 Many who must cope with the allergies and food sensitivities that often accompany Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, CFIDS), Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS aka Environmental Illness), and/or Fibromyalgia (FM, FMS) have to go through some trial and error to discern what eating plan will work best for them. Many follow the eating plan with a specific food choice agenda like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet™ — which is proven helpful for those who have the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) problems that often accompanies Fibromyalgia (or ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and other digestive diseases as well), while others take a more relaxed approach to meeting their nutritional requirements, One thing that most experts agree all sensible eating plans have in common is that organic and all natural foods free of chemical additives and preservatives are the healthiest food choices.
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Making Your Bed May Be Bad for Your Health
 If you are like so many who cope with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, you also cope with allergies. If you must also work to keep your allergies under control, chances are you’ve already taken precautions and other steps in your attempt to allergy-proof your bedroom. That might involve switching to organic cotton sheets, a germ-free humidifier, or an air purifier. According to a recent study, that may not be enough. It appears that something as simple as making your bed every day may be creating a bedroom environment that will worsen your allergy symptoms.
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by Bernie aka TigerLilea
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The Specific Carbohydrate Diet™ (SCD™) is a grain-free, lactose-free, and sucrose-free diet that was originally designed for Celiac Disease. Today the SCD is also used for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Candida, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Diverticulitis, Cystic Fibrosis, and Chronic Diarrhea. The SCD™ is proving helpful to many with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia as well.
The SCD was designed by Dr. Sidney Haas for his young Celiac patients. Years later his son, Dr. Merrill Haas also joined him in his research and together in 1951 they published a book called Management of Celiac Disease.
Elaine Gottschall popularized the SCD after her daughter successfully used the diet in the late 1950s to recover from Ulcerative Colitis. |
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by Pamela Rice Hahn
 Your body constantly battles forces that are out to cause you harm, such as dangerous bacteria and viruses. Sometimes even despite your concerted efforts of practicing good hygiene and other preventative measures, one of them slips by and enters your body. When all goes according to plan, your immune system zaps these nasty microorganisms and all is well.
Other times, something triggers the “oops” mechanism in your body and your immune system becomes overactive and, in essence, gets a bit mixed up about what specifically it’s supposed to be doing. When that “oops” happens, your immune system begins to attack the healthy cells it’s supposed to be protecting.
The result can be that an autoimmune illness develops.
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Time Management for Those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, & Other Disabling Conditions
by Pamela Rice Hahn
 How do you manage your time when your body seems to be sabotaging your every effort to do so?
Anyone who copes with the turmoil caused by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, or another disabling conditions for which one of the primary symptoms is devastating fatigue knows how difficult it is to plan your time. It’s true: Nobody seems to have enough time at his or her disposal. But most people can predict with a degree of certainty how they’ll feel from one minute to the next. Predictability is a key to optimal time management. That’s the stuff of which time studies are made — or broken.
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by Shelly Burke
Our society as a whole is very goal-oriented, and when you have a chronic illness like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia you may feel discouraged when you can’t accomplish as much as “everyone else” does. Setting goals gives you a way to work toward and measure your accomplishments.
To be effective, goals must be:
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Because many diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia also deal with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) also known as Environmental Illness (EI) — which can include allergies and/or sensitivities to preservatives, food additives, or food itself, and because many diagnosed with Fibromyalgia must also contend with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), knowing which food additives are good, safe additives isn’t always easy to determine. (For example, in my case it doesn’t matter what’s added to bread in any efforts to make it more healthful; if the bread contains preservatives, it’s going to cause me to get a yeast rash. That sometimes doesn’t happen when I eat bread without preservatives; for me, I’ve found that yeast products are safest when I make my own using flour that I’ve ground myself and I now usually limit myself to sour dough bread that I make myself. –Pamela Rice Hahn) Learning what’s safe for you to eat is an ongoing process of education, diligence, and trial-and-error.
To help in your efforts to educate yourself about additives that can adversely affect your health, consult:
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by Pamela Rice Hahn
(Written in 2005)
I took the Terry Schiavo issue very personally.
I’m of the opinion that once a judge sentences somebody with one disability to die an agonizing death from starvation and dehydration, it’s just a matter of time before that bar is lowered to include another disability and then another….
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 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which is also sometimes referred to as Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), is a condition characterized by the primary symptom of a prolonged, persistent debilitating fatigue not relieved by rest and not directly caused by other conditions. In general, a diagnosis for CFS requires that the tiredness is severe enough for at least a 50% decrease in the patient’s ability to participate in ordinary activities. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describes CFS as a distinct disorder with specific symptoms and physical signs, based on the exclusion of other possible causes.
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Pammy is the main character in two comic strips by 
A professional writer since 1984, Pamela Rice Hahn is the author of more than 20 published books.