2. If you are going to be away from home during meal times or snack times, pack up a little lunch in a small cooler and keep it with you. If hunger hits you when you are out and about it is very easy to give in to unhealthy temptations that you will pay for later.

3. Find alternatives to replace your restrictions. If you can’t eat wheat, then get products made with alternative grains. If you can’t eat chocolate, then try some tasty carob. If you can’t have sugar, use sugar alternatives. If you can’t have dairy, there are numerous delicious dairy alternatives that can satisfy your craving for ice cream or cheese. It is essential to find alternatives, so that you will not feel deprived. If you are feeling deprived you will be more likely to cheat.

4. Once a week reward yourself with something you aren’t usually allowed to have. For instance if sweets are forbidden then once a week allow yourself to have a healthy sweet. Something made with a healthy sweetener. Sugar is addictive because it is not a really a food. It is a chemical. The biochemical make up of sugar is almost identical to alcohol except for one molecule. Sugar weakens immune system, depletes adrenal glands, and depletes vitamin and mineral levels. You can break sugar habit, but replacing it with things such as dates, bananas, raisins, maple syrup, barley malt, brown rice syrup, or stevia. These sweets are whole foods and will not damage body. Another example would be if you are not allowed to eat wheat, then once a week allow yourself a meal of something made of wheat.

My fibromyalgia was diagnosed after I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysregulation and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Many of symptoms of these conditions overlap, but characteristic painful tender points and extreme diffuse pain were a signal that my condition included something distinctly different from what other MCS and CFIDS patients typically experience.

Because medical practitioners did not tell me that environmental and chemical exposures could trigger or aggravate my FM pain, I did not assume that this would be case. I only discovered this to be true because of being diagnosed with MCS and I had learned to pay very close attention to my body’s messages and to any possible environmental triggers of my symptoms. It was through this process that I discovered that my Fibromyalgia symptoms were aggravated by chemical exposures, certain foods, and hormonal fluctuations and I came to believe that all three diagnoses were actually one in same with a different subset of symptoms for each syndrome. I unfortunately had all three syndromes symptoms.

The first thing I noticed was that at different times in my menstrual cycle, particularly at ovulation, menstruation, and right after menstruation my Fibromyalgia symptoms would flare. There was a definite and repeated patter. The tender points on my head, shoulders, legs and buttocks would become extremely painful. I would have accompanying headaches, diffuse body pain, and sleep difficulties. My neuro-cognitive difficulties, often referred to as “brain fog” would also worsen at these times in my menstrual cycle.

If I had been out in world a great deal being exposed to common everyday chemicals in days and weeks before my menstrual period, I would invariable notice that all these symptoms would be worse. I also began to see that my Fibromyalgia symptoms would be worse if I had been eating high levers of refined carbohydrates during my cycle.