CYCLING
Many thanks to Char, one of the six incredibly dedicated volunteer admins from the Guai Group,
for this handy compilation about “cycling” from Dr. St. Amand’s book.
for this handy compilation about “cycling” from Dr. St. Amand’s book.
“When I hear people talk about the Guai Protocol, they always talk about ‘cycling’. What does this term mean?”
Here are some explanations of why we have pain and symptoms in cycling on
Guai.
These are all quotes from the new revised and updated edition of the book
"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia." I have put in caps
for emphasis.
Page 165.
The majority of people find their cycling dosage with relative ease. They
get worse and they get better. They forge ahead, whether slowly or quickly,
and soon learn the direction of their recovery. By now you've guessed that
it's not so simple for everyone. A small number of patients, possibly 5
percent, will have barely perceptible symptoms during reversing. They
erroneously think they have to get hammered with PAIN when they reach
healing levels. For them, it's not so. If mapping is not available, this
group will probably continue raising their dosages to unnecessary levels in
a quest for dramatic reversal symptoms. There is no real downside to this
error (except expense), and patients who push up the dose do get well at
accelerated rates. We should also mention that a very small group of
patients FEEL BETTER FOR THE FIRST FEW DAYS after beginning guaifenesin and
START TO CYCLE A BIT LATER. That's the reason we hold patients at certain
dosages for a designated time. Until a blood test appears for fibromyalgia,
mapping is all that we've got to determine the state of affairs. This is
why we so highly recommend mapping for anyone who can find talented hands."
A. Page 52.
Do you remember our discussion in chapter 1 about the lumps and bumps of
fibromyalgia? We find them on every patient with the disease, and we draw
them on a body caricature, or map, to keep track of them. These SWOLLEN
places ARE for the most part TENDER. They're also located in TENDONS and
LIGAMENTS , but mostly in MUSCLES. Ninety to 95 percent of the SWELLING is
simply WATER that has collected under considerable PRESSURE."
"The worse part of this process is that SWELLING PRESSES on NERVES and
they transmit messages of DISCOMFORT to the BRAIN, which is the only organ
that can feel pain."
B. Page 53.
"When reversal begins, WATER has to reenter the ailing cells, wherever the
cleaning out is about to start. That extra fluid causes SWELLING all over
again, EXERTING more PRESSURE on NERVES to renew the message of PAIN.
Thanks to guaifenesin, when an area is being purged, newly accumulated fluid
quickly reverses its direction and is pulled out from the cells."
"So when cells do spring cleaning, they simply sweep their rejected
phosphate and fellow travelers out into the blood. This results in an added
burden for that system; it's now loaded with the very substances it has been
trying to dump for years. Large batches of these excesses are delivered to
the kidneys, but those organs can't just process the inflow instantly.
You'll recall our theory postulates that fibromyalgia occurs because the
kidneys are sluggish when it comes to expelling phosphate. Therefore the
flood pouring out of cells is also more than they can immediately handle.
Sine the urine is the main elimination route, debris piles up a bit and
must wait its turn to get out of the body. The blood is impatient and,
meeting renal resistance, responds by sneaking mini deposits all over the
body. Muscles knuckle under the pressure and suck up a fair share, which
causes generalized, flu-like ACHING. The brain also cooperates and scoops
up enough debris to intensify fatigue, cognitive impairment, irritability,
depression, anxiety, and insomnia. It's as if the disease were heading
entirely in the wrong direction. In fact, it seems worse than ever, since
PURGING is moving debris OUT of CELLS at least SIX TIMES FASTER than it had
been allowed to ENTER. It's déjà vu all over again! The DIFFERENCE THIS
TIME, however, is that the KIDNEYS are NOW WORKING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION,
thanks to guaifenesin. They're in OVERDRIVE trying to ELIMINATE the
excess phosphate, calcium, and whatever at full capacity. The SYMPTOMS OF
FIBROMYALGIA thus disturbingly WORSEN UNTIL THE KIDNEYS FINALLY CATCH UP."
Page 63.
Though the INITIAL REVERSAL CYCLES might have attached TEN to TWENTY places
at one time, LATER REVERSALS may work on only ONE or TWO sites
simultaneously. This alone greatly diminishes the severity of subsequent
attacks. In addition, purging phases get progressively farther apart,
making these setbacks minor by comparison."
Page 174.
There's no longer any doubt the 'BRAIN CYCLES' are disturbing INTENSE parts
of fibromyalgia. Ask anyone who has the disease: They dependably appear
when the rest of the body goes under attack. Like any of the other
symptoms, they can LAST for DAYS, WEEK, OR MONTHS, depending on how long
you've had the illness. Most of the time, when PAIN levels ease, the BRAIN
CLEARS remarkably well."
Page 175.
"The central nervous system symptoms include depression, fatigue,
irritability, impaired memory and concentration (scattered mind), apathy,
non-restorative sleep independent from insomnia, nervousness, and the
brain-disconnected-from-body sensation. For most of us, the COGNITIVE
problems and FATIGUE are the MOST OVERWHELMING. They're easily the EQUAL
OF PAIN in their negative impact on the quality of life, and many patients
consider them distressingly worse."
Pages 176 & 177
"Nowadays medical literature abounds with well-detailed studies of both
FIBROMYALGIA and CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME. Many physicians believe they
are the SAME ILLNESS. We've treated more than ten thousand patients in
these categories, and we can assertively say that we've NEVER SEEN A CASE
OF PURE CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME. Notwithstanding the variations in
history, body mapping reliably ties complaints to physical changes and amply
satisfies the criteria of fibromyalgia. FATIGUE is the DOMINANT complaint
of people with HIGH PAIN THRESHOLDS. Carefully questioned, they relate the
symptoms of irritable bowel, bladder or vulvar pain, and musculoskeletal
complaints, however minor they may seem. The worst map we ever created was
of a woman who swore she had NO PAIN at all, only mild stiffness. Later she
admitted that she had dental work and delivered babies without anesthesia.
While most patients have a combination of PAIN and FATIGUE, some lie at
opposite ends of the bell-shaped curve and experience very little else."
"Most patients suffer daytime drowsiness that's nevertheless accompanied by
nocturnal sleeplessness. Even in healthy people, insomnia results in
impaired mental function. Fibromyalgics may or may not get to sleep easily,
but most of them awaken frequently throughout the night. That's even more
likely to happen wit more intense PAIN CYCLES."
