You might want to check out the research of Dr. Daniel Clauw at the University of Michigan, if you have not already. He is a leading researcher in fibromyalgia. In some of his articles, he talks about how overemphasized trigger points are in the diagnosis of fibromyalgia and how he feels they should be eliminated from the diagnosis criteria all together.

I myself do not have all of the "required" trigger points shown on the diagram of the human body with trigger point references that you often see with an article explaining fibromyalgia. For some time, I also questioned whether I had the disorder because of the trigger point issue. I would let that point go in your mind as to the diagnosis. If your symptoms fit fibromyalgia, then, unfortunately, you most likely have it. It is a diagnosis of exclusion (excluding disorders or diseases it is not) and I assume you have had tests for those other illnesses that share some fibro symptoms (under active thyroid, lupus, etc.). But, in all my research, I have yet to come up with another condition that fully duplicates the sometimes strange, wavering, debilitating symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Good luck to you--and continue with your research. Knowledge, afterall, is power. Just be sure to check out the more "legitimate" sites on the internet, not ones that tout money-making "cures" or yet unproven remedies.

Were you taking fluroquinolones prior to the onset of your fibro? Cipro, Levaquin, etc???

This is an extremely old thread, I doubt any of the people are still around, except MrsD

[I think fibromyalgia is a combination of three things:
1. Shortage of digestive adenosine
2. Shortage of choline
3. Inflammation

Inflammation can be triggered by any number of things. Its most prominent trigger is ingested antigen-like proteins. The damage from these proteins starts in the digestive tract as an immune reaction. The reaction releases interluken 15, an inflammatory cytokine. The reaction also releases zonulin. Zonulin cuts digestion short by making the intestine walls porous. The porosity passes the intestinal lumen into the bloodstream before DPPIV, a digestive enzyme, can digest carb proteins into adenosine. The result is a shortage of adenosine.

Adenosine fulfills two major functions. 1. Adenosine is the body primary queller of inflammation. 2. Adenosine is the base molecule of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the energy currency of all human cells. Without adenosine, we have no energy.

So what happens when ingestion of antigenic carb proteins deprives us of adenosine? The liver produces two chemicals important to digestion 1) bile acid, and 2) choline (including cholinesterase).

When we eat the liver releases bile acid. In the stomach bile acid dissolves fat, and triggers the enzymes which digest meat proteins. Cholinesterase is the substance responsible for absorbing and neutralizing bile acid. W hen digestion is complete the liver is supposed to stop producing bile and start producing cholinesterase. How does the liver tell when digestion is complete? It monitors its own metabolic rate. As I said, adenosine is the base molecule of ATP, and ATP is responsible for metabolism. So the liver monitors when to stop releasing bile acid and start releasing cholinesterase by monitoring the concentration of digestion-produced adenosine.

When we digest antigenic carb proteins, and cut digestion short, the shortage of adenosine makes the liver fill the digestive tract with excess bile acid. It also creates a shortage of choline and cholinesterase. The digestive results would be bad enough, except for one thing. Choline is a squelch-er of nerve impulses. Choline and acetylcholine sit at the junctures of all nerve neurons. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter. It facilitates impulse transmission. After transmission choline squelches the transmission. When antigenic carb proteins suppress choline production, they cause pain nerves to continue firing long past when they should stop.

This condition is exacerbated by inflammation. The inflammation exists because there is not enough adenosine present to quell the inflammation.

Thank you for your comments. I didn't know about fluoride contamination of green algae products.



Please note that fluoride aids in the uptake of aluminum by the brain - could this be a significant factor in fibro fog, hypersensitivity to pain?

The mention of Cipro is very surprising to me. I was treated with several rounds of Cipro as a precaution in case my abdomimal pain was caused by some type of infection. They decided on this because I have had a high white blood cell count for the whole duration of my condition. So maybe it was the Cipro that led to secondary fibro setting in. Hmmmm, very, very interesting.

You asked: "Wouldn't it be nice to KNOW how this disease / disorder starts? Maybe, then we could treat it more effectively."

I agree. I think the likely cause is fluoride poisoning. But not everyone who ingests significant amounts of fluoride gets fibromyalgia. Here are some further conjectures on my part.

Assume that fibromyalgia is caused by fluoride poisoning.

Then fluoride poisoning will bind to and therefore lower available magnesium and calcium. Fluoride may also facilitate the transport of aluminum to the brain.

Many people in the US, but not all are magnesium deficient. It seems to me that if a person is already deficient in magnesium then they will manifest symptoms of fluoride poisoning sooner than someone who is not magnesium deficient. For many processes in the body, even if a person is not calcium deficient, if they are magnesium deficient, the available calcium cannot be used without sufficient magnesium.

People who suffer from fluoride poisoning may manifest different severities of certain symptoms depending on how much aluminum they take in. The more people use baking powder, drink from aluminum cans, use aluminum foil (have you ever seen pin holes in foil you have taken off of some stored foods? Guess what, that food now has some dissolved aluminum in it), use alum or other aluminum containing deoderants, use aluminum cookware - the more aluminum could be transported to their brains by some mechanism involving the fluoride in their bodies.

Hello All,

I've suffered from fibro for close to 3 yrs. I'm not cured yet, but I am much improved. My definition being, going from using a walker & frequent days in bed, to only occasional use of cane, & no days in bed.

I wish I could attribute my problem to simply a cal/mag deficiency. But I've taken cal/mag citrate chewable supplements faithfully for over a decade. The fibro showed up WHILE on the supplements. I suffered a trauma (root cause:stupidity) that didn't heal, and in time the localized pain spread & fibro was dxd.

My road to healing started with a couple of observations. #1 -- That my 4x/yr periodontal treatments were putting me to bed each time, for several days, with pain. #2 -- That every time I drank a cup of tea (lipton /black /pekoe /green /oolong types) I'd have a mini-flare within an hour. A little googling revealed that one possible common denominator was fluoride. The perio used topical fluoride to decrease sensitivity. And the tea plant has a tendency to concentrate fluoride in its leaves -- tea is quite high in fluoride.

I continue to have my perio work done, without the Fl solution, and without the high-fluoride "polish" at the end. No more days-in-bed following the procedures. Yeah!

I switched to nonfluoridated toothpaste & use only RO water for cooking & drinking. But I haul it, haven't been able to afford whole-house RO, so I still do use tap water for bathing. And this is another source of fluoride, since Fl is absorbed through the skin.

My hypothesis is that fluoridated compounds, as well as chlorinated & brominated compounds (another biggie for me) -- trigger my fibro pain in part by their action on the thyroid gland. Like many fibro sufferers, I've found that keeping my free thyroid hormone levels in mid reference range is critical to doing well.

Halogens like fluroide, chlorine, & bromine, are kissing cousins of iodine, another halogen. It has been shown that Fl, Cl & Br "fit" & bind to iodine receptors in the body -- and indeed, being more reactive, are quicker to do so than the clunkier iodine. This screws up both the thyroid gland, as well as the peripheral thyroid hormone receptors.

Bromine (as brominated ...)in used in bleached grains, and is also found in a number of food additives. Bromine is also used to bleach refined oils ... which I'd found cause me to flare when consumed in excess.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find a swimming pool that does not use a combination of chlorine & bromine for sanitation. Aquacize is so helpful for fibro ... but doing it a halogenated pool may not be beneficial for some, in the long run. An ozonated pool may be a better option.

But back to fluoride. For decades, docs used fluoride to suppress thyroid in seriously hyperthyroid people. Fluoride is one of the most highly reactive elements known ... think back to that high school chemistry. Fluoride, in even minute quantities will deactivate enzymes ... thyroid enzymes, muscle enzymes, digestive enzymes. Many respected scientists believe that fluoride does more harm than good. However, there are sociopolitcal powers in place ... and inertia among the general public, to improve the situation.

One natural remedy pioneered in India for fluorosis, and also used by vets for fluorsis in animals, is using tamarind. Tamarind has been shown to bind fluoride out, even from the long bones. When tamarind is consumed, fluoride is excreted in the urine. Tamarind is most easily found in Asian/Oriental stores, IME. There is also a Mexican tamarind, however most of the research I've seen has been done w/Asian tamarind. One could do worse than taking a little tamarind every day. It's a fruit with a date-like texture, but with a tart-sweet taste. Emphasis on the tart.

IMO, every fibro sufferer should look into whether fluoride & other halogenated compounds are increasing their pain. However, there is a lotta research to suggest that there are fibro sub-groups ... some with one kinda gene, some with another. Some with methylation defects, others not. Some with bacterial/viral triggers that when treated, resolve the fibro. Some with metabolic syndrome that, when treated, improves the fibro. Some with immunological & neurological findings, others not.

Now, it is possible that some day in the future, one common thread will draw all the fibro subgroups together ... and maybe that common thread will be fluoride. But the fact that not every person America has fibro, while most Americans have fluoride exposure, argues for a certain specialness in fibro sufferers ... whether they have increased levels of exposure to FL, or decreased ability to deal with it.

Fluoride & the halogens have been a part of my fibro healing, but not the whole story. Gluten was a culprit in my IBS, now GONE with GF diet. And, nightshade-free diet, which I've been on for only one month, has been very helpful for residual muscle & joint pain.

Best wishes.

Thank you for a very informative post.

FYI, there is an excellent alternative to chlorine/bromine for sanitizing pools - hydrogen peroxide. I think it is more expensive though, and not many people use it.

Trying to tie fluoride poisoning in to fibromyalgia is much more complicated than I had supposed. I still think fluoride poisoning is likely the direct cause or a necessary contributing factor to the development of most cases of fibromyalgia.

Here is an excellent site that discusses many aspects of fluoride poisoning. The first url discusses the symptoms of chronic fluoride poisoning. The second url is an interesting story about one person's experience with fluoride poisoning:

http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/symptoms.htm
http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/000017.htm

As you suffer from gluten intolerance, I would draw your attention to the following statement from the link on fluoride poisoning symptoms:

"Fluoride is known to combine with HCl of the stomach and is converted to hydrofluoric acid. Hydrofluoric acid is highly corrosive. The stomach and intestinal lining (Mucosa) is destroyed with loss of microvilli (the structure which is responsible for absorbing the nutrients from food), drying up and cracking of the cell surface and mucus (the slimy substance required for comfortable bowl movements) production is hampered."

Could it be hydrofluoric acid which causes the gastrointestinal distress when for instance, children consume too much fluoridated toothpaste?

Could hydrofluoric acid be involved in gluten intolerance - in triggering gluten intolerance; in perpetuating gluten intolerance?

Could hydrofluoric acid be involved in acid reflux? If hydrogen fluoride (a gas) is also being produced, this could account for esophageal burning and larynx/vocal cord irritation even without liquid reflux. It is conceivable that if hydrogen fluoride is being produced, it could even affect the lungs (there is a significant correlation between acid reflux and asthma).

I would like to suggest a reason why fluoride poisoning could cause fibromyalgia especially in the case of muscle injury caused by severe overexertion or severe muscle trauma.

Suppose someone is ingesting an amount of fluoride that the body is barely able to deal with. Then the person suffers a severe muscle injury. How could this cause fibromyalgia? If the muscle injury caused a significant decline in kidney function, it would allow for a greater buildup of fluoride in the body, because the kidneys are the main way that the body (slowly) rids itself of fluoride. Check out this link which has to do with exertional rhabdomyolysis in horses. I would like to point out that rhabdomyolysis (would it be fair to call it muscle disintegration?) and kidney damage are both known side effects of fluorine containing statin drugs. Maybe fibromyalgia sufferers wake up feeling so beat up, because they have been - only on a wide-spread but micro scale:

http://shady-acres.com/susan/tying-up.shtml