Fibromyalgia:
Alleviating Its Depression, Sleep
Disorders and Overeating.
By: Dr. William Wong, ND, PhD.
Fibromyalgia
is a physiological and not a psychological
disease; but in time deep psychological
symptoms do develop. Not being able to
work. Not having the energy to care for
family and home. The unrelenting pain
coupled with the disbelief of doctors'
family and friends, all these things
combine to create a seeming psychological
disease. Depression sets in as inability
and inactivity become the daily routine.
Daily worry and depression combine with
pain, spasm and stiffness to upset the
sleep pattern and create sleeping disorders.
The brain chemistry itself becomes off
balanced and with that the patient seems
of become mentally off balanced.
For
those who have been on the usual round
of pain killing and anti depression medication
and have experienced no change or relief,
always to the disbelief of the medical
community; I offer this hope for feeling
better, sleeping better, and improving
ones outlook - the amino acid L Tryptophan.
"Tryptophan
you say! That was banned in years ago
- wasn't it"? Well yes and no.
First
lets go over what L Tryptophan does.
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid,
a building block of protein our bodies
cannot do with out. When tryptophan is
missing from our diets we die, and die
badly. Tryptophan is the only thing that
can create serotonin, the brain chemical
that produces sleep and fights depression.
Anti
depression drugs don't produce serotonin,
they merely recycle it. You can only
recycle something so many times before
it goes bad! If you took a piece of nice
clean paper and put it through a copy
machine over and over and over and over
again, in time that piece of once clean
smooth paper would be crumpled, dirty
and not fulfilling it's function. So
it is with recycled brain chemicals.
Nature depends on replenishing these
chemicals not recycling them. That's
why the side effects of the anti depression
drugs are so severe and include: suicide,
murder and mania (violent uncontrolled
behavior). The two doctors who developed
Prozac were sent to federal prison for
falsifying its test data. Prozacs' manufacturers
know that 10% of patients who take the
drug will have episodes of mania. With
only one exception all of the school
killings from 1993, when they started
prescribing antidepressants for children,
until now have involved Ritalin, antidepressants
or both! Yet there is so much money involved
with selling the #1 selling drug in the
world that you've likely never heard
of those facts until today!
Many
folks due to poor food choices, a low
protein diet, intestinal malabsorption,
poor circulation or other factors don't
get enough tryptophan from their eating
to adequately feed their brains. Most
of us know the familiar feeling of being
cozy and sleepy after Thanksgiving supper;
that's from the tryptophan producing
serotonin in your brain. Depression and
insomnia patients can eat the whole turkey
and a gallon of warm milk to boot and
not get that lazy warm sleepy feeling
that other folks do!
In the
late 1980's the main tryptophan producer
in the world, Showa Denko of Japan, accidentally
on purpose dumped a tainted batch of
tryptophan on the US market. The contaminated
batch contained 30 to 60 different bacteria
and many folks who were taking doses
of 5000 mg. a day or more of the tainted
product got sick, some even died of the
bacteria. The FDA banned and confiscated
the Showa Denko product from the market.
Then in a surprise move the FDA announced
an import restriction on all tryptophan
except for pharmaceutical grade tryptophan
meant for baby formulas, senior IV feeding,
animal use and when prescribed by doctors
for human use. So in other words tryptophan
was still legal to buy but it was almost
impossible to get into the country! Up
to that time the US tryptophan market
had totaled some $60,000,000. It was
just a few weeks after the import restrictions
when the depression patients, orthomolecular
psychiatric patients, and chronic insomniacs
began really missing their tryptophan
that Prozac was introduced with many
flourishes and highly paid for publicity.
Coincidence, I think not!
Getting
back to Fibromyalgia; what can tryptophan
do to help? In peer reviewed scientific
studies it had been repeatedly proven
that tryptophan:
- Reduces
or eliminates depression. (1).
- Relieves insomnia.
(2).
- Reduces the
tendency to overeat. (3).
- Reduces pain.
(4)
- Reduces the
impulse to commit suicide. (5)
- Reduces the
tendency towards angry or violent
outbursts. (6).
These
days to get around the supposed "ban" on
tryptophan an analogue of it called 5-HTP
is being widely used. While it has some
of the serotonin producing properties
of full l-tryptophan, the 5 HTP lacks
many of l-tryptophans beneficial actions
such as pain control and muscular relaxation.
These additional actions are important
in reducing many of the complaints Fibromyalgia
patients have.
As a
patient deals with the myriad of concerns
that Fibromyalgia produces, tryptophan
can clear and calm the mind and also,
allow for a longer more restful period
of sleep at night! Tryptophan helps to
control muscle stiffness and spasm, the
twitches that tend to wake a patient
up at night are greatly reduced! When
used in lower doses during the day, tryptophan
can smooth out the rough spots, lower
tempers and frustration providing for
a better sense of well being.
It's
been said that eating is the last pleasure.
Fibromyalgia patients not finding relief
from medication or support from family
and friends tend to over eat "comfort
foods" which are high in carbohydrates
and therefore fattening. Combine the
over "carbing" with the sedentary
nature of Fibromyalgia and one has the
recipe for obesity. Raising serotonin
levels and increasing delivery of blood
sugar to the brain increases the sense
of comfort and well being and decreases
the appetite. Both of those effects are
done by tryptophan! Fibromyalgia patients
have enough to feel badly about without
adding being overweight to the list!
Pure
pharmaceutical grade tryptophan has no
side effects. Remember it is essential
to brain function and to life.
Pharmaceutical
grade tryptophan (the purest form) is
currently available for both veterinary
and human use. The products are identical,
except for the label. Veterinary products
actually have higher standards of purity
than pharmaceutical products made for
humans! The liability issues are higher
if an animal dies than if a person does.
It sounds crazy but that's how the insurance
companies have worked it. For example:
with aspirin and ibuprofen, 20,000 Americans
die each year! Have you heard of anyone
suing Bayer or Motrin for the death of
a loved one? No. Yet if a product kills
someone's prized Arabian horse or favorite
pet poodle the owner of that animal may
likely wind up owning the supplement
company as well!
Dosage? Usually
one 500 mg. capsule for each 50 pounds
of your bodyweight when taken before
bed. You can freely experiment in taking
less than that amount and work your way
up to the full dose if needed. During
the day you may try one or two capsules
in-between meals to maintain a higher
production of serotonin during your waking
hours.
If used
by itself tryptophan will provide you
with all of the benefits a higher level
of serotonin brings. When added to a
comprehensive program to overcome Fibromyalgia,
such as is detailed in my book "10
Natural Treatments you Haven't Heard
of Until Now", the road to wellness,
and to a fuller more pain free life will
be much much smoother.
References:
1.Farkas, T.,Dunner, D.,l. And Fieve,
R.,R.,L.: L - Tryptophan in depression.
Biol. Psych., 11(3), 1976.
2.Hartmann, E., Spinweber,C., L: Sleep
induced by L-Tryptophan: effect of dosages
within the normal dietary intake. J.
Nervous and Mental Disease, 167(8),1979.
3.Wurtman, R., J., et al: Composition
and method for suppressing appetite for
calories as carbohydrates. United States
Patent, 4,210,637. July 1, 1980.
4.Liberman, J., et al; Mood, performance
and pain sensitivity: changes induced
by food constituents. J. Psychiat. Res.,
17(2): 135-145, 1982-83.
5.Braverman, E.,R., Pfeiffer, C., C.
: Suicide and biochemistry. Biol. Psych.,
20: 123-124, 1985.
6.Mawson, A., R. : Corn, tryptophen and
homicide. J. Ortho. Psych., 7(4): 227-230,
1978.
|
