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.