After I was diagnosed with Celiac and went gluten free, the difference was great. I felt better than I ever had my entire life. Then I started having problems with increased flare ups last year. I went thru more food allergy testing and pollen allergy testing. Then I did an elimination diet. I found out that there was multiple foods I am also allergic to, and this is common. I'm on allergy shots for outside pollen and yeast. I follow a strict gluten free, milk free, soy free diet. I have some foods that I was sensitive to, so I am allowed to have those foods in a rotational diet every 4 days. I knew that my outside allergies to pollen was always a trigger to all of my diseases, but I was not aware of all the foods that were causing triggers. All of this has helped me have decreased "bad day." We are all different, but the food and pollen testing is really worth it.

Candida has alot of the same symptoms as fibro and worse. I think a low carb diet would be helpful for anyone healthy or not. I need to get strict wth one.

I've never found any change in my symptoms based on what I eat.

I think it's just as individual as everything else about us.

Our daughter has been diagnosed with Celia Disease. And, because I can't make such a drastic change in her life without making it in my own, I'm GF. I've had a few infractions. I"ve not noticed that being GF has helped with weight or with Fibro. Cold weather just about kills me, though.

I have fms and ms and I've been gf, sf and dairy free for about 8 months. My flares aware less frequent and I don't feel as sluggish. I can tell when I don't eat right too.

I've seen a lot of folks do well with higher protein in their diet. As for what works for us, we tend to try to go organic/natural/whole foods as much as possible, for two reasons:
1) One theory with FMS is that it is caused by a liver dysfunction. Since the liver removes toxins from the body, avoiding food additives and highly processed foods puts less strain on the liver and allows it to work better at removing pain by-products.
2) A lot of folks with FMS have additional health issues, including digestive issues like IBS and other disorders that keep the digestive system from working effectively as possible. Nutrient-dense foods, foods that help digestion (ginger is my favorite!) and probiotic/fermented foods (yogurt as an example) help the body absorb more nutrition and in general gives us better health to cope with other symptoms.

We also do a lot of cooking with coconut and coconut oil - the coconut oil is considered a saturated fat, BUT it also is in a form that breaks down into energy components very quickly in the body rather than being stored as fat. We use cinnamon in a lot of stuff because it's anti-spasmotic, and curry also helps with pain relief (can you tell we do a lot of S & SE Aisia cooking in our house? ;) There's an AWESOME coconut soup recipe we love here:
http://www.cure-my-fatigue.com/diet-cure.html

Hope that helps!

I have noticed that sweenters such as Sweet and Low and Splenda make me feel worse. Truvia has not triggered any flare ups for me.

Aspartame sets me off pretty badly - apparently it makes the nerves go crazy. I don't have problems as much with stevia or sucrose-based sweeteners.

ozarkcat can you provide a link to the research suggesting a liver connection? All the peer-reviewed research I've seen published points to a disorder of the central nervous system.

Most of what I've heard is anecdotal, usually from medical professionals, though a few articles have been starting to come out regarding the neuroendocrine abnormalities (off the fmaware.org site). In my & my husband's cases, it seems to fit true to what we see going on - mine started, albeit lightly, after a long-term low-dosage carbon monoxide exposure; got worse after a car accident that I had some liver damage in, and when I went into pre-eclamsia (sp?) with DD, my liver and kidneys shut down until after her birth - my FMS got really bad & I was diagnosed a few months after that. I attended a program that added complimentary alternative therapies to conventional treatments, which is one place they mentioned the liver connection, as well as my rheumy. I've seen a number of articles on it on a variety of sites, usually having to do with nutrition and alternative therapies. I also know a number of people with FMS in the area here that have noticed a positive difference when they watch what they are eating and exposing themselves to chemical-wise.

Okay, DH has piped up in the background and mentioned that Dr. St. Amand had done research in this area; there's a ton of information out there if you google it.

I too have to be gluten, dairy, and additive free. It is NOT EASY. So much of the food out there has gluten!

I can have a little bit of butter and possibly small amounts of goat or sheep cheese

I think it is an individual thing. I've tried being gluten free, sugar free, MSG free, etc. and did not see any difference. I've never used artificial sweeteners. I've found that low carb diets cause depression in me. I have tried using the vitamins recommended on the FMS website (magnesium, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin D) and saw some improvement. I'm also using a full spectrum light called a happy light that was developed for SAD for at least 30 mins/day and that is helping too. Finally, a friend recommended using Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother (meaning it's unfiltered) to increase energy. That seems to help also. But nothing has eliminated my symptoms completely.

Gluten free helped me not feel so tired. Preservative free helped reduce the pain in my arms, hands, neck and shoulders. Earthing daily has made the biggest improvement in my symptoms. I do think everyone needs something different. I think different foods affect people differently. I would definitely recommend a food allergy test. I took the alcat (luckily my ins covered it). I cut the foods it recommended and I did notice an an improvement.