hi Margarita,

I'm sorry you've experienced such a bad flare. It could be due to a food intolerance .. are you eating more of something than you were before? such as cheese or beef? It might be helpful to avoid those foods for at least a couple weeks, then add them back slowly, and only have occasionally after that. I find that this helps me .. especially the cow milk cheese. Goat or sheep's milk cheese and yogurt may be an alternative if you think cow dairy products are a problem.

As well, the radical change in diet, even though it's for the better, can be interpreted by the body as major stress .. and this can trigger a flare.

Or it may just be the nature of the beast I sometimes find my fibromyalgia/CFIDS is so unpredictable ... I'll go along doing everything right then out of the blue .. WHAMM, I'm knocked flat by pain and fatigue. Other times, I'll overdo .. and yes, I'll have some aches and pains which are manageable .. but my energy levels stay great. The weather is a huge factor for me ... the recent heat wave with high humidity here in the northeast was dreadful.

The "kidney area" pain (I'm assuming flank pain .. to the sides, at mid-back level) is likely related to the IBS. Unhappily, changes in diet will trigger a flare of this too. Are you taking a fiber supplement? Psyllium husks, which you can buy as sugar-free Metamucil or you can find it in bulk at any health food store ... will be helpful for both constipation and diarrhea. Make sure you're drinking lots of pure water, and eating plenty of leafy green and high-fiber veggies. If you're eating a lot of salads and raw veggies, and this is new for you, it might be helpful to have only cooked or lightly steamed vegetables for a while. Or take a product like Beano .. the enzymes will aid your digestion when you eat raw veggies.

Drinking lots of water, minimum 8 glasses a day, will also help to flush out any toxins and by-products of fat-metabolism. Some toxins and residues may be stored in our body fat, and as we burn the fat, the toxins are released into the system. Making sure we're well-hydrated will help to speed up the elimination process.

Doreen