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OXYGEN AND FIBROMYALGIA
What is fibromyalgia? Fibromyalgia (FM) is often
considered a medical mystery. It need not be. I often hear all laboratory tests are
negative in patients with FM. That's not true. Most physicians are uneasy when confronted
with persons suffering with FM. That need not be so. I sometimes hear FM is not treatable.
Nothing is further from the truth.
Why are so many people confused about the
cause of FM? Because it doesn't fit into some neat model of a disease category. Why isn't
FM treated successfully by mainstream doctors? Because there are no effective drugs for
it.
THREE BASIC FACTS ABOUT FIBROMYALGIA
1. All symptoms of fibromyalgia are caused by cellular
oxygen deprivation.
2. Oxygen deprivation is caused by dysfunctional
oxygen metabolism.
3. Oxygen metabolism becomes abnormal due to excessive and cumulative
oxidative stress caused by sugar overload, antibiotic abuse, undiagnosed allergies,
synthetic chemicals, and anger.
Dysfunctional oxygen metabolism is not merely lack of
oxygen in the air we breathe, in the blood, or in the cells.
This is a critical distinction. I coin
this term for a much deeper problem of oxygen metabolism within the cells that involves failure
of enzymes involved in oxygen metabolism.
This also forms the core of my ODD theory of the
fibromyalgia/fatigue complex (ODD stands for oxidative-dysoxygenative dysfunction).
3 Rs OF FIBROMYALGIA
Fibromyalgia is Real.
Fibromyalgia is Reversible.
Fibromyalgia cannot be Reversed with drugs.
That fibromyalgia is reversible is the
second core point of this article. It is regrettable that many fibromyalgia
"experts" emphatically state that it is irreversible. (Why would anyone become
an expert in a disease that he can never effectively treat?) I strongly disagree with
them.
I consider persons with fibromyalgia as human canaries whose oxygen
enzymes are more easily injured than other people. They are more vulnerable to
unrecognized allergies, sugar overload, excessive antibiotics, and anger, and have been
poisoned by synthetic chemicals. Those human canaries are telling us something important
about the shape of things to come. What injures their oxygen enzymes eventually will
injure the oxygen enzymes of others, unless we find ways to protect the oxygen metabolism.
FOUR MAIN SYMPTOMS OF FIBRO CANARIES
1. Persistent muscle pain and weakness.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation causes muscle pain.
2. Disabling fatigue.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in tissue causes fatigue and
exhaustion.
3. Brain fog (problems of mood, memory, and mentation).
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in brain cells causes brain
fog and dysfunction.
4. Air hunger.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation within the cells
causes air hunger.
The last item requires a special comment.
Like other physicians, until some years ago I accepted the prevailing view that the body
learns about the lack of oxygen through special oxygen sensors in the brain as well as in
the walls of large blood vessels in the chest and neck. My fibro canaries have forced me
to look deeper into this issue. The sense of air or oxygen hunger in fibromyalgia cannot
be explained merely on the basis of those oxygen sensors. Oxygen levels in the large
vessels in those locations are within the normal range in fibromyalgia. Thus, I had to
look for some other mechanism. Now I believe oxygen hunger is caused by abnormal oxygen
metabolism within the cells —though the evidence for my view at this point is
indirect.
OTHER MAJOR SYMPTOMS OF FIBRO CANARIES
1. Symptoms of weakened immune systems, such
as sore throats, swollen neck glands, and painful tissues.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in immune
cells causes immune weaknesses.
2. Abdominal bloating, cramps, episodes of
diarrhea and constipation, and problems of digestion and malabsorption.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in the bowel
causes bloating, cramps, and malabsorption.
3. Cold sensitivity and poor circulation.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in skin
causes cold sensitivity.
4. Sleep difficulties, restless leg syndrome,
and legs.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation interferes
with functions of the sleep center and causes other problems, such as restless leg
syndrome.
5. Lightheadedness, dizziness, heart
palpitations, and skipped beats.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in the heart
and vessel walls causes lightheadedness, dizziness, heart palpitations, and skipped beats.
6. Dry skin, dry eyes, dry mouth, and dry
vaginal tissues.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in the cells
of the skin, eyes, mouth and vagina muscles causes cell shrinkage and dryness skin.
7. Vaginitis, bladder spasms, and bladder
infections in women and prostatitis in men.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in genital
tissues causes vaginitis, bladder spasms, and bladder infections in women and prostatitis
in men.
8. Joint and muscle stiffness and pain.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in joints and
muscles causes stiffness and pain.
9. Lack of sex drive in both sexes and
menstrual irregularities in women.
Explanation: Oxygen deprivation interferes
with the enzyme functions of sexual organs and their hormones.
What Causes of Fibromyalgia?
1. Metabolic oxidants
2. Microbial oxidants
3. Man-made oxidants (Oxidants are substances that damage tissues.)
Three Molecular Mechanisms of Fibromyalgia
1. Oxidosis (too much oxidation)
2.
dysoxygenosis (too little oxygen)
3. Acidosis (too much acidity) (Oxidosis is rapid breakdown. Dysoxygenosis
[dys-oxy-gen-osis] is abnormal oxygen metabolism.)
Three Levels of Injured Cellular and Organ Ecosystems
and an Ecologic Road Map to Recovery
1. The base trio of the bowel, blood, and liver ecosystems
2. The middle trio of the thyroid, adrenals, and pancreas ecosystems
3. The top trio of the limbic system, sex hormones, and neurotransmitters.
TOXINS: Metabolic, Microbial, and Man-Made
Of the three main types of
toxins identified above that lead to fibromyalgia, the metabolic toxins are the least
important in the initial stages, but the most dangerous in advanced stages of
fibromyalgia. The reason for that is that all kinds of metabolic havoc are wreaked on the
human tissues once oxygen metabolism becomes dysfunctional.
Metabolism (the sum total of all life processes) produces many
oxidants as waste products. In health, the detox mechanisms of the body neutralize and
clear such oxidants. In illness, such oxidants are produced in such large quantities that
the detox systems fail. Excess oxidants accumulate and cause oxidosis which, in turn,
leads to dysoxygenosis and acidosis. The states of illness that lead to oxidosis and
dysoxygenosis include fibromyalgia,
chronic fatigue syndrome, chemical sensitivity
syndrome, and others.
Microbial oxidants are produced in large quantities by microbes which
live in the body in health. Those microbes multiply rapidly in the bowel and blood
ecosystems with sugar overload, antibiotic abuse, pesticides, pollutants, and other
toxins. All microbial oxidants cause oxidosis which, in turn, leads to dysoxygenosis and
acidosis. Microbial oxidants include those produced by:
1.
Yeasts (mycotoxins);
2. Bacteria (endotoxins and exotoxins);
3. Viruses (oxidants produced by damaged cells); and
4. Parasites (oxidants produced by parasites as well as by cells and tissues damaged by
parasites).
Man-made oxidants include designer killer
molecules (such as pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides), industrial pollutants, toxic
metal compounds (such as dental mercury amalgams), and synthetic hormones. The toxic
burden of chemicals has increased markedly during this century. For example, in the U.S.
more than nineteen million pounds of antibiotics are fed to cattle and chicken every year.
THREE FURIES:OXIDOSIS, DYSOXYGENOSIS, AND ACIDOSIS
Oxidosis is the build-up of oxidants in the
body that leads to excessive oxidative injury to molecules, cells, and tissues. Oxidosis
is the basic mechanism of all cellular and tissue injury. It creates both
dysoxygenosis and acidosis. Fibromyalgia cannot be understood without a full grasp of this
simple scientific fact. Nor can anyone design a rational and scientific plan of recovery
from fibromyalgia without grounding all therapies on this fact.
Dysoxygenosis is my term for abnormal oxygen
metabolism. It is not simply a lack of available oxygen in the lungs or tissues. In
dysoxygenosis, cells and tissues cannot fully utilize oxygen that is available to
them. The symptom-complexes of fibromyalgia cannot be understood without a full grasp of
this scientific fact. Dysoxygenosis is caused by oxidosis and, in turn, fans the flames of
oxidosis as well as acidosis. Consider the following: A healthy young man sprints two
hundred yards on a beach, stops to catch his breath, and within minutes is ready to sprint
again. That is not the case with a young fibro canary. If he were ever to sprint (even
after a lightning storm, when the beach air has been cleared of pollutants), he will not
be able to get out of his bed the next day. Indeed, many fibro canaries may be bedridden
for days after such exertion. There will evidently be no deficiency of oxygen in the air
by the sea, nor in his lungs. His problem will be abnormal oxygen metabolism.
Acidosis disturbs the delicate balance
between acids and alkalies (pH level) in the body. The changes in pH seriously interfere
with the activities of enzymes involved in the digestive-absorptive, detox,
neurotransmitter, and energy functions of the body. Acidosis is caused by oxidosis and
dysoxygenosis which, in turn, feeds the fires of both oxidosis and dysoxygenosis.
FIBRO IS REAL
If you are a fibro canary, you know that fibromyalgia is real. If your
physicians doubt that, they cannot help you. Be kind to yourself and find another
physician who understands this problem. The road to recovery from fibromyalgia is often
long and difficult. You need not make it much more difficult.
FIBRO IS REVERSIBLE
If you are a fibro canary, please be kind to yourself and shun people who
insist fibromyalgia is irreversible. The road to recovery from fibromyalgia is often long
and difficult. You need not absorb the negativity of others.
FIBRO CANNOT BE REVERSED WITH DRUGS
If you are a fibro canary, please know that fibromyalgia cannot be
reversed with any drugs. You will learn that sooner or later. No drug at present is
known to cure fibromyalgia. It seems highly unlikely that such a drug will be synthesized
in the foreseeable future. In this volume, I discuss at length my reasons for that view.
Healing is an energy phenomenon. Hope is
another word for healing.
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