycerides and increase “good” cholesterol.  It can also slow hardening of arteries and slightly lower blood pressure.

Omega-3 fatty acids are not only good for the heart; they also help to reduce inflammation. This is perhaps one of the most valuable benefits of the Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, as inflammation is associated with many serious diseases. Heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases, psoriasis, and Alzheimer’s, for example, are characterized by increased levels of pro-inflammatory markers. Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil reduce inflammation by preventing production of pro-inflammatory signaling molecules. This may help to prevent serious illness associated with inflammation.

Did you catch the part about autoimmune disease?  Many people suffering from fibromyalgia have undiagnosed or untreated autoimmune problems.  Not to mention that every patient suffering from fibromyalgia has inflammation.

As if the benefits of fish oil on heart health and arthritis were not enough, it is believed that fish oil also helps with anti-aging as well. Omega-3 fatty acids slow the rate at which protective caps on the end of chromosomes shorten, thus increasing the lifespan of cells.

Fish oils have also been shown to help prevent Alzheimer’s, depression, and other mental illnesses.  Omega-3 fatty acids may help to regulate hormones in the brain to help with mental clarity.

Prolonging the life of cells is not the only anti-aging benefit of fish oil. Fish oil has also been shown to significantly reduce the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.

Fish oil has also been shown to be beneficial to pregnant women and the unborn child. The benefits to the unborn child are numerous and include: a healthier brain with increased intelligence; good nervous system development; better eyesight from retina formation; fewer behavioral problems after birth; and better sleeping patterns as a new born. The mother also receives benefits from her consumption of fish oil. These benefits include: a lower chance of developing preeclampsia; a decreased chance of preterm labor; and a greatly reduced incidence of breast cancer.  The reason fish oil is so beneficial to the unborn child is because 70% of a newborn’s brain, retina and nervous system are made up of the Omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA. Therefore, increasing the amount of these fatty acids present in the mother’s diet, and therefore being given to her unborn child, aides in the child’s development of the brain, retina and nervous system.

With all that said, that is why I recommend fish oils or essential fatty acids for most everyone in our office.  I know that is a bit of a blanket statement, and you should consult your health care practitioner before starting any supplementation, especially if you are suffering with fibromyalgia symptoms.

 

Tired, Sluggish, Brain Fog, Night Sweats … Sound Familiar At All?

 

Tired, Sluggish, Brain Fog, Night Sweats … does any of those symptoms sound familiar to you? Like most patient’s with Hashimoto’s disease the standard treatment is protocol is simple and flawed. You get Synthroid or some other form of thyroid replacement until your lab values appear normal and ALL other symptoms are ignored or attributed to some sort of psychiatric condition.

It was no different for this patient except she finally became proactive and consulted with the Heimlich Institute. Watch as she explains how her life has changed positively since starting our program.

 

GMO – One Thing All Fibromyalgia Sufferers Should Avoid

Dr. Chris Heimlich, DC, DACNB, Phoenix Fibromyalgia Doctor Comments:

If you are suffering with Fibromyalgia, then you need to avoid Genetically Modified Foods.

In March, Hungary introduced a new regulation that states seeds must be checked for GMO before they are introduced into the market.  As a result, almost 1,000 acres of maize found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary.  They ploughed it under and made sure the pollen has not spread from the maize.

The United States, meanwhile, is beginning to see the consequences of widely planted GMOs. In the mid-’90s, Monsanto introduced seeds genetically engineered to withstand its Roundup brand of herbicide. Today, these “Roundup Ready” crops are planted all across the U.S. — 94 percent of soybeans and more than 70 percent of corn and cotton contain the Roundup-resistant gene.

Here is why this should matter to you?

Several U.S. farmers reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs and cow fed on GM corn varieties.

Investigators in India have documented fertility problems, abortions, premature births, and other serious health issues, including deaths, among buffaloes fed GM cottonseed products.

GM peas caused lung damage in mice.

Bacteria in your gut can take up DNA from GM food.

Although it is important for everyone, it is critical for people suffering with Chronic Fatigue, Low Thyroid Symptoms, and Fibromyalgia to only put the best food into their bodies.  One good way to eat healthier is to join an organic co-op or shop at your local farmers market.

Is Fibromyalgia All In Your Head?

Fibromyalgia is all in your head!

Now, before you send me an e-mail hate letter, hear me out.  It is well documented that fibromyalgia is a neurological problem.

Most rheumatologists and neurologist knows this.  But what are they doing for the neurological component of fibromyalgia when treating their patients?  Nothing is done to figure out what the dysfunction in the nervous system is, let alone a specific treatment protocol to help correct it.    Prescribing anti-seizure medication to calm down the nerves rarely takes away the symptoms associated fibromyalgia and is a shotgun approach. These medications do not address the cause of the neurological problem.

So what is the cause of the neurological problems of patients that are suffering with fibromyalgia symptoms?  That is a trick question because there is more than just one cause.  No two patients with fibromyalgia are the same.  This is one of the hardest concepts for the patient’s, as well as doctors to understand.  Although it is more common to have perspective patients call our office and ask what exactly are we going to do for them neurologically, I’ve had rheumatologists call me and ask what it is that we do specifically or what is a supplement that we give patients with fibromyalgia to get success that we do.  Of course, the answer is that treatment varies from patient to patient and is based on that individual patient’s needs.

That’s the problem.  We’ve all been trained for years to put a label on how someone is feeling and then treat that label the same for everyone.  That type of treatment approach will never work for patients suffering with fibromyalgia.

You have to do a functional neurological exam to see what parts of the brain are not working as well as they sure would in order to be able to figure out what parts of the brain are not functioning and communicating at optimal levels.  I know this is a new concept for most of the people reading this blog.  We are not talking about a hard lesion of the brain like a stroke, an aneurysm or tumor. We are talking about a soft lesion, or parts of the brain simply aren’t functioning and communicating up to optimal levels.  Think of the brain as a bunch of muscles.  If one muscle is not as tone are strong as the others,  it will get out of balance.

Just like anything else, if the brain is out of balance it will not work right.  When the brain isn’t working right, then the autonomic nervous system cannot perform optimally.  This is the system that controls all of the things that go on our body automatically.  It controls our blood pressure, heart rate, gastrointestinal function, and is hardwired into all of her organs.  When the system is not functioning correctly, you can get constipation, diarrhea, brain fog, fatigue, heart palpitations, insomnia, and the whole long list of other symptoms.  Do those fibromyalgia symptoms sound familiar?

The brain also is hardwired into the peripheral nervous system.  This is how information gets from the brain to the rest of the body and how information gets from the restaurant body back to the brain.  The brain is not functioning correctly, it doesn’t get information from the muscles, joints abd different receptors throughout the body.  This decrease in brain function can also be responsible for why you have the unexplained pain can be occurring throughout your body.  It is also why activities or stimulation that is not supposed to cause pain can seem unbearable.  Things like walking in a grocery store, picking up your child, sitting in a chair, trying mild exercise, and a ton of other daily activities that other take for granted.  This medical term for this is  “allodynia”.

Treating  patients with the label of fibromyalgia all the same is a recipe for disaster.

If you’re suffering with fibromyalgia symptoms, you need to find a doctor that knows we’ve just talked about.  You need to have a thorough functional neurological examination, complete record review including recent lab work, and a doctor that will sit down with you and map out a treatment protocol that is designed specifically for you.

 

Diet Sodas – Can It Make You Fat?

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Scottsdale Fibromyalgia Doctor Comments:

I read an article yesterday from Biotics Research that I just have to share.  Many dieters, in their quest to consume fewer calories, often opt to drink diet soda instead of sodas with sugar in them. It turns out that drinking diet soda may not be a very good strategy for losing weight.

Research was performed at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio (and presented at the June 25, 2011 American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions) found a connection between diet soda consumption and girth. The researchers monitored 474 subjects between the ages of 65 to 74 years for nearly a decade. They measured the weight, height, and waist circumference of the subjects every 3.6 years. They also kept track of diet soft drink intake.

They found that the weight and waist circumference of the subjects increased proportionally to the amount of diet soda consumed.

“On average, for each diet soft drink our participants drank per day, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight during the next seven to eight years, and 41 percent more likely to become obese,” said Sharon Fowler, who was a faculty associate in the division of clinical epidemiology in the Health Science Center’s department of medicine at the time.

The fact that something that does not have any calories can actually cause weight gain may change how we think about calories and weight loss. Another study, presented at the same meeting by Sharon Parten Fowler, Ganesh V. Halade, and Gabriel Fernandes showed a connect ion between aspartame consumption and weight gain in mice. Mice fed food that was high in aspartame (an artificial sweetener sold under the brand name Nutrasweet) actually had higher blood sugar levels than mice not fed aspartame. Fowler postulated that aspartame could trigger an increase in appetite, but it does nothing to satisfy it. It can also interfere with the body’s ability to feel full and can cause overeating. The taste buds may perceive that the drink is sweet, but the brain knows the difference.

One study found that women could not tell the difference between sugar and Splenda in taste tests. When the brain was viewed with functional MRI scans, it was determined that the brain’s reward center responded more completely to sugar than to artificial sweetener.

“Your senses tell you there’s something sweet that you’re tasting, but your brain tells you, ‘actually, it’s not as much of a reward as I expected,’” stated Dr. Martin P. Paulus, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego and one of the authors of the study.

Even if  you don’t have a chronic health problem like Fibromyalgia or Hypothyroidism, you should not be putting artificial sweeteners into your body.

Understanding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Phoenix Metro Chronic Fatigue Doctor Comments:

Like most doctors, the most common complaint among patients seeking my care is chronic fatigue.  Often the fatigue is described as a vague complaint with low energy, lack of motivation and inability to do more than absolutely what has to be done.  Other times the fatigue causes the patient to become irritable and lash out verbally to those closest to them (with subsequent remorse and unfortunately harmed relationships).

Patients tell me how the housework piles up, proper meals aren’t prepared, dreams and goals have been thwarted, promotions passed by, even books that can’t be read due to the fatigue various patients present with.  One patient had to hire a nanny to fix the bottle for her child because she could not do it.  She could not even fill out the initial paperwork for our office.  Her husband had to do it for her.

I used to suffer from fatigue issues.  I would take a nap at lunch daily.  I would also nod off while driving for what I considered long distances.  I am lucky I did not get seriously injured and also thankful I never hurt anyone.

Due to my never-ending desire to help people I constantly am learning and growing in my clinical and diagnostic skills I discovered functional neurology and functional endocrinology.  This enabled me to find the cause of my fatigue.

As a result of this discovery (and others) about my body’s reactions to foods and nutrients and how it can impact health, I have been able to assist many hundreds of patients eliminate or significantly reduce their chronic fatigue.

Patients present to our office with several conditions that cause chronic fatigue:

  • Fibromyalgia
  • Hypothyroidism and autoimmune thyroid
  • B Complex and other micronutrient deficiencies due to poor diet (Standard American Diet or S.A.D.)
  • Hypoglycemia and insulin resistance
  • Gluten sensitivity and the resultant malabsorption of nutrients
  • Liver congestion
  • Parasite infestation
  • Food allergies
  • Adrenal fatigue

Each of these conditions or situations can be helped.  Through a specific process of investigation and then treating the underlying cause(s) revealed by that investigation is the key to long-term success in dealing with chronic fatigue.

I use a customized, multi-pronged approach with chronic fatigue sufferers that may include:

  • Diet changes
  • lifestyle changes
  • Specific supplementation
  • Brain-Based Therapy

Every case is unique.  Trying to apply a one-size-fits-all approach fails most of the time.  We take a look at the body as a whole and develop a treatment strategy based on proper in-depth testing and individualized treatment that has proven clinically successful.

You, too, can reclaim your energy and zest for life!

Celiac Disease: A Precursor to Fibromyalgia and Thyroid Dysfunction

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Phoenix Metro Area Fibromyalgia Doctor Comments On The Connection Between Celiac Disease and Thyroid Dysfunction …

So what do we know for sure? As early as 2003, the Celiac Disease Center at the University of Chicago reported some startling numbers regarding the prevalence of Celiac disease in America. A fact sheet distributed by the center made the claim that Celiac disease affects approximately one percent of healthy, average Americans. That means as many as 3 million people in the United States are living with Celiac disease. Of those 3 million, more than 90 percent of sufferers remain undiagnosed, attributing their chronic pain, intestinal irritability and bowel issues to something other than Celiac disease, fibromyalgia or thyroid maladies.

There are more than two hundred signs and symptoms associated with Celiac Disease. Keep in mind that the disease may have no symptoms at all. The symptoms may or may not cause digestive dysfunction.

Up to 60% of children and 41% of adults with celiac disease may be asymptomatic.

Here is a list of a few common symptoms associated with Celiac Disease:

1. Recurring abdominal cramps, gas and bloating

2. Chronic diarrhea

3. Vomiting

4. Liver and gallbladder dysfunction

5. Fatigue

6. Weight loss

7. Greasy, gray or tan, foul-smelling stools

8. Anemia (iron-deficiency that does not respond to treatment and B12 deficiency)

9. Skin rash

10. Stunted growth in children (delayed puberty)

11. Osteopenia or osteoporosis

12. Infertility (recurrent miscarriage)

13. Amenorrhea

14. Sores in the mouth

15. Peripheral neuropathy

16. Anxiety/depression

17. Joint pain

18. Fluid retention

19. Bruising easily

Luckily, several advancements in these specific areas of digestive medicine have been made, and a variety of treatment and testing options are now available to those who want to address their pain.

You can have a blood test or biopsy come up negative and still have Celiac Disease. Genetic testing is available and affordable.
In today’s world, patients are required to take charge of their own health. Only with the guidance, support and knowledge of a medical team that understands the underlying issues can patients truly begin to experience the benefits of modern medicine. Dr Heimlich can guide you to a new existence—one in which the sting of fibromyalgia and thyroid issues can be addressed or eliminated by first conquering what may be undiagnosed Celiac disease and the issues that so often accompany it.

Call us today and take your life back from the discomfort and distress of Celiac disease, fibromyalgia and thyroid complications.

One last thought, a common misdiagnosis of celiac disease is irritable bowel syndrome.