Are people who have fibromyalgia more likely to try unproven remedies?
People who have any chronic disease that doesn’t respond to conventional treatment often turn to other types of remedies. People who have fibromyalgia tend to use more dietary supplements. Some people think that there’s a magic diet for fibromyalgia. They think that they should avoid refined flour and sugar, sugar substitutes, the caramel color in some soft drinks, or carbonated drinks in general. But there hasn’t been any research-based evidence demonstrating that any of these substances cause the symptoms, nor that removing these substances from your diet works to make the pain go away. There may be anecdotal evidence — people who say that something helps relieve their symptoms — but there’s no clearly identified problem foods or magical diet cure yet. Is a placebo effect at work here? The power of the mind is a real factor in pain perception. For example, studies have shown that anxiety that occurs in anticipation of pain is much more problematic than the pain experience itself. In
