Fibromyalgia impacts 4 million Americans, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s a serious condition that can significantly alter one’s lifestyle. Evidence suggests diet can alleviate the pain and other symptoms, so is a plant-based diet good for fibromyalgia?
There is no cure for fibromyalgia currently, but it’s very much possible to take back control of your life. With certain lifestyle changes, particularly dietary changes, one can suppress the symptoms associated with this condition. It can be a lifelong struggle that can only be fought with dedication.
The vegan Hallelujah Diet is popular for treating fibromyalgia. While it’s certainly a plant-based diet, you can also see results with a general whole-food plant-based diet too. You just have to know what to eat to reduce fatigue and pain.
What is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes musculoskeletal pain, among other symptoms. Women are twice as likely as men to develop this condition. There’s still a lot of research to be done regarding this disease.
Some scientists believe that this condition impacts the way the brain processes pain, thereby increasing the pain. In scientific terms, this is called abnormal pain processing.
Also, the misdiagnosis of fibromyalgia is quite common because the symptoms resemble symptoms of some autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis.
Is fibromyalgia a disability? Yes, it can qualify as a disability if you’re not able to work because of it. Many health systems around the world consider it a disability as normal day-to-day functions become difficult or even impossible for these patients.
This disease is often accompanied by other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), painful bladder syndrome, migraines, temporomandibular joint disorder.
Fibromyalgia Symptoms
The main fibromyalgia symptoms and signs include:
- Body aches that occur over at least three months constantly
- Pain in both muscles and bones
- Fatigue
- Sleep disruption (as a result of pain)
- Sleep disorders
- Difficulty in focusing
- Stress and depression
The pain and fatigue can be widespread, but this disease is marked by so-called tender spots or regions of pain. These are areas in your body that get quite tender and can easily become painful. So they are sort of fibromyalgia trigger points.
Fibromyalgia Risk Factors
Doctors haven’t really figured out what causes this condition, but they have pointed out certain risk factors.
Genetics
Is fibromyalgia genetic? It seems to be the case as it runs in families. Certain genetic mutations may put some people at a higher risk of fibromyalgia.
Sex
The fact that women are at a higher risk of fibromyalgia than men points out that sex may also play a role. That said, it’s a common misconception that only women get it. Men, too, can be diagnosed with this condition.
Trauma
Physical or emotional trauma may also result in the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Usually, the symptoms start appearing slowly after an event of physical trauma, such as a car accident. Similarly, severe psychological trauma can also play a role in the development of this condition.
How is Fibromyalgia Diagnosed?
The first sign of fibromyalgia is widespread pain. If your body is aching on both sides and above and below the waist, it’s considered widespread pain and a symptom of this disease. Your doctor may also perform tests to rule out any other conditions causing such pain.
There isn’t any scan or blood test that can explicitly detect fibromyalgia, which makes it all the harder to diagnose. People often wonder is fibromyalgia real? Is fibromyalgia an autoimmune disease? Although it runs in families, fibromyalgia is not an autoimmune disease.
Earlier doctors would look for 18 pre-determined stress or tender points in the body. This practice is no longer standard. Now, they simply rely on the pain symptom, especially when it has lasted for over three months.
Is a Plant-based Diet Good for Fibromyalgia?
A plant-based diet may just help control and treat the symptoms of this harrowing condition called Fibromyalgia. While it’s a general consensus that this condition lasts a lifetime, there are several avenues for minimizing the pain and fatigue that comes with the disease. Diet plays a big role because it’s really simple: you are what you eat.
Although one could say the research has been a bit scarce, the studies we have seen so far are very promising. An older study from 2000 tested the effects of a raw vegan diet on patients with fibromyalgia. One group was given a raw vegan diet, while the other continued on their regular omnivorous diet.
The results showed significant progress in symptom management and an overall improvement in the group consuming a vegan diet. At first, the difference was not that significant, but gradually they lost weight, reported less stiffness and pain, and also lowered their total cholesterol and urine sodium.
While that study focused on a raw vegan diet, another more recent one, out of Michigan State University, showed that a whole-food plant-based diet also had a similar effect. This research study was published in Novel Techniques in Arthritis and Bone Research. With 40 participants within the age range of 18-70, this six-week study found that a plant-based diet significantly improves functionality and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia.
There are limitations to these studies, but as Dr. Michael Greger explains in this video, plant-based diets have immense potential for fibromyalgia patients. It looks like both raw vegetarian and vegetarian diets are quite effective. A vegetarian diet may also reduce the risk of someone who hasn’t been diagnosed with the disease yet.
Fibromyalgia and Gut Health
This aspect of fibromyalgia has not been explored until recently. Yes, your gut health may also be linked with this chronic condition. We have enough evidence now that suggests that gut health, in general, and healthy gut microbiome, in particular, plays a vital role in regulating brain processes. And there’s quite a lot of speculation that fibromyalgia is linked with brain processing pain.
A 2017 Spanish study is the first one to study the effects of probiotics on patients with fibromyalgia. They found that changes in the gut microbiome led to better physiological functioning in patients with this condition. There were changes in body composition, pain, and cognitive functioning.
While this study focused on probiotics, it does suggest that improving gut health can impact, at least, the cognitive symptoms of fibromyalgia. A plant-based diet with its high fiber content can significantly improve gut health and fix the flora residing in your colon. So not only does it fight pain and fatigue, but it can also target the stress and inattentiveness you feel when you have fibromyalgia.
This link may also help explain why people with fibromyalgia often have IBS too. As the article linked above explores, there’s a strong connection between the two through small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
What Foods to Eat for Fibromyalgia?
The good thing about eating a plant-based diet for fibromyalgia is that there aren’t many trigger foods to avoid. That means you can pretty much eat everything that’s whole-food plant-based. However, you can work with your doctor or a nutritionist to come up with a more specific plan.
Fruits and Vegetables
You’ll be consuming fruits and vegetables more than a person eating a traditional Western diet anyways when you go vegetarian. However, you should increase it even more. Eight to nine servings of colorful fruits and vegetables will help alleviate your symptoms.
As several studies indicate, raw vegetables can also help immensely. Think about which vegetables you can enjoy eating raw and fit them somewhere in your daily meals. Leafy green vegetables, avocados, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, and watercress are some examples of vegetables you can eat raw.
High Fiber Whole Grains
To improve digestion and your gut health, adding more fiber to your diet will help. While you’ll get ample fiber through fruits and veggies as well, whole grains provide even more. Men should try to consume at least 34 grams of fiber a day, while this number for women is 25 grams.
Oats, barley, rye, and buckwheat are some of the whole grains you can consume, especially in breakfast.
Gluten-free Foods
One study found that people who ate largely gluten-free foods for months showed a reduction in pain and fatigue. Some even got off prescription painkillers. So when you’re thinking whole grains, perhaps go for gluten-free ones and avoid whole wheat. However, you can have whole wheat if you don’t have celiac disease.
Vitamin D
There can be a connection between fibromyalgia and Vitamin D deficiency. While Vitamin D doesn’t directly target symptoms, it will make your bones stronger. You need to fortify your bones and keep them healthy to avoid complications in the future, especially osteoporosis.
Vitamin D comes from sunlight, so make sure to get enough exposure every week. Also, you can go for Vitamin D fortified plant-based foods. Vitamin D supplements will also provide you with ample amounts to keep your bones healthy.
Other Natural Ways to Treat Fibromyalgia
Besides your diet, there are several other natural ways you can relieve the pain and other symptoms that come with fibromyalgia. Over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol or Ibuprofen, as well as prescription painkillers, help too, but it’s best if you take the natural route. You don’t want to become overly dependant on drugs to treat this condition.
Here are some of the ways you can alleviate the body pain, fatigue, and stress of fibromyalgia:
Exercise
Your doctor will likely recommend light workouts to decrease the symptoms. Now, you might think that physical activity may be painful when your body is already in pain and tired all the time. Yes, it’s hard in the beginning, but you’ll start to feel better after some time.
You don’t have to go all-out on the exercise and do intense training. Keep it light and manageable, but do ensure that you do some physical activities at least twice a week.
Some patients have tried yoga and found it to be immensely helpful. This is because not only does it improve physical symptoms but also psychological ones. Your mind also feels much better after a workout.
Physical Therapy
If your body pain, especially in your muscles, gets too much, you can try physical therapy. You can hire a physical therapist to come home and do it, or you can go to a clinic. It will help relax your muscles and get the movement back in tender spots.
Group Therapy
Stress and depression are a common outcome of diseases like fibromyalgia because they change your life so dramatically, and not in a good way. All that stress can worsen the pain and hinder your journey to healing. So going to therapy to relieve your mind can be helpful,
Group therapy is especially helpful because you also get to meet other people who are going through what you’re also going through. It can motivate you to stay true to your mission to reduce the symptoms and improve the quality of your life.
Sleep
Fibromyalgia will disrupt your sleep, as well. Either you’ll not get enough sleep, or you’ll sleep a lot more than normal. What you need is a healthy sleeping pattern, like going to bed and waking up the same time every day.
Try natural things to go to sleep if you have insomnia. The plant-based diet you’re eating will also help regulate your sleep and help you get enough sleep at night to function normally during the day.
Wrap Up
So can fibromyalgia be cured? Is a plant-based diet good for fibromyalgia? A plant-based diet may not cure the disease completely, but it can suppress the symptoms enough so that you can improve your life.
The pain, fatigue, and stress that comes with this chronic condition can be excruciating and disable a person. So you need to work on your lifestyle to improve your situation. It’s very much possible to bring the symptoms to an almost non-existent state.
There’s clearly a need for more research into this disease and better ways to diagnose it. With millions of people affected, this is something that needs urgent attention.
