Some form of stress or trauma usually sets this syndrome off. For me it was the loss of both of my grandparents, who had raised me since I was six years old. They were both gone in less than six months of each other.

I was very much a "I am what I can accomplish" type of person. So, part of my program is to reinforce to myself that who I am is not what I get done. I am a valuable person because of who God made me to be. I'm grateful for the problem, because it brought me to realize that I was driving myself to destruction, while complaining that everybody around me was doing it to me.

Destruct is what my body did. So, I do believe a change of mindset is in order for one to get free of the symptoms of this disease. I still love to accomplish things and I still get joy from getting things done, but we can't value ourselves because of accomplishments. I began setting reasonable goals, rather than trying to be Super Woman. I also had to let others around me do things; things that I had believed they "couldn't" do. Am I amazed to find out that it was only me limiting them, because after a period of adaptation time, it's obvious "they" can do a lot more than I thought they could.

If you've studied anything about this problem, you'll find that Magnesium and Malic Acid are two things that make an immense difference in the energy factor and pain. In recent years, Malic Acid has been used as a catalyst to help stimulate the body to burn fuel for energy and has traditionally been used for stress, tender points, pain, persistent fatigue, muscular pain, arthritic-like symptoms and for recovery from exercise. Studies have shown that Malic Acid, when given with Magnesium, resulted in a 41% reduction in tender points after four (4) weeks and 76.5% reduction after eight (8) weeks. In some cases, noticeable improvement was evident in as little as 48 hours. Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic functions in the body. I used Nature's Sunshine's Fibralgia, which is a combination of Malic Acid and Magnesium.

I have also found Nature's Sunshine's CoQ10-30 to be extremely helpful in restoring the energy to the mitochondria of the cell. I took 2 at lunch. My Doctor friend says it's better to take it all at once to fill the receptor sites rather than splitting it up into smaller doses.

I also used Nature's Sunshine's Colloidal Minerals and believe they are helpful for most health challenges. Trace minerals are key to every physiological process in the body. Colloidal simply means they're in an assimilable form, so your body can use what you take. Swallowing something doesn't mean you get the benefits of it unless you can digest and assimilate it.

Quality is also an issue, which is why we use Nature's Sunshine Products for all of our herbal and supplement needs. We tried many other brands in our first seven years and settled on this one brand because of guaranteed purity and quality. Herbs have now become popular, so these factors are very important since many products are found to be contaminated or have no potency at all.

Every body is individual and unique, so there is not ONE program for Fibromyalgia. I'm sharing with you what I took when I had the problem.

I also want to mention dietary issues. I can tell you that sugar and caffeine are enemies to health. I am a sugar-holic, so I avoid it at all costs. Sugar will give a boost of energy and then steal back more than it gave, which leaves you with fatigue and no muscle strength. Caffeine depletes minerals and especially magnesium. For a healthy alternative to coffee with the same aroma and taste, choose Herbal Beverage.

Diet is key to good health. We can't eat dead food and expect it to produce life for our bodies. We were created to eat fruits and vegetables, and there's no way to have lasting health without them. It just doesn't happen! Fresh whole foods give you so much in the way of prevention of other health problems. We recommend Heinerman's New Encyclopedia of Fruits and Vegetables by John Heinerman. Reading it will encourage you to eat more and more of them.

I guess you could say that developing Fibromyalgia has changed my life to wonderful. It forced me to be aware of many self-destructing lifestyles ... and it is wonderful to be a new person within. Being performance-driven does not produce a joyful or happy person.

If you'd like some more information on the spiritual / emotional roots of this disease, we recommend the book, "A More Excellent Way" by Henry Wright.