I have received some positive feedback on my blog. I thought it would be nice to share some of these comments in a separate blog post. I will add additional ones as I receive them. I appreciate the support for my efforts on the blog and the valuable information and feedback I receive from others. My Fibro Friends are my best allies in the quest for better health. We truly benefit from our shared experiences and support.
Darden, I would first like to credit you on your phenomenal job with all of your blog posts. You are a great writer with the insight and personal experience to really make a difference. Every one who views your articles should feel truly blessed that you have taken your hard earned knowledge and have provided it here for all of us to learn and benefit from. Through my own experiences with naturopathic medicine I have found much of what you've written to be consistent and very much on point. I've been to local Adrenal and Thyroid specialist, traditional ND's, non traditional ND's, Fibro and Fatigue Centers, and various others who take the alternative or naturopathic approach. I would first like to state that the naturopathic approach should be implemented as a standard of first measure in preventative medicine, versus the "alternative" title for which it is most famous. People often seek this naturopathic approach once the allopathic field has failed them. I however believe that people with FMS or CFS have gone under the radar for so long that it is virtually impossible to revive them through ND medicine alone. We enter into a phase in which we are still chasing "symptom trails", rather than the actual causes. For some people if you actually correct the symptom through ND medicine instead of masking it through drugs, they do get well. Although it can be helpful to address various imbalances in the body I have found for me that it is not the end of the road. I have learned a wealth of information through undergoing naturopathic therapies and have found that one of the keys to successful treatment is self education and being proactive in ones own personal health regime. This approach teaches empowerment and personal attestation to the complexities of ones own health state. It teaches that the patient is essentially the best Doctor while owning the power in knowledge of self. This area of medicine actually encourages personal exploration as opposed to handing ones life over to a total stranger and leaving it up to them. Naturopathic approach promotes body awareness and the essential foundations of keeping ourselves in good health. I can say that although the array of methods that were available to me weren't successful in treating FMS and CFS, I became an informed and educated person in which have provided me with the skills to take charge of my health in so many different areas. I have learned to extract lessons out of each experience and be grateful for that. There are two key statements that stood out to me in your post. "If nothing else pursuing these therapies gave me hope. Not trying something was for me equivalent to giving up." And, The naturopathic folks and the mavericks on the the edge of medicine had the most chance of helping because they paid attention to the clues." Anybody reading this post will most likely experience this with their ND. It is extremely helpful to have an advocate that can present a totally different health model in which for many will be life altering. Naturopathic Doctors are good at providing insight into various conditions that you would never have gotten with an allopathic physician. They are extremely helpful in working with you to teach and educate important lifestyle modifications and health advice. While I have not found my experiences with them to be a cure, it has be an enlightening and helpful journey. I have found the greatest improvement with FMS and CFS was in undergoing OSB (Oral Systemic Balance) and LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback System). Since experiencing these therapies I have gained a new found quality of life that would have never dreamed possible before. I continue to see improved results with each waking day and would encourage any body reading this post to seriously consider looking into these break through therapies. Darden, I would encourage you to remain sound in your advancements by continuing to produce this invaluable information to people who truly need it. Every time I view your articles I take myself back to a time before meeting you. Each time I smile in thinking that had this information been hand written from an experienced person years ago for me to read I would not only have a new friend in walking this journey but a clarified perspective and a solid path to hope. I think of all the people whom are not only suffering with the conditions of CFS & FMS, but the added confusion and battle for clean information that they are neglected of. It is a discouraging and complicated terrain to navigate alone. It is not an easy task in being forced to question against the very Doctors, friends and family members that they have once entrusted their lives with. This blog is not for everybody. It is for those who are seekers and believers. It is for those whom are not willing to accept a defeated fate in which they have been told. You are making a difference! I am forever grateful for that =). - Tim Luker
Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into your blog...your knowledge has helped so many of us! - Robin Frost Storms
I will continue reading your blog and referring my fibro friends to it. It is such a conscise and thorough overview of the whole subject of the search for solutions for fibro - you really capture the total experience in a very readable form. - Wendy Bellinger
Brave, persistent, well-researched and tried with full commitment! I salute you, Darden! Thank you for all your life's work! - Wendy Bellinger in response to "Biofeedback Therapies" post.
Your blog post "Hope" is beautiful! The themes of honesty, tenacity and integlligence that are such a part of you are woven into this piece you've written. Without your unrelenting belief that somehow, somewhere, somebody could help you get better, I worry your life woud've been completely overtaken by pain & despair (as it is for so many who suffer without the hope of recovery). You are a pioneer, marking the way ahead with courage and experience that show that you can really recover and lead a satisfying, meaningful life. Hope & love are what drive the machinery of tenacity and courage. Without support and some undying sense that there's got to be something out there that could make it better, there's no reason to keep going. This is the message that everyone must hear in order to gird their loins and prepare for the long, arduous journey of putting one foot in front of the other to reach the top of the mountain. I am very proud of you and happy to play a supportive role in this amazing journey you are on. May this blog find it's way into the hearts and minds of others who are suffering so that their lives (and the lives of all those who love them) may be spared the intolerable suffering that you've been through. Aimee Rhodes, LMHC, LENS practitioner
I have kept your article on the desktop of my computer. The day I feel depressed and lost, it is when I make it a point to open your article. This surely encourages me in a positive manner to do well and reminds me that I am not the only one facing the problem, there are many others like me. Thank you a ton for writing such a wonderful piece of information.
Dear Darden,
I am currently recovering from Fibromyalgia. As you know, it is somewhat uncommon for men to reveal their suffering from what is generally considered a woman's disease. Unfortunately for those numerous men who refuse to come out of their shells, they will never heal but die a dreadful death. Not me. I suspect that there are as many men and women who suffer from this illness but seldom have it discovered until it is so far gone that other illnesses become their undoing. Again, not me.
I started researching the subject after being diagnosed in 1994 when I was condemned by a rheumatologist to a lifetime of suffering from what had become intractable pain. I was forced to retire on a paltry disability pension in 1999. In the last 3 years before starting to heal, I could barely dress myself since even my skin was hurting so much one could barely touch me. Just the gentle rubbing of cloth on skin was painful beyond belief.
As a computer "geek" I began to search for relief from natural products. I must have gone through thousands of dollars of products promising relief from the arthritic pain in my joints, which was the worst of them all. Finally, in March 2009, I took one product called Vital-3 that clicked with me. It is described as a: "patented liquid formulation of Biologically Active Peptide Fragments of Collagen Type II-n-1 (the principal structural protein in cartilage and ligaments), Vital 3 Joint Solution travels directly to the source of discomfort to work with your body’s natural systems for joint building and defense."
Well, that did it for me. My uneducated and highly speculative theory is that the body's collagen is being destroyed faster than it can be repaired, and, of course, the Central Nervous System sends pain signals from this malfunction to the brain. Hence, pain is felt everywhere...
I learned that nutrition would also help and I had accumulated a number of books on food and healing. So I stopped eating processed foods, especially store bought cookies and pastries, beverages and canned goods. I stopped eating tubfuls of ice cream every week, multiple chocolate bars every day, drinking soft drinks at the rate of 3 or 4 every day. I had already started drinking distilled water in 2003, but this had only a minor impact because of my poor nutrition. I had all of my mercury amalgams taken out by a sympathetic dentist in 2002, I think, having found out that I could be mercury poisoned. It helped a bit.
In March 2009 I weighed 230 pounds, wearing a size 44 pants, at 62 years of age, a far cry from my 135 pounds, 29 pant size at age 35. I had shrunk from a height of 5 ft 11 1/2 inches to 5 ft 8 inches. I was then taking 500 mg of morphine, 3 other pain management prescription drugs, and over a dozen other drugs for an increasing number of opportunistic illnesses. Even with all of those pain killers, I was still in crisis pain all of the time. It was a non stop flare up with no respite. After taking the Vital-3 potion for one week, the pain began to dramatically subside. I told my doctor I wanted off of all the medications. So I started with the morphine. By August 2010, I was nearly drug free, only taking testosterone and thyroid pills (Andriol and Synthroid).
By January 2010, my weight had reduced to 205 pounds. By the beginning of April 2010 I was down to 197 pounds and began a 6 week exercise program under a personal trainer. He taught me everything I needed to know to keep going. I now weigh 174 pounds (end of April 2011) and am in better physical shape than even at my best when I was at University. I have gained somewhere between 25 to 30 pounds of muscle but still struggle with some occasional debilitating pain that I do not mention to anyone. I exercise vigourously 3 times a week to get the full benefit from Human Growth Hormone release into my blood. My doctor now only sees me every 3 months instead of every two weeks and still thinks I will relapse. My only response is "Over my dead body."
The city I live in, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, fluoridates its water. I have learned of the impact of fluoride substances on human health and have tried to eliminate the ingestion of every source of fluoride substances I can find. I have started a group, working with the FAN to fight fluoridation in my City. In the last year, I have started cooking all of my food only in distilled water, lightly steaming my vegetables according to their ability to remain "crunchy" with each vegetable's minimum amount of steaming. I eat plenty fresh fruits (cleaning them of pesticides before eating their skin, or pealing them if necessary) and vegetables daily, 2 or 3 lean beef meals a week, some poultry, wild fresh water fish, cold water salmon, and a little bit of corn pasta.
I take truckloads of Vitamin D-3 in the winter time, halving it in the summer time, Omega-3 oils, Astaxanthin and other beneficial vitamins and supplements that continue to work for me. That's my success story up til now, but it;'s not over yet. I have a long way to go until I am healed. Fibromyalgia took a long time to nearly kill me, and it will certainly not be fully healed in such a short time, if only because of the residual fluoride left in my bones and elsewhere. However, I am determined to heal fully of die trying. I believe that i will succeed. It takes tremendous will power, but that's how I was able to get this far.
I have attached two pictures of me so you can see the before and after of my ordeal. The big me is the 230 pound sick me, the smaller me is the new healing me.
Continue on your path as I will on mine and we shall be healed by God's grace and mercy. May God bless you for your work in helping other Fibromyalgia victims.
Richard Hudon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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