9 Foods That Cause Fibromyalgia Pain

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The Mysteries of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a disease that affects the body’s soft tissue and underlining muscles. The sufferer feels constant pain throughout their body.

In addition, they will have various symptoms that present like other diseases, some of them including; autoimmune system, IBS, colon disease, irritable bladder, UTI, hormone deficiencies, depression, and anxiety. For this reason, fibromyalgia is often misdiagnosed.

Besides the mimicking symptoms, this disease doesn’t always present the same in all patients. This combination often leaves most fibromyalgia studies inconclusive.

One thing for certain suffers agree that certain foods increase their symptoms while others decrease them.

Which foods should you avoid and which ones should you eat? I will discuss this in the paragraphs below.

Bad Food vs. Good Food

Although studies remain questionable many doctors agree that certain foods trigger pain flare-ups. Like the disease itself, these foods’ reactions greatly vary from one patient to another.

What might cause acute symptoms in one person, may not in another. For this reason, many physicians suggest keeping a food diary.

They recommend you to list everything you’ve eaten that day and how those foods made you feel. Later, you and your doctor will review these notes and decide what foods you can eat safely.

Another suggestion is not to eat certain foods that you feel are causing you discomfort for a week.

Then slowly reintroduce these foods into your diet one at a time. Record how you felt after you ate them and throughout the day.

Foods to Avoid with Fibromyalgia

There are certain foods that you should avoid with fibromyalgia because they tend to make the pain worse. There are also foods that will help decrease your fibromyalgia pain if you eat them regularly.

These include:

MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a food additive often found in Chinese food and many other processed foods. In some people, it can cause headaches, flushing, sweating, numbness, tingling, or burning in the face, neck, and shoulders. This can occur within 20 minutes of eating MSG.

MSG is not only found in Chinese food but also many canned soups, processed meats, lunch meats, frozen dinners, salad dressings, and chips.

Eggs contain a protein called avidin that can bind to biotin, a B vitamin that is important for your skin and nerves. If you eat too many eggs or egg yolks it can make your hair loss or brittleness worse.

Dairy products such as milk and cheese contain casein protein. The most common culprit in dairy is casein which stimulates the release of digestive enzymes that break down the protein.

Corn, soy and wheat can be hard on your digestive system as well as increase your pain levels if you eat too much of them.

Flour, yeast, and sugar are also big causes of inflammation and allergen reactions in many people with fibromyalgia.

Sugar will also boost your blood sugar level then when the level drops back down the person will experience an increase in fatigue. My suggestion is to limit your intake of these items.

Since carbs create the same reaction as sugar, you should try to cut back on your carbohydrate intake.

Sugar substitutes like aspartame often used in sugar-free candy and some diet drinks have a chemical that increases your brain’s neurons which enhances pain sensitivity.

You need to avoid it. Another thing that increases neuron sensitivity is different additives especially MSG, or monosodium glutamate it increases the glutamate levels found in your spinal fluid which in turn increases pain levels.

If you have a diagnosis of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, or if you are overweight, you need to limit the number of grains you eat.

When our body breaks down these grains it metabolizes them similar to the way it does sugary foods.

Some of the grains I suggest you should avoid include wheat, unprocessed, and gluten grains.

Because many fibromyalgias suffer also have stomach problems it’s a good idea to avoid caffeinated products and alcohol.

This includes energy drinks because they are known to have a substantial amount of caffeine and sugar. Alcohol products have both sugar and yeast.

Another thing to try to avoid is tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes. Better known as nightshade vegetables. They too have been shown to increase pain.

Foods containing Tran’s fats and saturated fats increase inflammation which increases pain.

Tran’s fats are often found in store-bought baked goods. While saturated fats are found in processed foods, cookies, crackers, and many cooking oils.

You should limit junk food as well. These foods contain everything that you should avoid. Saturated fats, Tran’s fats, sugar, and flour.

These products will irritate your stomach, it will increase pain levels, and cause you to put on excessive weight. In addition, it could make sleep more difficult and decrease your immune system to fight infections.

Some suffer reported they have trouble with pasteurized dairy products but find they don’t have any difficulty if these products are from grass-fed cows and it isn’t processed.

Foods You Should Eat With Fibromyalgia

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

After that long list, you’re probably thinking is there anything that I can eat that won’t increase my pain? Believe it or not, there’s still plenty of food choices left.

Since I can’t possibly list them all, I’ve decided to list the ones that have shown to either decrease inflammation, decreases pain, or has antitoxin.

It’s suggested a fibromyalgia patient eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. These products have various essential vitamins.

They also contain antioxidants which will help boost your immune system and fiber to help with any digestion issues that you are experiencing. Some experts suggest the more colorful the food the better.

Experts also believe the raw version of these products is more beneficial. Cooking the food will destroy vitamins enzymes and biophotons.

Make sure you get enough Omega 3 like DHA and EPA in your diet. It’s shown to decrease swelling which will decrease the pain.

Lastly coconut and coconut oil. Many people who suffer from fibromyalgia find them extremely helpful. It’s suggested that fibromyalgia patients drink plenty of filtered water every day.

Less Pain For a Happier You

Anyone suffering from fibromyalgia knows that sometimes the pains are so excruciating it even hurts to breathe.

There are foods you can limit or avoid to decrease this pain. Some foods you should limit include; sugary, baked foods, carbs, and grains.

You should avoid things like additives preserves, processed foods, Tran’s fats, saturated fats, nightshade vegetables, caffeine, alcohol, MSG, and aspartame.

You should eat fresh raw fruits and vegetables and include enough Omega 3, vitamin d, and water in your diet every day.

Experts also suggested eating slowly, in moderation, and exercising daily. Eating too fast, or too much will put stress on your digestive system which will increase stomach pain and other digestive issues.

Daily exercising is important.  It’s heart-healthy and has been shown to decrease pain levels in Harvard studies.

Follow these suggestions I’ve mentioned above and it will help you to elevate some of the discomfort associated with fibromyalgia.

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