We Have a New Advocate at NIH!

Having chronic pain is a lot like having a bleeding heart. It's not enough to kill you, but it sure puts the brakes on lots of activities you used to do or would like to do. People with FMS or CFS know.

A new physician, Dr. Bushnell, is joining the NIH under the NCCAM (for alternativ medicine) to study about the mechanisms, brain changes, and what forms of both alternative medicine/treatments and medications can be used to help people with chronic pain conditions. It's amazing the statistics in the article linked below concerning cost and lost work days due to victims of chronic pain disorders.

Please read: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jul2012/nccam-12.htm

Make any comments you wish on this blog and share the above page with others who have chronic pain.

Yours,
Dr. Linda B. Greer

Nutrition and FMS

Today we had a very special guest at our meeting. Nancy Taylor of NuCommunity, LLC, spoke on food sensitivities and how what we eat may be causing our symptoms to worsen. Her new blood testing program and survey of symptoms is a first step in analyzing what foods may be causing flares and how badly they are making you feel on a daily basis.

Nancy's approach to resolving these dietary issues is a process of elimination of the two highest categories out of three for your food sensitivities. After ten days on the elimination diet, you are again surveyed on how you feel. After this, some of the middle level foods on your sensitivity scales are introduced, one each day. Eventually rotation is introduced into your diet and some of your high sensitivity foods can be re-introduced into your diet without the usual symptoms. Of course, high water intake is imperative in such a diet plan. The whole process takes about 5 weeks to complete and the object is to reduce the occurrence of cytokines and algesics that cause pain in our bodies.

Mrs. Taylor said some insurance companies will actually pay for the blood work and the periodic consultations. (Unfortunately, Medicare does not.) There is a partner group that can check for your insurance if you call her and are serious about trying her healthy nutrition plan. Remember, it is individualized just for you.  Her phone number is 864-888-2535. Her email is nancy@nucommunity.com and her website is www.nucommunity.com. Nancy is planning to set up a satellite office in Greenville off Pelham Road in the Patewood area in the near future.

In a case study with a person who suffered severe migraines, she showed how this elimination and re-introduction diet can create remarkable decreases in symptoms in the 90% range from start to completion. For FMS patients, Nancy's goal is to reduce symptoms by at least 75%. Ah-hah moment like the Panda Bear at the left! Who of us wouldn't like to see a reduction in symptoms by at least 75% with no side effects?

We got many hand-outs today from both myself and from Nancy Taylor--so for those who missed the meeting, it was extremely informative. I hope you will come to our next meeting on Saturday, July 10. We will be sharing ways to avoid the heat and still have a good summer with FMS. Come and give us your input on what you do to cope.

Yours truly,
Dr. Linda B. Greer
NFA Support Group Volunteer
Spartanburg, SC