Fibromyalgia is a painful condition in which pain is experienced in various parts of the body. And, the location of the pain often changes from day to day.
It is caused by fibroids that form in the body. They become lodged in the tissue causing pain.
The fibroids are very similar to the ones that sometimes form in women’s breasts. They often clear up when she quits drinking coffee. This is important as you’ll see in a minute.
Why Fibroids Form
The reason the fibroids form is because of incomplete breakdown of estrogens in the liver.
This part gets into a little heady with some biochemistry, it’s not too complicated, but a simplified version follows.
The liver detoxifies estrogen in three steps. In the first step a chemical group is added to the estrogen molecule that actually makes a very dangerous oxidative estrogen that can cause cancer. This is an oxidant, one of the things people take antioxidants for.
Normally this isn’t a problem, or at least it wasn’t when we ate a more wholesome diet that came from soil that was rich in nutrients. Now days, cancers that are driven by estrogens are some of the most virulent.
When there are enough nutrients, the liver then adds another chemical group in its process to make the estrogen water-soluble so it can be easily removed from the body.
This chemical group is called a methyl group. When it combines with the previous estrogen, the one that can cause cancer, it forms what is called a methylated estrogen. It is these methylated estrogens that cause fibroids to form. They also cause a form of prostate cancer in men that is usually benign.
B-12 as methylcobalamin has the methyl group that is needed for estrogens to go on to the next phase of detoxification. When people are really stuck in this phase I find that DMG, dimethyl glycine, works better. But, taking B-12 can help many things, and it is one of the supplements that people really need on a regular basis anyway.
The third step that the liver takes actually involves seven different possibilities. The most important one involves glutathione.
The Short Version
Estrogen breaks down in the liver in three steps. If the process stalls in either of the first two steps problems can happen.
In the first step the estrogen becomes a dangerous chemical that can cause cancer. In the second step the estrogen becomes a chemical that causes the formation of the fibroids that cause fibromyalgia.
The third step, where estrogen combines with glutathione, is where fibromyalgia is cured. Supplement for this step, and fibroids never form.
Glutathione
Glutathione is the master antioxidant. It is used more than any other antioxidant in the body. Boosting glutathione helps in many conditions. Antiaging, detoxification, weight loss, smoking, cancer prevention, heart disease, HIV are all conditions that can use glutathione for support.
Glutathione cannot be taken directly as a supplement. It doesn’t survive the intestinal tract. The only way to boost glutathione is to take the nutrients that make it up.
Okay, this gets just a little heady again. Simplified version follows.
First of all it needs enzymes. The only place these enzymes can be found are in foods of the broccoli family. This includes kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, radishes and of course broccoli. One or more of these have to be eaten twice a week, about half a cup each time, to get the enzymes needed for the liver to do its job. And, it needs to be eaten raw as heat destroys enzymes.
For convenience you can get the same enzymes from a tea called Brassica tea. You can find out about it by going to http://brassicatea.com there is a distribution link on their site.
The first nutrient that is most commonly needed is selenium. It is one of the most common deficiencies that we have today. Even livestock are supplemented with selenium. There simply isn’t any left in the soil.
The usual dosage is 200-400 mcg per day. 600 mcg per day is the maximum that anyone would need to take. 600 mcg is actually a fairly large dose, and at that dosage selenium becomes toxic. Selenium cysteine is the only non-toxic form of selenium that there is. The only company that makes it is Metabolics.
The second most common nutrient needed to make up glutathione is enzyme activated B6. The technical name for it is pyradoxal 5 phosphate or P5P. The usual dosage to start with is 100 mg twice a day. After six weeks this can be dropped to a maintenance dose of 50 mg twice a day.
Both selenium and P5P are usually needed by everyone.
The other nutrients that are needed to form glutathione, listed in roughly the most common deficiency first order, are: zinc, cysteine. glutamate and glycine. And, sometimes the herb watercress is needed.
Increasing Glutathione Simplified
1) either eat raw broccoli family vegetables twice a week, or go to http://brassicatea.com and follow link to order some Brassica tea, any flavor, and drink one cup twice a week.
2) take 200 mcg of selenium cysteine by Metabolics twice a day.
3) take 100 mg of enzyme activated B6 (P5P) twice a day for six weeks, then take 50 mg twice a day.
4) determine if you are deficient in zinc and supplement as needed.
There is a zinc test that is a liquid zinc that you hold in your mouth for a minute and then swallow. If you don’t taste anything or you don’t taste much, you’re probably deficient in zinc.
You may also need glutamate, cysteine, and/or glycine. And, sometimes the herb watercress.
Conclusion
At the beginning of the article I mentioned coffee is a cause for fibroids and I said how cutting back on this would often reduce the amount of fibroids is that a women might have and her breast tissue. The reason this is important is because the liver also breaks down compounds in coffee, and when it is over tasked with this job, then the estrogens get backed up and don’t all get cleared. And, you can get deficient in glutathione.
The same thing happens when there’s a lot of stress. The stress hormones also go through the same three phases of detoxification in the liver. People with fibromyalgia often notice the symptoms worsening when there is more stress in their life.
This is also important for smokers, they tend to age faster because cigarette smoke uses up the glutathione at a very fast rate. Which of course would make fibromyalgia symptoms much worse.
Fibromyalgia will usually start to clear up in just a few days to a few weeks by taking, selenium, enzyme activated B6 and the enzymes found in broccoli family plants.
Since I usually give my clients selenium cysteine, they don’t need any additional cysteine. However zinc is a very common deficiency and that often needs to be added.
Diet and detoxification can also be important to eliminate anything that acts like an estrogen in the body. These are things like soy products, estrogen replacement creams, plastic bottles etc. But, that is a subject for another article.
I’m confused, don’t you neeed estrogen when you are menopausal for hot flashes night sweats etc?
The problem in menopause isn’t too much or too little estrogen, it’s the ratio of estrogen to progesterone that matters. The condition is usually estrogen dominance so people use progesterone cream or herbs that mimic progesterone. The imballance happens mainly because of the liver not clearing the estrogen properly so you end up looking like you have too much estrogen or not enough progesterone.
The best thing for menopause symptoms is Chaste Tree — botanical name Vitex. But, I have never seen one that comes from the health food stores that works. MediHerb and Kroeger are the only brands that I know word. Kroeger herbs are sometimes available at compounding pharmacies. MediHerb products are only supposed to be distributed by professionals and is the one I have most experience with.
Kalidasa, would increasing glutathione also help for fibroids in the uterus?
Hi Bianca,
Yes, most likely glutathione would help with fibroids in the uterus. Enzymes can also provide a means of helping to get rid of them. I use Multizyme by Standard Process though there are others that work as well. Wobenzym is another. These enzymes are proteolytic meaning that they dissolve or eat away proteins that are in the fibroids and other negative tissues such as tumors. They are also good for any inflammation which is the main cause of most major conditions.
Hi Kalidasa, and thank you so much for your great website and, especially, this article! I have started taking your recommended supplements and will let you know my results. I could not find a source for the selenium cysteine in the US. Are you aware of one, or would I have to order from the UK source? Since I am now taking the selenium separately, how much cysteine should be taken separately? Also, you mentioned glutamine somewhere on your website as being good for depression – could you recommend a dosage for that? And, lastly, should the cysteine and glutamine be taken with food? Thanks again for all your help – Carelyn
Hi Carelyn,
Unfortunately, the company that has selenium cysteine no longer has a presence in the US. You can take the supplements separately as mention. Usually amino acids are best taken on an empty stomach, but the cysteine is best taken with the selenium.
Just get the most common dosage for the aminos, usually 500 mg and take one twice a day. That can be a high dosage, but it shouldn’t hurt you.
Hi. I have fibromyalgia. I tried the zinc test and I couldn’t taste a thing, even after 15 sec. I’m a 165 lb male. How much zinc do u recommend I supplement with? Also, do I have to completely quit coffee to get results? Thank you.)
Joey, men need a lot more zinc than women. 50 mg a day is probably minimal. More can cause an absorption issue — see my article on allergies. And, zinc may not be the only supplement you need. I cover the subject completely in my new book on weight loss and cancer prevention.
I was recently told that I have 2 small fibroids in my uterus and a small lesion in my left breast. I was reading an above post that you told a women to use Multizyme by standard process for her fibroids. How long would you recommend to take these and ahould I follow your above procedure on replacing and supplementing glutathione?
Se-Methyl L-Selenocysteine 200 mcg by Life Extension
Is this the selenium supplement we are suppose to take?
I have usually just used selenium, but this is a pretty good product that will work well to create glutathione. Another source of selenium is Brazil nuts, 7 is around 200 mcg, a good daily dose.
Most people need the nutrients that make up glutathione, so in general I would recommend taking them. How long it takes Multizyme to clear the fibroids is individual, but usually six to twelve weeks will suffice. You can contact me for a phone/skype session if you’d like to find out what is ideal for you.
Thank you for this blog I have bought selenium 200mcg I hope this helps me I self diagnosed myself and the doctors sent me for an USS abdomen and confirmed a fibroid plus gallstones this is probably connected since my gallbladder is full of gallstones my liver is not functioning properly hence the growth of the fibroid I will have to detox my liver but I don’t know how to get rid of the gallstones naturally.
@Debra To get your liver working right and prevent gallstones eat beats daily. One small one should be enough. You can do a liver flush to get rid of the stones, there are protocols online that will work. I recommend two changes though — take malic acid, it’s a form of magnesium, instead of drinking apple juice to avoid all that sugar, and use a product from Standard Process called Disodium Phosphate instead of Epsom salt, it’s much easier on the system.
Can one get Standard process in Israel without a Dr. who prescribes it here? I miss those so much!
The only way I know to get Standard Process supplements over seas is to have someone ship them to you. Sorry.