The 'Fibromyologist'

Mucinex or “guiafenesin is an expectorant that thins mucus and helps to loosen phlegm. Guiafenesin is quickly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, and is rapidly metabolized and excreted into the urine. Guiafenesin is also known to lower uric acid levels. No serious side-effects have been reported.” -Physicians’ Desk Reference

It is found in many cold preparations, and is available without a prescription. It can be found on Amazon or at your local pharmacy. It originated around 1530 as a tree bark extract called guaiacum and was widely used for rheumatism*. It was also used to treat gout and in 1928 a medical paper extolled its virtues for treating growing pains. It relieved several symptoms that would later be recognized as fibromyalgia. Guaiacum was later purified to guaiacolate, and was used in cough mixtures 75 years ago. 25 years ago it was synthesized, and pressed into tablets now called guaifenesin (Mucinex**).

Miraculously for fibromyalgic’s, Dr. St. Amand found that this medicine cleared the metabolic debris that’s junking up our energy-producing factories called mitochondria.

The use of Mucinex or guiafenesin in treating fibromyalgia is not yet accepted in mainstream medicine. They were not able to publish in medical journals for lack of a successful double-blind study. Despite that setback, many countless hours have been spent by Dr. St. Amand and co-author, nurse Claudia Craig Marek speaking to groups of physicians and individuals. Sharing the protocol with anyone who will listen, including tv, and radio programs all over the world.

How does guaifenesin work? In chapter one of Dr. St. Amand’s book, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia, The Revolutionary Treatment to Reverse the Disease, he mentions that you may have noticed hard and tender lumps and bumps on your body. (He encourages mapping these areas to keep track.) These swollen places are located in tendons and ligaments but mostly found in muscles. He found ninety to 95 percent of the swelling is simply water that has collected under considerable pressure.

Dr. St. Amand suspects this fluid has been sent into cells because of the unwelcome presence of a slight excess of phosphates, calcium, and probably other constituents such s sodium and chloride. Dispatching water to these areas in an attempt to dilute these ions and keep them from crystallizing inside the cells. “This tactic succeeds and keeps the tissue accretions in solution. This permits cell survival, but at the expense of losing some normal functions. The worst 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. Only when each ion is neatly tucked into the safest storage areas possible is some of the water allowed to leave and actually make the bump smaller, easing pain somewhat.” Dr. St. Amand explains on page 52 of chapter 3.

That said – while this debris is getting flushed the symptoms will increase. The reason is simply, reversal: the opposite of how the disease develops. “This time, however, the body can’t pull concentrates out into more diluted areas because this would defy the body’s dictum of equilibrium, or balance. 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 reveres its direction and is pulled out from cells. This time, it lugs out some of the excess phosphate, calcium, and whatever else was added to expand the miseries of fibromyalgia. Depending on the amounts of waterborne material being extracted from a given site, the bloodstream suffers varying degrees of flooding by the same debris.”

Dr. St. Amand continues, “So when cells do spring cleaning, they simply sweep their rejected phosphate and fellow travellers 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.”

Dr. St. Amand’s 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. Since 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 time faster than it had been allowed to enter.”

The difference now is that the kidneys are working in the right direction! Thanks to guaifenesin, they are on overdrive trying to eliminate the excess phosphate, calcium, and whatever else at full-tilt boogie. Unfortunately, symptoms worsen until the kidneys finally catch up.

If you feel comfortable, Dr. St. Amand, encourages mapping the tender and swollen points on paper and keeping tracking them. You may need some help with this if you choose to track the bumps. (Even better if you could find a physician to assist. Yet, not entirely necessary. Those lumps and bumps are gonna clear up.)

As you may have already experienced you must be your own advocate for your illness. It is up to you to do the research. It is up to you to be committed to taking the Mucinex. Taking the pill every day is the easy part. Reading labels and changing from familiar topical products to salicylate free is hard. But fibro is worse. So there’s that.

Pain and discomfort management is key for this period of time. You may also need to plan for extra help around the houses. Tell your family you will be feeling worse at first, and will need the extra support. Make any arrangements you can to make this process easy, and graceful. (A sure sign, comforting or not – when your symptoms increase, that is how you know it’s working. If you haven’t seen this, Dr. St. Amand recommends to up the dosage of Mucinex (guaifenesin).

Here is the good news. Dr. St. Amand states that for every year you have been ill, it takes just 2 months to clear those phosphates! Which means you are going to get your life back very soon! That is cause for celebration.

REMINDER, WHILE TAKING MUCINEX, AVOID TAKING SALICYLIC ACIDS, OR USING TOPICAL SALICYLATES.

Make your recovery, your new discovery❤️

**Dr. St. Amand recommends the starting Guaifenesin (Mucinex) dose between 300mg-600mg b.i.d. (twice) a day. (I started out at 300mg b.i.d. then increased to 600mg for a year and then switched up to 1200mg b.i.d.for the last few months.

*Julia Lawless, The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Lanham, MD: Barnes & Noble, 1992), 106