Choosing To Live A Healthier Life

Fibromyalgia is an overactive nerve and connective tissue disorder that affects about one in 50 people in the United States. Common symptoms include sensitivity to pain, muscle aches, chronic fatigue, and light and sound sensitivity. It's one of the most common chronic illnesses, and people still know little about it, due to the lack of diagnostic tests available. Many people with fibromyalgia struggle to combat the symptoms. However, what many people with fibro don't realize is that their diet can have a lot to do with the severity of the symptoms. If you're tired of fibro making daily life impossible for you, here are some dietary changes you can make to improve your symptoms.

Gluten

Becoming gluten-free seems to be a fad these days. Some people go gluten-free due to a gluten intolerance and others do it as a lifestyle choice. If you have fibromyalgia, you should consider jumping on the bandwagon. Modern-day wheat isn't produced the same way as it used to be. Most wheat is highly genetically modified. The GMO wheat has a much higher amount of gluten in it than the wheat from the good old days. This is why a rising number of people are discovering health issues when they eat it. Whether a person has a gluten intolerance or not, gluten will cause full-body inflammation. The inflammation obviously causes people with pain to feel even more pain. People with fibromyalgia tend to feel it the worst because the blood vessels become inflamed and cause the nerves to be even more overactive. If you are suffering from fibromyalgia, it would be in your best interest to drop the gluten completely.

Sugar

Sugar should be avoided as often as possible when you have chronic pain. Higher insulin levels can cause a severe increase in pain. Cut down on or completely eliminate sweets such as pastries, candy, sugary cereal, and other high-sugar foods. Fruit juices and canned fruit should both be avoided because of the added sugar and syrups used in them. Your only sugar consumption should be in the form of fresh fruit.

Artificial Sweetener

Fake sugar should be avoided even more often than real sugar. Aspartame is the worst kind of sweetener that you can consume. With fibromyalgia, it's even more important to avoid it. Researchers are finding links between fibromyalgia and aspartame. Some people even have aspartame-induced fibromyalgia, which could go away completely after dropping the diet sodas and other aspartame-containing foods. This is common for people who drink diet soda every day. However, those who just dabble in it occasionally can have worsening symptoms due to the sweetener.

Caffeine

People with fibromyalgia tend to consume more caffeine than others. Fibromyalgia is often linked to chronic fatigue syndrome and insomnia. Insomnia and chronic fatigue can be caused by many different issues. Having severe pain at night can cause most of the sleeplessness. Even after you fall asleep, the pain can disturb your REM sleep without you even being aware of it. Therefore, you could wake up after finally getting eight hours of sleep and feel as groggy as if you only got two. Caffeine makes the insomnia worse and exasperates psychological symptoms that may come with it.

Junk Food

Doctors believe that leaky gut syndrome is linked to fibromyalgia. Leaky gut syndrome is where the substances from your food and drinks leak through the lining of your small intestine. LGS can cause asthma, food allergies, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and even autoimmune disorders. You need to do a cleanse to get the toxins out of your body, and eat only clean, healing foods. A raw food or paleo diet could be the best thing to heal your leaky gut.

Fibromyalgia is a lifelong struggle, but there are many things you can do to make it more manageable. Changing your diet can turn debilitating pain into manageable pain. If you have fibromyalgia, make these dietary changes so you can feel better. For more pain management tips, contact a medical office like Southwest Florida Neurosurgical Associates.