Viva La Difference!

Decisions, decisions, decisions….which book do I pick? While cruising the bookstore for another mystery to read, I wandered over to the health section. I thought I would check to see if what is in print regarding Fibromyalgia. I found one of the titles that touted “the latest information on new medication” to actually be published in 2001. Good thing I checked the publication date inside the front cover. I know there have been advances in medication since 2001. Then I checked the ‘diet and Fibromyalgia’ titles. Okay, not just the titles, I flipped through the pages. I had to. I cannot buy a book without peeking in it. So….I flip through the pages of several books and find some contradictory information. Which one do I believe? Alternative medicine or traditional medicine? New treatment, alternative or traditional?  I have no idea. There was one book I noticed that gave you choices, both sides to alternative and traditional medicines. By doing so, it let you make the decision. Now that’s what I think should happen, give me both sides of the issue and let me make an informed or not so informed decision.

When I got home, I got on the internet thinking I would check out some information there.  I have copied and pasted below something I found on Web MD regarding diet and Fibromyalgia:

"This is because fibromyalgia is not a specific illness," says Michael McNett, MD. McNett directs the Fibromyalgia Treatment Centers of America, headquartered in Chicago. "Fibromyalgia is more like a symptom complex, and different people appear to have different reasons why they get this symptom complex," he says. "So what works for one person very frequently does not work for another."

And this, say experts, includes dietary measures.

Kent Holtorf, MD, is the medical director of the Holtorf Medical Group Center for Endocrine, Neurological and Infection Related Illness in Torrance, California. He says, "We're at the point now where we know diet plays a role in this disease -- it's just not the same diet for everybody. And not everybody is helped in the same way."

This seems to go along with what I had been thinking when browsing through the books. Everyone is different!!! Fibro treatments and diets are as individual as we all are.  I am glad we are all different: otherwise it might be kind of boring. Then again, we might all have Fibromyalgia….or not! That would be a good thing. Maybe if you keep a log or diary, you might write down the foods you eat. You may notice a trend with foods and how you feel. It would only be natural that foods would make you feel better or worse. I know chocolate makes me feel better. At least I know I love chocolate and eating it makes me smile, so it has to make me feel better. I know the tea and coffee I drink keep me awake and I am not sure I want to know if they are good or bad for me.

I hope you all find the food that works for you and a healthy diet that you can live with. Remember we are all different and as the French say…. “Viva la difference!”