4 Ways Enzymes Fight Fibromyalgia

By Steve Hefferon, CMT, PTA

A diagnosis of fibromyalgia may sound like a sentence to never-ending pain. But before you give up completely, new research shows there is hope for fighting the chronic pain, fatigue, “hot spots,” and other symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia and Inflammation

Fibromyalgia basically boils down to systemic inflammation. When the body believes it has been injured it responds by dispatching an army of white blood cells to fight potential infection or irritation.

This causes inflammation and swelling, whether you can see it or not. Fibrin, or scar tissue, is then sent in to seal off the site. In an open wound, this looks like a scab and eventually a scar.

That’s under normal conditions.

The problems occur when your body fails to reduce inflammation automatically — thus stopping the production of fibrin at the injury site. This scar tissue can then infiltrate your entire body, cover your organs, snake through muscle tissue and clog up your bloodstream and bone marrow.

When a particular area is choked with fibrin, the condition is called fibrosis. When the problem becomes systemic, full-body fibromyalgia pain is the result.

Can A Simple Enzyme Ease Your Pain?

Decades of research show that the systemic proteolytic enzymes in your body turn off your body’s inflammatory response after healing, eat up excess fibrous scar tissue and return your body to balance.

The only problem is, starting around age 27, your natural production of these enzymes drops precipitously. An infant has a whopping 100 times higher levels than an elderly person.

You can see the difference, too. Babies and toddlers tend to “bounce back” and heal incredibly fast, while even a small cut on an elderly person’s arm can take ages to heal — if it heals at all.

The good news is, you can replace the enzymes your body no longer manufactures with a daily supplement. By maintaining healthy levels of systemic proteolytic enzymes, your body can sweep your blood and muscle tissue clean of excess fibrin and return your body to a normal inflammatory response.

When you experience an injury — or virtually any kind of pain — simply increase the number of systemic proteolytic enzymes you supplement to support your body through the new healing challenge.

If you’re concerned about safety, you’ll be happy to learn systemic proteolytic enzymes are far safer than even the mildest of pharmaceutical drugs. A 1993 study showed that proteolytic enzymes have no lethal dose. Dr. James Howenstine, author of “A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work,” confirms that, “A person given more than 3,700 enzyme tablets in one day experienced only diarrhea from this massive capsule intake.”

How Systemic Proteolytic Enzymes Fight Fibromyalgia

So, what do these enzymes do exactly — and how can you use them to fight fibrosis and end your fibromyalgia forever?

1. Enzymes Fight Pain - Naturally

Studies have shown that systemic enzymes relieve pain just as well as traditional pain medications, such as NSAIDs like ibuprofen. Enzymes can be as effective as conventional pain medication like NSAIDs - with none of the side effects.

2. Enzymes Fight Fibrin

Enzymes literally “eat” excess fibrin, clearing it from the muscles, organs, blood stream and even making your old scars look thinner and lighter.

3. Enzymes Fight Inflammation

Enzymes such as bromelain, extracted from pineapple, block the signals of the cytokines responsible for inflammation. Of course, inflammation is highly correlated with pain so reducing inflammation also reduces pain.

4. Enzymes Fight Viruses

Systemic proteolytic enzymes support the immune system by cleansing the blood of toxins and reducing inflammation. They also have the ability to recognize and destroy viruses circulating in your blood.

Choosing the Best Enzymes

Here are a few rules of thumb for choosing the highest quality enzymes:

Get a High Quality Formula. The best systemic proteolytic enzymes arefound in combination capsules—that is, formulas that contain more than one enzyme for more than one purpose. You’ll get more bang for your buck and you’ll relieve causes of pain you didn’t even know you had.

Make Sure It’s Plant-Based. Plant-based enzymes can maintain their potency under a range of pH changes—from your stomach through to your intestines. Animal-based enzymes are more likely to be destroyed in the stomach (that’s why they have to be enteric coated), and are not suitable for vegetarians.

Get Capsules, Not Tablets. Enzymes manufactured into tablets undergo high friction and pressure, potentially making the delicate enzymes inert.

They also contain binding agents to hold them together, which makes them more difficult to digest.

Since systemic proteolytic enzymes will first break down nearby protein in your digestive tract, always take them on an empty stomach for optimal efficacy. I recommend taking them at least a half hour before or an hour after eating.

Personally, I take my systemic proteolytic enzymes on an empty stomach at night with a glass of water, wait 15 minutes, then drink another glass of water. This ensures the enzymes remain in a solution to be absorbed from my stomach rather than head to the intestinal tract in a clump where they are as likely to attach themselves to a protein there as enter my bloodstream.

Adding proteolytic enzymes to your daily supplements will boost your body’s ability to beat fibrin, fight inflammation and reduce your fibromyalgia pain, all while increasing your energy (no more fibro-fatigue!)

Remember, if you are over 27 years old and in chronic pain, a bankruptcy of systemic proteolytic enzymes may be the cause!

References

Fitzhugh D. Bromelain treatment decreases neutrophil migration to sites of inflammation. Clinical Immunology. 2008;128:66-74.

Howenstine J. How Systemic Enzymes Work to Cure Diseases. NewsWithViews.com 2009 Mar. 17.

Klein G. Reducing pain by oral enzyme therapy in rheumatic diseases. Wien Med Wochenschr. 1999;149(21-22):577- 80.

All material herein is provided for information only and may not be construed as personal medical advice. No action should be taken based solely on the contents of this information; instead, readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being. The publisher is not a licensed medical care provider. The information is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in the practice of medicine or any other healthcare profession and does not enter into a healthcare practitioner/patient relationship with its readers. The publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions.

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