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I also found this article encouraging the use of caffeine! Be your own Dr. Experiment with foods and drinks. Reasearch online and be your advocate. I'm such a newbie to the diagnosis, however I've suspected for several years that I had Fibromyalgia. I also may have Lupus...but we have to wait for more flare ups as I've only had one bout of inflammation in my kidneys and bladder that predisone helped with. Anyways, here is one of the things I found: Great news! Caffeine can actually help fibromyalgia patients. Dr. Lowe is an advocate of caffeine use by fibromyalgia patients—unless, of course, it bothers you. A small percentage of people get an unusually strong stimulatory reaction from coffee or have other adverse effects from it; these people probably shouldn’t use caffeine. (This is true in the general population as well as among fibromyalgia patients.) But for most patients, caffeine can help control fibromyalgia symptoms, mainly because of its ability to temporarily raise the resting metabolic rate. There are several long sections in The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia about the effects of caffeine on fibromyalgia patients and how they can use it judiciously. Caffeine has a positive effect on pain, depression, mood—I could go on and on. Instead, here are two very short quotations from The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia: From pages 1035-1036: "Because it is the most commonly used drug today, caffeine has been subjected to extensive clinical and experimental study.[160] Caffeine reduces, and in rare cases appears to temporarily relieve, some fibromyalgia patients' pain, fatigue, weakness, cognitive dysfunction, and depression. Caffeine increases the resting metabolic rate, internal and skin temperatures,[58][59][60][61][62] and mitochondrial oxygen consumption.[63][65] It produces physiological arousal,[87][88] can improve mood[87][88][91] and perception of problems,[90,p.9] and mitigates pain.[1,p.92][101][103][104][105][106][108] [109][110][111][112]" From page1038: "Effects of Caffeine on Cognitive Function. For people in general, caffeine improves cognitive function. My clinical experience has shown that this is especially likely if a patient's cognitive abilities are impaired as a feature of fibromyalgia. There are many published studies on the beneficial effects of caffeine on cognitive function. It fact, caffeine is listed as a mild brain stimulant and 'cognitive enhancer.'[5]" Since caffeine may have adverse effects for some people, Dr. Lowe also explains those in The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia. I hope this information helps you make a decision about whether or not to give up your coffee. Sounds like if you have it in moderation—so you don't experience migraines—coffee's analgesic effects certainly benefit you. Fibromyalgia patients need all the help they can get! |
Dr.'s and researchers can only find so much information, but it awesome if you know real people and can share information with eachother....this is why I'm happy I found this group!
