Thyroid & FM Connection

[jaminhealth]

I was told I had FM in 1999 during the time I was trying to get my thryoid supported, one endo said you are fine, but you have Fibro..I had never heard of it....Now I have a label.

Over the next years and while on a thyroid support group MANY of the members kept telling me, FM and thyroid are so connected...when thyroid isn't functioning, this fibro stuff comes on us.

I had 10 long years of struggling with that "your numbers are fine" you are OK blah blah blah and years of anti depressants as depression was major.

I really believe MANY are suffering needlessly due to the numbers of today's pharma medical game. I see only an Integrative MD for my general health.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-raphael-kellman/why-routine-blood-tests-o_b_6801130.html

 

[Not dead yet!]

I was told I had FM in 1999 during the time I was trying to get my thryoid supported, one endo said you are fine, but you have Fibro..I had never heard of it....Now I have a label.

Over the next years and while on a thyroid support group MANY of the members kept telling me, FM and thyroid are so connected...when thyroid isn't functioning, this fibro stuff comes on us.

I had 10 long years of struggling with that "your numbers are fine" you are OK blah blah blah and years of anti depressants as depression was major.

I really believe MANY are suffering needlessly due to the numbers of today's pharma medical game. I see only an Integrative MD for my general health.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-raphael-kellman/why-routine-blood-tests-o_b_6801130.html

I also strongly disagreed with a pain clinic doctor who said I had Fibro. I did however, research the disease and found out quickly that the only respectable way to diagnose it is via exclusion. Doctors try to skip that step because insurance companies don't like doing large panels of tests for exclusion diagnosis. They'd rather everyone just keeps guessing and buying OTC drugs.

In the case of that pain clinic doctor, she and her office seemed bent on diagnosing people with FM because FM allowed them to say, "opiates don't help FM, they're not for you." It was the height of the paranoia where the DEA was making rapid changes to the way pain drugs were prescribed. If I thought for a minute that I really had FM, I would've been happy to have that diagnosis, but the more I read the more I noticed that it was a vague definition and needed a different sort of doctor for diagnosis.

If you really want your Fibro confirmed properly, then see a Rheumatologist and ask them to cofirm it via exclusion. It's still the gold standard for Fibro. When I did that I found I have Osteoarthritis, not Fibro. All of my symptoms of OA can be treated and while fatigue is a part of OA, it's not this kind of fatigue. ME/CFS is a whole other kettle of fish.

Fibro, OA, and other Rheumatological diseases have a definition, a treatment and markers for good or bad prognosis. ME/CFS does not, at least not in the mainstream doctor's office.

I have thyroid issues too, and have had them for several years. I finally have a good drug that works for me, the active-T3, liothyronine. However, even though I feel an improvement, I still crash if I'm too brave... as the last week or so has shown me. While it's important to have the best quality of life we can, thyroid medicine isn't the cure for ME/CFS.

 

[jaminhealth]

One of the first brochures I was given at an FM/CFS support group states that rheumatism and fibro are pretty much one in the same. The old folks in my life talked abut their rheumatism a long time ago.

The brochure was put out by the Arthritis Foundation.

I deal with bodywide OA which came on when I was 18 and am 79. I avoid pharma drugs as best I can except for BP meds and thyroid support. I do best with desiccated thyroid support: Naturthroid.

 

[Not dead yet!]

One of the first brochures I was given at an FM/CFS support group states that rheumatism and fibro are pretty much one in the same. The old folks in my life talked abut their rheumatism a long time ago.

The brochure was put out by the Arthritis Foundation.

I deal with bodywide OA which came on when I was 18 and am 79. I avoid pharma drugs as best I can except for BP meds and thyroid support. I do best with desiccated thyroid support: Naturthroid.

Wow that's a really long time to be dealing with OA. I've had mine since I was just a tad younger, but it was dismissed as exercise stress or growing pain every time. I went out for a lot of sports, if the schedules didn't conflict, I would join two sports teams at once (soccer and track had the same teacher/coach). LOL I wish I could do that now.

I think you're wise to stay away from unneeded drugs. I rescued a relative from a horrible place that was forcing awful drugs on her and labeling her a "fall risk" to force her to remain immobile in bed, etc. I'm trying to get down to three drugs max, myself. I started from more than 10 and I'm down to 5. My liver thankfully started complaining early. The liver function tests probably saved me from a worse fate.

 

[jaminhealth]

I was a dancer, loved dancing and my back started to pain me at 18 and it progressed with life and lots of dancing and exercising..did a alot of chiro work for many years, worked with a osteopathic MD for back for years too. I had a lot of fun and did what I did to keep going...now at 79, had to slow down.

Good memories all in all. I've been taking supplments for 25+ yrs....these are my prevention drugs.

 

[Not dead yet!]

I was a dancer, loved dancing and my back started to pain me at 18 and it progressed with life and lots of dancing and exercising..did a alot of chiro work for many years, worked with a osteopathic MD for back for years too. I had a lot of fun and did what I did to keep going...now at 79, had to slow down.

Good memories all in all. I've been taking supplments for 25+ yrs....these are my prevention drugs.

I love to dance also, in moments when I can do that, I tend to wear myself out now, but it's worth it.

I also like to watch strongmen on TV, although now it's more like on Youtube anymore. I picked up some of their habits several years ago. I discovered that they are right, powerlifting exercise does indeed stop back pain. There are several articles about "hardcore powerlifters" who started doing that because their back wouldn't stop hurting, and cured it. For me, that worked.

I mention it to you because my father in law, gets physical therapy twice a week and his PT is about 55 or 60, and the motions he has my FiL do are very similar to powerlifting. If it intimidates you , then you can see if a local PT can show you how. But they have to believe in the theory of "large functional movements." That's a bit of a PT controversy, but I'm on the functional side, of course.

The scariest one is probably the deadlift (go easy, because it has a blood pressure effect, read up on how that changes the blood pressure and what the bp benefits are, as well as risks of passing out - use a spotter). At your age I'd probably steer clear of the "deep squat" and stick to the "90 degree squat), no sense in making life difficult. But the one that saved my back is called "good mornings." It specifically strengthens the erector spinae. The balancing movement to that is of course, stitups. Too many PT's will tell you to do situps, but neglect the erector spinae because there aren't many easy ways to engage them without going to the weight lifting room.

If you do feel confident (maybe you've done it before) then there is a very quick system called "Stronglifts 5x5" that I find very useful because I'm too tired for a longer exercise. I don't follow their rule though, of using the maximum weight because I am too inactive to expect progress or "muscle gain" I"m just happy to get a little exercise.

https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

I try to ignore all that macho "get ripped" stuff and just see this as the most efficient way to get a fast workout. No value judgements. People do what helps them best, right?

You can also find the workouts of Jack Lalane and Steve Reeves online. The "good mornings" exercise I mentioned was listed in Steve Reeves's workout. It has been nearly abandoned today.There are other bodybuilders whose historical workouts have been published, you can find some of their names in this online exhibit:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/bodybuilders-through-the-ages-36952418/

 

[jaminhealth]

I went to a gym from years 30 until 63 or so but did MILD workouts. A man friend said his knees and shoulders are destroyed from heavy weights and squats...he has had two replacements. All that extra bodyweight and metal weight on the body can't be a good thing.

When I first moved to So Cal, I went to Jack Lalane's gym in our city....so I was a workout and dancing chick most of my life and now at 79, I move v e r y s l o w l y.

Take care of the only body we get.

 

[Not dead yet!]

I went to a gym from years 30 until 63 or so but did MILD workouts. A man friend said his knees and shoulders are destroyed from heavy weights and squats...he has had two replacements. All that extra bodyweight and metal weight on the body can't be a good thing.

When I first moved to So Cal, I went to Jack Lalane's gym in our city....so I was a workout and dancing chick most of my life and now at 79, I move v e r y s l o w l y.

Take care of the only body we get.

I wish there were more women role models. I'm spoiled, my mom was a role model. She taught me how to breathe when running, all that stuff. She also warned me about what happens when weight lifters stop lifting. See, with any exercise, when you do it, it produces ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species), ie, the stuff antioxidants protect us from. But the body doesn't always produce enough of the antioxidants. so when you stop, the body is still thinking... I have to be prepared, so it keeps "remodeling." But the body isn't thinking, "hey remodeling creates ROS, I should tame that like I always do." Or it goes into a tailspin of cortisol if the ROS does touch off some signal.

There's a really good book about this called "The 4 hour body" - a fellow whose body fell apart after his athletic prime spent a lot of money on experimental treatments and documented it. However, it's not the exercise that ruins the knees, it's being too brave, assuming you're going to have the same results as the pros do. The pros have access to insulin shots right after a workout. We do not. Another reason why they fall apart after their prime is, they no longer get the (many different types of) shots.

Several bodybuilders have outed the "system" that supports this illegal drugging. Many have documented how their bodies were permanently hurt. Normal people aren't likely to see this breakdown though, unless they think they should be better faster, and try too hard.

There's a book called "BRAWN" that is written by a guy who also outs all this nonsense in modern bodybuilding.

Ok I'm going to stop there. You're not interested (that's 100% ok, it's easy to get me talking on this subject, haha) and I'm trying to swear off the "wal of text" so, stay well