my fibro started brutally in just one day. Has anyone experienced it this?

[miamisunset]

i was misdiagnosed several times, terrible health care. I prefer to not say the name of the country

how are you coping right now Caylee and which treatments have you tried in your long journey?

thank you so much for your encouraging words

all the best for you too

Jos

 

[sunkacola]

Just want to note: The same wait times exist in the US and in the UK, and I suspect they are even longer in some other countries. I don't think that having to wait for an appointment is so much about the system being broken as it is about the fact that the population has increased and the number of specialists has not necessarily increased to match that in all areas.

In this city you won't wait more than 3 weeks, in that city it will be 6 months, and it all depends on supply and demand.

It also depends on which specialist it is and how busy they are. I have tried to make an appointment with just a regular internal medicine doctor and been told there was a 4 month wait list, called a different one and got in within 3 weeks.

Of course I am not saying the health care systems don't need improvement, and the one in the US is especially in need of "fixing". But unless the supply and demand numbers match, there will always be a delay in getting what you need, whether it is a doctor or a product to buy, and it appears that those numbers are getting farther apart in many places rather than closer together. I suspect this is a trend that may not be reversed for a long time, if ever.

Bottom line is that @Caylee is spot on: You have to be your own advocate. I have found that if you stay polite, calm and friendly but are gently persistent, you can get what you need in any health care system, if it is available at all. A cheerful voice and lots of "thank you" will get you far.

 

[sweetkamie20]

thank you so much, i missed your last two posts sweetiekamie and JayCS. Such a good information.

Jay reminded me of the other supplement I have used for sleep - magnesium combined with calcium! I tried one brand and really did not like it because my brain was zombified in the morning. However, I recently tried a new brand and it seems to be going well but it does not make me sleepy...I hate to say it but a lot of times we have to shop brands because they are different

 

[sweetkamie20]

In this city you won't wait more than 3 weeks, in that city it will be 6 months, and it all depends on supply and demand.

you can get what you need in any health care system, if it is available at all. A cheerful voice and lots of "thank you" will get you far.

Which kind of doctor/where are you referring to as far as 6 month waits?

Sad to say comment about availability and pleasantries certainly does not apply to Canada. I love Canada but the Healthcare leaves MUCH to be desired in terms of waiting for urgent operations, biopsies, etc. and even the perfect combo of persistence and kindness doesn't usually change results.

 

[sunkacola]

Which kind of doctor/where are you referring to as far as 6 month waits?

Sad to say comment about availability and pleasantries certainly does not apply to Canada. I love Canada but the Healthcare leaves MUCH to be desired in terms of waiting for urgent operations, biopsies, etc. and even the perfect combo of persistence and kindness doesn't usually change results.

Any kind of specialist. I was not being specific, just saying that there is usually a wait for any kind of doctor anywhere, that the wait time will vary from place to place, and that most countries have problems with their health care. Canada is a great deal better than the US, and many other countries. I wish the US had a health care system like Canada's. Count the blessings and be glad you don't live somewhere else where things are worse. (spoken as someone who lived many years in Canada and is now in the US)

 

[JayCS]

magnesium combined with calcium! I tried one brand and really did not like it because my brain was zombified in the morning. However, I recently tried a new brand and it seems to be going well but it does not make me sleepy...I hate to say it but a lot of times we have to shop brands because they are different

Magnesium actually shouldn't be taken with calcium, is my knowledge, calcium is complicated in itself....

And in my opinion and experience I wouldn't say it's about brands, it's about getting to know the best forms, e.g. of magnesium (like malate and glycinate, or if you want it to be laxative and your stomach is also tough: citrate) and buying those in as pure a form as possible.... Most brands I've seen, even those like Pure E saying they are about purity are NOT pure, altho they may have a few pure products. So I don't go for brands at all, I go for pure products. And sometimes they are brands.
I have hardly any supps now with fillers. Sometimes it means having to self-encapsulate powder tho, or that helps at least, sometimes also to keep the cost down.

 

[sweetkamie20]

US health care is definitely disappointing. The topic of Canadian healthcare is of particular to interest to me. Which characteristics of their healthcare do you appreciate?

 

[sunkacola]

Magnesium actually shouldn't be taken with calcium,

?? Why not? the two are very often combined (not that that in itself means it's good) and my chiro and my natural health practitioner both recommended that I take both with no mention of not taking them at the same time. In this case it is calcium citrate and magnesium glycinate. I am interested to hear why you say that, Jay, because I know you are good at research.

 

[sunkacola]

US health care is definitely disappointing. The topic of Canadian healthcare is of particular to interest to me. Which characteristics of their healthcare do you appreciate?

Well, first and foremost the fact that it is a national health plan. I noticed that in Canada people will ask what the doctor said, rather than if you can see a doctor, because in the US millions of people don't have any kind of health insurance (as I didn't for most of my life) and so don't even go to see a doctor at all due to inability to pay for it. Here is is not assumed that you have even seen a doctor unless you are only talking to people with money or high class jobs with great benefits. In the US people die as a result of this and that doesn't happen when there is a national health care plan. A friend of mine died just because she was poor and couldn't pay for the healthcare she needed.

Also, in the years I lived in Canada I never had to wait so long to see doctors, specialist or not. That was many years ago now but I recently asked several people I am related to who still live there and they said they had not experienced any wait times that were any longer than what I experience here. I have waited for a month, for six months, for only three weeks, all depending on timing and doctor.

 

[JayCS]

?? Why not? the two are very often combined (not that that in itself means it's good) and my chiro and my natural health practitioner both recommended that I take both with no mention of not taking them at the same time. In this case it is calcium citrate and magnesium glycinate.

No supplementing calcium?

This is probably a matter of conventional thinking (to supplement it) vs. (some) functional thinking that magnesium (and vitamin D) are far more important.

I've had another look why exactly, and same as the first time I at least for myself am fairly convinced not to take calcium, that what I get via veggies is enough, and specifically for fibro that it is only magnesium I (we?) need.
The main problem seems to me to be that quite a few people say that most of us already get enough, praps too much, calcium from our normal diets, which are geared to that (e.g. calcium-fortified or dairy), whilst we don't get enough magnesium from our normal diets.
Specifically for fibro: Too low magnesium and high calcium leads to our sleep problems (too high cortisol), muscle problems (calcium is for tension, magnesium is for relaxation) and constipation.
Stress lowers magnesium, which increases cortisol, which again causes stress.
It is correct that calcium and magnesium need to be in a certain balance to one another, 2:1, but if the calcium is already in the diet then it doesn't need to be supplemented as much as magnesium.
Both are good for brain, bones, sleep, muscles, gut, skin, heart, joints, but in different, often opposite complementary ways.
At high doses they can interfere with one another, in lower doses probably not much.
Excess calcium can praps cause cardiovascular issues (inconsistent evidence), but this may be due to low magnesium causing lower absorption calcium in the bones etc. so that it creates problems in our blood.
Calcium should if at all be supplemented less than 500mg elemental and <1000mg gross calcium, some say 400 max. in diet, less the older you get. The US and German recommendations are higher.
Getting calcium via diet is better due to it being spread over the day. To uptake calcium better vitamin D is necessary, esp. with K2 in the MK7 form.

An aside: As opposed to calcium carbonate, calcium citrate can be taken without food. But calcium is normally best with food.

These are examples of sources seem to be mainly functional/neuropathic and contradicting established views.
1) hcfricke (German) referencing Dr. Thomas E. Levy "Death By Calcium", which is probably exaggerating it.
2) drnewtons connection-calcium-magnesium
3) globalhealing calcium-and-magnesium

 

[sunkacola]

Thanks, Jay. All very interesting. I started taking calcium a few years ago when my brother asked me if I had leg cramps and I did, and he told me taking calcium has caused that to stop. So I tried it and the leg cramps stopped. Forgot to take it for a week or so and the cramps came back. So, not very scientific at all and doesn't prove a thing, but I have continued to take the calcium and only have the cramps when it can be clearly traced to something specific.

Magnesium I started taking when Jemima said it helped with her state of mind. I don't know if it helps or not, quite honestly, and probably won't buy more when the supply runs out.

 

[JayCS]

Magnesium I started taking when Jemima said it helped with her state of mind. I don't know if it helps or not, quite honestly, and probably won't buy more when the supply runs out.

Same here, except I've got a big supply and keep trying it every time I read something good about it.
Maybe that makes for a repeated placebo effect
Never helped me for cramps either, as is usually recommended; just drinking more always did.

 

[cookiebaker]

huh... my calcium and magnesium levels are pretty much dead center of "normal range" and i was advised to not take calcium supps

i do take a Vit D daily (2000IU)- it was really low for a bit there... like 8mcg... last time it was checked i was back into the "normal" range, but just barely.

My Iron is also low - Still.. gotta work on that

 

[JayCS]

i do take a Vit D daily (2000IU)- it was really low for a bit there... like 8mcg... last time it was checked i was back into the "normal" range, but just barely.

Maybe increase? Normal max. is 20.000 IU/wk. I've been going above that to see if I can get it in the middle normal area....

 

[cookiebaker]

Maybe increase? Normal max. is 20.000 IU/wk. I've been going above that to see if I can get it in the middle normal area....

i did double it for about a month or so, which i think is what got me back up to the low normal - have also been spending a lot more time outdoors the last couple of months - getting that natural boost.

annual physical is a little more than a month away... will see where things stand at that time.