Herbs, Supplements, and You

I had an interview for a management position I have little hope of obtaining right now (not enough management experience, a preference for hiring outside, no one else to fill my current position, but I know I could do this job), and the manager was surprised to learn that I deal with this since I'm so conscientious about showing up. I hope I do not too badly color the impressions of people who realize how functional I am; how hard I fight every day to be fully functional does not show, and using me as a yardstick by which to measure other patients who do not manage to do as much every day is unfair. My life has been different, and I have learned to cope in different ways and cry in private. When the subject of Fibromyalgia comes up, everyone seems to have a friend or relative with this disorder. Sometimes it's sympathy--"Oh, my god, my aunt's friend's cousin's former roommate's brother's daughter has that! It's really painful, right?" (Yeah.) More often, it's "Oh, my cousin/aunt/friend has that. X, Y, and/or Z really help." (The worst is "Foo had that, but was cured by X, Y, and/or Z.") X, Y, and/or Z, in these cases, are usually various herbs and obscure supplements.

On alt.med.fibromyalgia a decade ago, people were selling cures with amazing regularity. There was a solid group there, and we would attack the "snake oil salesmen." Oddly, I have since seen actual snake oil touted as a cure for Fibromyalgia. Herbs that I know have helped some patients include Cat's Claw, Devil's Claw, Valerian and Melatonin for sleep, and St. John's Wort. Here is a good rundown on herbs used to help some Fibromyalgia patients. I won't cover the myriad medications and standard treatments in this post--I'll save the various protocols for another day. FMS patients should include a good multivitamin in any regimen. Other supplements that work for some patients include MSM, magnesium/malic acid, SAM-e, various nutritional supplements marketed for FMS, Kava Kava, and Co-enzyme Q-10. Remember that any herb or supplement is a drug. Research possible interactions with medications you are already taking and consult your doctor before starting any program or taking any herb or supplement.

A more personal take: my "guilty" supplement is tobacco. If I take too much, my fatigue is far worse than it normally is. But one to two cigarettes a day (I allow myself one and smoke about half, occasionally as much as 2/3, of it) gives me a five-minute respite, when I just feel a numb tingle all over instead of pain. My overall pain levels stay lower, too (on average, 1 increment on the 10 scale, I guess). I told a friend that, and she recommended Relacore as a supplement, saying it contained tobacco in some form. I don't find that I get those benefits, but my energy level does stay a lot more even over the day. I still have low-energy days, but at least they're more consistent instead of dealing with crashes.