[Samuel Bisson (OP)]

So we all probably know someone that has fibromyalgia. It is categorized by widespread pain, fatigue, joint pain, dizziness and is often associated with autoimmune conditions such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus and thyroid disorders.

But doctors are at a loss to provide adequate explanation as to what fibromyalgia or such related conditions actually are.

I suspect that we are nearing a definitive answer as evidence and momentum build within the orthodox medical community. Consultant doctors are encouraged to explore the connections between gut health and chronic pain conditions and we now understand that 80% of our immune system lives in the gut.

However, we are still a ways away from what I would call adequate treatment by conventional doctors. They are very restrained as to what they can and cannot recommend to patients because of fear of malpractice. So it is up to the patient to attempt to navigate the internet in search for answers. And this is a very dangerous prospect, especially for the very sick to attempt to undertake and almost inevitably leads to a misallocation of savings into the pockets of those who would take advantage.

I have so far a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. I get numbness and tingling, joint pain, grinding, burning sensation, stomach cramps, chronic fatigue, coldness and feeling of having the flu. My blood tests for inflammation have all come back as normal to date. Encouraging, but frustrating as the diagnosis of fibromyalgia in itself is a rather embarrassing label as there is a tendency from current understanding of the condition to think the symptoms are all in one's head, but I will attempt to convince otherwise.

My conclusion thus far is that fibromyalgia is a very real condition called histamine intolerance. Everything we eat contains histamine and some foods contain histidine which is converted into histamine later down the line in the digestive process. It takes 48 hours for food to traverse the gut and out the other end. A person with histamine intolerance may get an almost immediate response to food- within a few minutes. This is the histamine entering the blood as the patient does not have sufficient DAO enzyme to bind with histamine and prevent vasodilation. I would get anything from burning/chills to this sort of response. In a normal person there is adequate DAO enzyme as it is normally produced in the cells lining the gut and is an evolutionary solution for the histamine present in everything we digest.

A person with a compromised gut, damage lining for example colitis, or overgrowth of bacteria such as SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) can no longer produce sufficient DAO enzyme or keep up with the histamine content produced as a respiratory by product of our gut bacteria as they digest our food. This causes excess amounts of histamine into the blood where it binds to receptor sites and causes vasodilation, which is the immune system's method of opening up a wider range of cells to be reached by the immune system. There are also some food chemicals within food that when digested, causes our MAST cells in the blood to release the body's natural store of histamine. I get daily runny noses, dry throat and sometimes sneezing which all suggest a histamine response. Before my symptoms started appearing I never suffered from food/ chemical allergies. It's interesting because exercise can also release histamine, as can stress. I get runny noses when I exercise and also an hour or so after waking. During the night I am normal so I know it is not a 'cold'. The explanation is when we sleep, our histamine binding sites are closed off and so histamine accumulates overnight where it is dealt with upon waking.

So fibromyalgia can be caused by stress, but mostly everyone with  a chronic condition has some altercation with the gut. There is also a very rare genetic defect which causes an under-production of DAO enzyme but in an individual with this defect symptoms will have typically presented from a very early age, whereas 99% of people with fibromyalgia acquire it later in life which suggests a gut pathology in most cases. Age, diet, stress and even antibiotics deserve a mention as all can affect the gut and we know people tend to get ill with age. Hippocrates himself said that all disease begins in the gut and was an advocate of treating illness with food. We go to a doctor today and they simply offer anti inflammatories and unless it is a diet-related condition such as diabetes, will never suggest diet to a patient. It is rather frustrating, particularly considering that such medications or steroid injections may actually make it harder for the body to protect itself. Let's not forget that historically doctors have not had a very high success rate in dealing with common ailments of the day I'm looking at you, leeches.

So what causes fibromyalgia to transition into an autoimmune condition? A possible solution is a virus. Studies show that a virus 'hijacks' a cell by entering into it and the only way for the immune system to deal with this is to tag and destroy the cell. The result is cell death. Is is entirely possible that when a virus enters into a joint, thyroid tissue, brain cell, intestinal cell, cartilage that this damage may build up if the immune system is not able to eradicate the virus. Studies also show that viruses can lay dormant in organ tissue, replicating and waiting for a time when the immune system becomes compromised before spreading out into the blood. This may be what we are referring to as a 'flare up' in a person with autoimmune condition. In arthritis, nodules appear on the joints, especially if on an immune-regulating medication such as methotrexate which shuts down the immune system in an attempt to slow the damage. So what is hapening? I would suggest that the body has written off the cell with the virus in it as 'dead' and attempted to regrow back to normal. However, these subsequent cells then become infected with the virus and the process continues. Interestingly, when people come off of medication the nodules tend to disappear again, suggesting that the immune system is once again dealing with the virus to obtain a state of form coded for in our DNA. If cell destruction occurs at a faster rate than cell growth then we present with a degenerative condition. Some cells may not be able to regrow very easily or at all such as thyroid tissue, bone/ cartilage, brain cells and may result in loss of function, thyroid illness requiring hormone replacement, dementia/alzheimers, organ failure. Since these conditions all appear to be related with the gut, poor absorption of nutrients may make growth and repair harder than normal.

If not a virus, then the immune system may just become so overwhelmed that it starts tagging healthy cells. Perhaps certain food substances like oxalates, salicylates accumulate in joints causing the immune system to become confused and eventually malfunction. Or it may just be a random mutation in the DNA of the immune system. It is important to consider everything and rule nothing out until tests can be devised to favor one solution over another.

I feel like this is more to say but, I am starting to feel a bout of fibro dizziness coming along and so will need to take a break  I have ordered some cbd oil and will update to let you all know if it makes any difference whatsoever. I have heard only good things about it and fibromyalgia symptoms so it will be interesting to know if finally, a supplement actually helps for once. Wow, that's a wall of text. Sorry!!!

[Samuel Bisson (OP)]

Ok, so I am now thinking that it is the chemicals in plants that evolved as protection against invaders such as insects, bacteria, fungi, herbivores that are responsible for most ill health issues.

Lectins for example, have been proven to bind to sugar receptor sites in the gut lining and cause damage. If food chemicals get into the blood we can have neuropathies, arthritis, MS, fatigue, joint pain and potentially more. As kids we can deal with chemicals because we digest properly, produce sufficient stomach acid to break them down, do not overeat and have ample social activities to take our mind off food. As we get older, stress takes over and people tend to get sick.

It really begs the question: why aren't we pumping more into research of gut health and how plant chemicals can affect our body. It doesn't seem like it would take much time or money to make leaps and bounds in this field and it may be a key turning point in how we view modern illness.