My Fibro specialist appointment - gut health

[Brigga]

I posted last week about having an appointment with a pharmacist. My appointment was this morning and it was actually with a chronic pain specialist in fibromyalgia. He was really kind and listened to my history going back to migraines in primary school. He talked about genetic predisposition for my early migraines and early onset osteoarthritis and endometriosis. But then talked a lot about gut health. He believes exhaustion/tiredness is the key to helping fibromyalgia. He said pain is the body’s way of forcing you to stop and rest when you are exhausted. He thinks a healthy gut improves energy, sleep, reduces pain, anxiety etc. He said that painkillers are especially hard on the gut and slow the bowel, reducing metabolism which further impacts energy levels, leading to more pain and exhaustion over time. He said he’s not against the use of painkillers but to try to have a day off them every few days to help gut biome to recover. He also said very small amounts of activity, starting as low as 2 minutes at a time or less. Then gradually building on that. He said finding a form of activity or exercise that is not too hard on my body is key. He is going to recommend my GP to refer me for TMS for anxiety and migraine (I had never heard of it before), acupuncture and nutrition advice and codeine and ibuprofen for pain relief as needed. He said NHS may or may not pay for some of these. I already have an appointment with the physio in two weeks and then I will be starting on the chronic pain programme, which advises on exercise, lifestyle with a physio and a psychologist. I am happy with this in general as I seem to react badly to meds. I get all the side effects. Has anyone on here tried TMS? Has anyone had success with improving gut health?