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“I feel like myself again.”
In 1994 I became ill with flu-like symptoms that wouldn’t go away. I became
fatigued and achy all over for a month. I tested positive for Valley Fever,
though there was no way of knowing how long I had had it. My symptoms would
return every fall and every spring and last three weeks to a month.
I began having low back pain, hip pain and my sciatic nerve was very
painful. I could not lie on either side anymore. I also had some neck and
shoulder pain and my bones and joints hurt. I could barely get up from a
sitting position; getting up from a chair was hard. One day, when I went to
get out of the car, I couldn’t get out because of the pain in my sciatic
nerve, low back, hip and legs. My pain had become progressively worse. It
would be worse sometimes more than others. Just when I’d think it was going
away, it would come back. I would have some pretty good days and then it
would come back worse than before.
My fatigue would come and go, too. At certain times, I would be so tired.
Even after sleeping all night, I would be just as tired in the morning, if
not more tired, than when I went to bed. Once I was up, I would do okay.
In 1996, my primary care doctor diagnosed me with fibromyalgia. He suggested
that I try different pain pills and even a low dose of Prozac. I refused to
take the Prozac and I didn’t like the way the pain pills made me feel and
they didn’t help me that much, so I just dealt with the pain. I tried
glucosamine sulphate. It helped a little but didn’t really take away my
pain.
I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia by my chiropractor and went on the
hypoglycemia diet. The diet helped me but I didn’t stay on it.
In April, 2001 my hairdresser told me about a lecture that Dr. Penniston was
giving at New Life Health Food store about fibromyalgia. I was impressed
with him and went to him right away. I purchased Dr. St. Amand’s book and
started taking the vitamins that Dr. Penniston recommended and started on
guaifenesin.
I took one guai pill (200mg of non-prescription) and the next morning I
ached all over. I hurt so bad, I mean, instantly. For the first three weeks
on the guai, I thought I was going to die. I felt awful. My pain became as
bad as it had been when it was at its worst. The guaifenesin was definitely
recycling my symptoms.
In June, I went back on the hypoglycemia diet and stayed on it. I feel great
on the diet. When I tried it ten years ago it had really helped me. My
triglycerides and cholesterol had been very high and when I went on the
diet, the triglycerides dropped from 366 to 166. My bad cholesterol went
down significantly and my good cholesterol went up. This time, in 2001, my
blood pressure went down from 120/70 to 100/60. I lost 20 pounds and felt
good about that. The main thing is no breads, no potatoes, no starches, no
sugars. I have to be real careful. If I eat some sugar, I don’t feel good.
If I didn’t watch it, I would probably work right back up to eating sugar
and starch again. I know I need to do this diet for the rest of my life
because I feel so much better on it.
Since being the guaifenesin, the pain in my legs is much better. It’s easier
to get up out of chair now. My health, in general, is so much better and I
have a lot more energy. I don’t know for sure how much of my improvement is
because of the guaifenesin and how much is the diet but I feel the
guaifenesin definitely helped my pain and fatigue and the diet has been more
of a general help. I am taking 400mg a day of the non-prescription guai and
I don’t plan on ever going off of it.
I’m a pretty active person. I felt totally out of control before I went on
the guaifenesin protocol and it was very frustrating to me to feel that bad
and there was nothing I could do about it. I feel like the guaifenesin is
really helping me and I have found myself recommending it to someone else
with fibromyalgia.
I feel like myself again. I can now exercise daily and find it very helpful.
If I don’t keep my body moving, it stiffens up. There were times when I
wasn’t able to exercise. The only pain I have now is some low back pain.
Occasionally, I’ll get a little achy.
I went back to my regular doctor and told him about my progress on the
guaifenesin. He said that he had known about guaifenesin but he doesn’t
suggest it to his patients because most people don’t want to go through all
of that (with the salicylates and the cycling). They’d rather just take
something for the pain. When he would recommend it to patients, they
wouldn’t follow through so he didn’t suggest it anymore. I felt good about
the fact that he had heard about it and actually recommended it to people.
He was willing for me to try anything that might work for me. He at least
acknowledged the guaifenesin protocol. So many doctors won’t even
acknowledge it.
The hardest part has been giving up the salicylates. Between that and the
diet, I was getting confused; can I take this, can I take that? I've got all
that under control now.
It was a freak thing that my hairdresser saw that article in the health food
store. Otherwise I’d probably still be suffering. I’m just glad I went to
Dr. Penniston’s lecture.
Sincerely,
Lucy Bilbro
Age 66
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