Fibromyalgia: Alleviating Its Depression, Sleep Disorders and Overeating.

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Fibromyalgia: Alleviating Its Depression, Sleep Disorders and Overeating.

By: Dr. William Wong, ND, PhD.

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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:

1. Reduces or eliminates depression. (1).

2. Relieves insomnia. (2).

3. Reduces the tendency to overeat. (3).

4. Reduces pain. (4)

5. Reduces the impulse to commit suicide. (5)

6. 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.

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