#Fibromyalgia
My Tenth blog “Top 10 Causes of Poor Sleep”
My Tenth blog “Top 10 Causes of Poor Sleep” – in this blog I will discuss 10 common causes of poor sleep and natural remedies you can try to help improve sleep quality.
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I have had several people in my family suffer from sleep insomnia. They just couldn’t go to sleep or they woke up frequently not being able to stay asleep. And as a result, became extremely frustrated and almost became mentally unstable as they knew the wrath they would suffer if they didn’t obtain good quality sleep. Back in the 1980’s there really wasn’t an easy way to look up remedies to this problem. Or to figure out what was causing it so you could get a better nights rest. But nowadays everything is at your fingertips. And after you understand some causes of poor sleep you can easily implement steps to fix the problem. We all have suffered through this at some point in our life. But there are some of us that have encountered it way more than we would like to admit.
So what causes poor quality sleep?
1 Pets in the bed, how to fix this is obvious, move the pet to another location.
2 Kids in the bed, how to fix this is obvious, move them back to their bed.
3 Alcohol affects the rhythm of sleep, first it acts as a sedative, but then a few hours later when blood alcohol level drops, it will wake you up again. To prevent this stop drinking 2 to 3 hours before bedtime.
4 Acid reflux, in my opinion acid reflux can be reduced by removing the food that is causing the problem. To pinpoint what it is – start keeping a food diary and write down your symptoms after you eat. Eventually you will figure out what the culprit is. Here are some foods that can cause acid reflux/heartburn:
Alcohol, particularly red wine
Black pepper, garlic, raw onions, and other spicy foods
Chocolate
Citrus fruits and products, such as oranges and orange juice
Coffee and caffeinated drinks, including tea and soda
Peppermint
Tomatoes
Fried foods or foods high in fat
Dairy
5 Pain, I will be the first to admit this one was a problem for me for a long time. Until I went off of gluten and diet soda, all the pain in my hips, legs and back disappeared! If you are suffering from pain, try switching out your soda with water and going on a gluten free diet – I bet you will see your pain reduced or maybe even go away altogether!
6 Vitamins, I will also admit I occasionally pop a few B12’s to give me a quick burst of energy, especially when I get home late from work and realized I need to do some homework for class. B6 and B12 should be taken in the am hours; they can cause some to have very vivid dreams that can wake you up in the night.
7 Eating right before you go to bed or in the middle of the night is a recipe for poor quality sleep. Why? There are two chemicals in your brain that are needed to go to sleep. Serotonin (not available as a supplement) and Melatonin (available as a supplement) a lot of Serotonin is needed to break down foods, especially foods high in carbohydrates. It takes your body 2 to 3 hours to remake the serotonin to put back what it used. This is the reason why you should stop eating 2 to 3 hours before bed. (you will see more about Melatonin in #1 in the next section)
8 Stress, this obviously can cause sleeping problems. Especially if you are a worrier. Yoga is a great way to unwind. Another great way to reduce your stress, leave work at work. Don’t take it home with you!
9 Medications can have side effects. If you take a control substance for ADD or ADHD (this will definitely keep you up if you take it too late in the day) make sure you read the side-affects before taking any medication your doctor prescribes. Or better yet, ask your doctor if the medication that he/she is prescribing will affect sleep? Don’t be surprised if he/she doesn’t know the answer. They often prescribe pills without warning you of the risks that comes with taking it!
10 Sleep Apnea, if you suffer from this try losing some weight, sometimes sleep apnea is brought on by weight sitting on your diaphragm. Remove the weight and you will likely improve this issue.
If you are open to taking vitamins to add to your quality of sleep, here is a list of the ones that I have found that help aid better sleep in my household. They may also help you to understand what natural remedies are out there and what you might be deficient in.
1 Melatonin (which is both a hormone and an antioxidant) it is also a chemical in your brain that helps you fall asleep. This can be found at the health food store or online.
2 5-HTP is a compound created in the body which is used to regulate serotonin levels in brain and central nervous system. This can also be found at the health food store or online.
3 Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to excessive daytime sleepiness. You can request your Doctor to check your vitamin D levels. As we age this becomes a more common problem. The sun and a tanning bed (although you don’t want to “over expose”) are ways to get your Vitamin D.
4 Magnesium deficiency can cause insomnia. I take a Magnesium Malate supplement daily.
5 Lack of Potassium can lead to difficulty staying asleep throughout the night. If you are having leg cramps on a regular basis you could be low in potassium or it could be caused by consumption of gluten.
6 Adding a good Probiotic to your diet will help aid in the digestive process. Nothing worse than a bowl of popcorn lying in your gut for days! If you are absent a gall bladder like me I would highly recommend a good probiotic.
“In order to be as healthy as you can be, educating yourself is the key”
My Eighth Blog “Tap Water, How Clean is too Clean?”
My Eighth Blog “Tap Water, How Clean is too Clean?” – this blog will open your eyes to think before you drink your next glass of water. There is a price to pay for clean water.
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After I learned drinking Diet Soda (aspartame) was c
ausing a lot of my symptoms, I decided to switch it out with water. I was an avid Diet Soda drinking for the past 30+ years; drinking water was something I just didn’t like. I knew it was going to take some time getting use to this change.
On the first day off of Diet Soda, I filled up a tall glass of water from the sink and sat down at the table. As I lifted the cup to my face, I took a deep breath in and smelled what I thought was chlorine even before I took my first sip. So I tasted it, I could taste the chlorine. So I thought to myself, is this actually better than drinking diet soda? I greatly appreciate the fact that the US has good clean drinking water. There are many people in 3rd world countries that are not as fortunate. The human body is made up of roughly 60% water, so what better to put back in your body then water! Good clean water! But how clean is too clean? In order to protect our drinking water from disease-causing organisms and pathogens, water suppliers often add a disinfectant, 
such as chlorine, to drinking water.
So back to the internet I went to do a little more digging on my so called “clean water”. The EPA allows up to 4MDRL (Maximum Disinfectant Residual Level ) in our drinking water. So I proceeded to look up the water report for my area. And the report indicated the average chlorine in the water in my area was 1.2MDRL. If I can smell the chlorine at 1.2, what on earth would it smell like at 4? We all know why we use chlorine and beach, to kill bacteria and germs. But I never actually thought about what it might be doing to the inside of my body after consuming in on a regular basis. Little did I know that the small amount of chlorine in our drinking water was enough to slowly kill the good bacteria living in my stomach over time! The bacteria your body needs to breakdown food. In order to have good clean drinking water, it comes with a price, a price you can manage if you know about. So I purchased a spring water dispenser and now have a water delivery service deliver water to my house once a month, cost me about $7.00 per each 5 gal water jug (delivered). Small price to pay to save my entire families (and dog) gut! I haven’t gone so far as to put in entire water filtration system in the house yet, but that is in my foresight!
So how do you put the bacteria back in your gut, take a probiotic daily! Or better yet consistently eat a diet of fermented and cultured foods. You will get a much wider variety of bacteria than you can get from a supplement. A list of fermented foods is below for you reference.
Raw yogurt, Sauerkraut, Buttermilk, Fermented milk or kefir, Pickled fermentations of: cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash or carrots. But if you are like me and rarely eat any of above listed foods a probiotic supplement is better than nothing. Look for the highest strain you can find. If it was cheap, it probably will not offer much.
If you struggle with any of the below listed diseases or symptoms you likely suffer from a “Gut Abnormality”, that could have been caused by chlorine or many of a number of other things. Start taking a probiotic, your Gut will thank you!
| Multiple sclerosis | Type 1 diabetes | Rheumatoid arthritis | Osteoarthritis |
| Lupus | Crohn’s disease | Ulcerative colitis | Chronic skin conditions |
| Kidney problems | Urinary conditions | Allergic and atopic conditions | Degenerative skin conditions |
| Chronic fatigue syndrome | Fibromyalgia | Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) | Inflammatory bowel diseases |
http://articles.mercola.com/fermented-foods.aspx
“In order to be as healthy as you can be, educating yourself is the key”
My Seventh Blog “Unlocking the Power of Vitamin C and Revealing its Benefits”
My Seventh Blog “Unlocking the Power of Vitamin C and Revealing its Benefits”
– In this blog I discuss how I discovered I was deficient in Vitamin C and how I figured out what amount my body needed to leverage better health.
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As I continued on my quest to cure my positive ANA diagnosis, I did some research on the benefits of Vitamin C, hoping to educate myself on how I could use it to leverage better health. I learned many things I didn’t know about Vitamin C. Vitamin C is water soluble, which means whatever your body doesn’t need or use will come out in the toilet. I also learned that there can be some side-effects for taking too much, such as: diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, heartburn, and abdominal bloating and cramps, headache, Insomnia and kidney stones. Although I’ve experienced only one of these, diarrhea.
So I wondered “How would I know if I am Vitamin C deficient?” Severe Vitamin C deficiency symptoms can consist of: bleeding gums, dry skin, fluid retention, depression, joint pain and bruising easily. All, (except bleeding gums) were on my list of side-effects. So I thought I would add a supplement into my daily routine. I started out taking an additional 1000mg supplement. But how would I know if that amount is too much, or not enough? After further research, I found that if I increase my dose by 500mg each day I can figure out what amount I need to take as a supplement because it will cause diarrhea when you are at the maximum amount your body can absorb. I got just over 6000mg before I flushed! My “Flush” occurred about 2-3 hrs after I took my daily dose, which indicated to me I was Vitamin C deficient, as the recommended dose for an adult is 65-90mg per day to a maximum of 2000mg. I needed an additional 4000mg over the recommended dose to reach my body’s absorption. After taking this amount for a few weeks my body told me to back it down from 6000mg to 4000mg and now I am steadily taking 2000-3000mg per day. I noticed a substantial decrease in the amount of fluid I was retaining, my dry skin seem to improve and I am not so quick to bruise and when I do it seems to heal quicker than before I started taking the Vitamin C.
Vitamin C has also been known to stabilize blood sugar levels and lower or reduce cholesterol and triglycerides. Vitamin C is critical for immune system function and plays a role in antibody production and white blood cell function and activity, which I felt played a critical role in my success to better health!
“In order to be as healthy as you can be, educating yourself is the key”
My Fourth Blog “A Positive ANA -> Autoimmune deficiency -> My Battle with Inflammation”
My Fourth Blog “A Positive ANA -> Autoimmune deficiency -> My Battle with Inflammation” – this blog will explain more details about my battle with inflammation caused by my autoimmune deficiency. A description of the symptoms I suffered from, which foods made the inflammation worse and which vitamin supplements helped me reduce the inflammation while I was on my quest for the ‘Cure’.
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One good thing that came out of my positive ANA diagnoses is that I now take my personal healthcare much more seriously, and I have learned a ton about nutrition and how to listen to my body after each meal. I knew nothing about auto immune deficiencies previously. I also learned doctors will run the tests and tell you the results but rarely advise you what to do next. That one is up to you! If you do nothing, it will get worse and possibly develop into one of the common autoimmune diseases (Lupus, Scleroderma, Sjogren’s syndrome, Fibromyalgia, polymyositis/dermatormyostis, mixed connective tissue disease, or drug induced lupus to name a few). If you get lucky, you might end up with a doctor that actually cares about “curing” your problem, but that is highly unlikely! Why? It stops the flow of their revenue. If you are no longer “sick” you don’t need a doctor. Why would they provide you with a ‘cure’ when they can just attempt to treat your symptoms, that way you will keep coming back! You will likely be prescribed a few drugs that in order to get a refill you will need to go back to the doctor, the vicious cycle will continue until you die!
If you are passionate about feeling better you need to take charge of your own healthcare, if you throw passion into your own health you will feel better than you have ever felt and it will cost you little to nothing – as all the resources are out on the web! You have a good chance of recovering from all the symptoms in which you suffer, but only if you put yourself first and start practicing what you read, and listen to the way your body reacts to the changes you implement, that way you can make adjustments along the way. I personally don’t feel popping chemical-based pills are the solution! Sure it might make you feel better at first; but it’s just covering up the symptoms that will always be there.
Personally I think Mixed Connective Tissue Disease and Fibromyalgia are what I call “bullshit diseases”. I believe these two diseases were made up because so many people suffer from similar issues and there wasn’t a bucket to drop them into so they created a new disease bucket. I firmly believe they are not diseases! Why, because I was diagnosed with both of these by two separate doctors, but oddly enough after I ‘cured’ myself through diet, (refer to blog #2) I no longer have either one of these diseases. So what the hell are the doctors doing? Well first, they are creating revenue for their practice. Second, they are trying to put a name to your symptoms so you can go out and shout to the word what problems you have so others will come in and be diagnosed with the same disease as they are suffering from similar symptoms. Remember doctors don’t make any money off of finding solutions to your problems. So I wouldn’t rely on them to provide you one.
A positive ANA means auto-nuclear antibodies are present in your body. By itself, a positive ANA test does not indicate the presence of an autoimmune disease or the need for medical treatment. If you are like me and have been battling with a random number of symptoms that are now affecting your life and you have found out you have a positive ANA, but the doctors haven’t been able to really pinpoint an actual “disease,” there is still HOPE!
Antibodies are developed in our immune system and help our body fight off infectious organisms. When antibodies recognize something foreign, they send out a massive Twitter message (ha-ha) to recruit other proteins and cells to help fight. This cascade of attack is called “INFLAMMATION.” (www.rheumatology.org) As long as your body has this positive ANA you will battle with inflammation. I fought this same battle for many years before getting it under control. While you are on your mission to figure out what is causing your positive ANA, there are other things you can do to reduce this inflammation, therefore, reducing the number in your own self destructive army. Foods I found that made inflammation worse are Dairy (and Dairy products) and Gluten! Try eliminating these from your diet and see if you symptoms improve. This may not cure you positive ANA, but it will help you manage your symptoms until you pinpoint what is actually causing the problem. Mine ended up being Gluten and Diet Soda (refer to blog #3).
This chronic INFLAMMATION caused consistent hip, knee and back pain. I also believe it affected my circulation and nervous system as I suffered from muscle spasms, leg and foot pain, leg cramps & my hands and feet falling asleep, which I later found out is called: Raynaud’s symptom, the picture to the right is an example of this symptom (a picture I took on my way to work one morning).
Raynaud’s phenomenon – is a vessel abnormality caused by smooth muscle in the wall of arteries, leading to blood vessel spasms of the small vessels that supply blood to the arms, legs, hands and feet. (www.emedicinehalth.com)
Leg cramps were so bad I had to pull over while driving and get out of the car. Leg pain was so bad it woke me up from a dead sleep only to put me in a serve shock as my body couldn’t endure the pain. My blood pressure dropped so low the EMT’s could barely get a blood pressure or pulse reading.
As I continued on my quest for a cure, I came across several vitamin supplements that helped reduce inflammation. I knew taking these vitamin supplements had to be better than the chemical based drugs I was receiving from the doctor and I knew it wasn’t a fix to my problem(s) however; it helped me control the symptoms until I figured out what was the “cause”. Below are the vitamin supplements I discovered along my journey that helped reduce inflammation and pain. Oddly enough, I got more great advice from my Chiropractor then any MD I had seen as he seemed to be much more knowledgeable about overall health and nutrition.
L-Glutamine
– in free form, I took 5000mg 1-2x per day. I mixed it in with cranberry juice and added a little apple cider vinegar, which doubled as a natural detoxifier. Glutamine is the most abundant free amino acid in the body. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Glutamine is produced in the muscles and is distributed by the blood to the organs that need it. Glutamine helps gut function as well as the immune system and other essential processes of the body. Glutamine is needed to make other chemicals in the body such as other amino acids and glucose (sugar). (www.webmd.com)
Turmeric Root and Curcumin – I take in pill form, 500mg per day, however, 
the bottle says you can take up to 3x this per day. Turmeric is also the main ingredient in curry, an ingredient widely found in Indian food. Curcumin is a substance found in turmeric. Turmeric/Curcumin is used to treat many things, but it is known to help reduce inflammation and pain caused by inflammation in the body and I have found it to be extremely helpful.
I have tried many other vitamin supplements but the two above I have found the most beneficial in reducing inflammation in the body and helping control pain level before I found the ‘Cure’. If I had it to do over again, I would have introduced vitamin supplements one at a time. Sometimes I would go gung-ho on research and implement many new vitamin supplements at once. I would start to feel better, but then couldn’t figure out which one was providing the results I was feeling.
If you are suffering from various symptoms like I had and have a positive ANA, I would encourage you to start your QUEST for a CURE! I did it, you can too. You could just sit around complaining of how much pain you’re in or how much you can’t do as a result of the label the doctor put on you. Or you could EDUCATE yourself and take the steps towards a better life! Listen to what your body is telling you, write a food journal and see if you can pinpoint what your body has red flagged as your “invader.” Unfortunately, you can’t send an email to your immune system and ask. Although that would be nice and ultimately a lot less work for both of us. It could be the same as mine or it could be something totally different. Do you want to show your family and the rest of the world you are just another statistic or do you want them to see you as a fighter that can solve their own problems?
Recap:
- First cut out the foods you know cause inflammation. Start with Dairy and Gluten.
- Vitamin supplements can help temporarily manage your symptoms until you pinpoint what is causing your positive ANA. Introduce these one at a time but not at the same time you start eliminating foods, so you don’t confuse the vitamin, which might make you feel better from the food that you eliminated, which might also be making you feel better.
- Start keeping a food/environmental journal and figure out what you are eating on a regular basis, then start eliminating them one at a time until you see your symptoms improve. (Some of the common culprits are: Aspartame, Food additives/preservatives & MSG, Sugar and simple carbohydrates, Caffeine, Gluten, & Dairy) but there are others.
“In order to be as healthy as you can be, educating yourself is the key”
Deb's Dietary Diary 