I first became aware of medical foods as a treatment for fibromyalgia a few months back via an online webinar, which had been promoted on social media. I was immediately intrigued. As much as I have moved forward in my recovery from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, I have this niggling feeling that there is more to the story.
I was interested to see if medical foods would be a piece that fitted into my chronic illness puzzle… but I was hesitant. Did I really need to add another supplement to my health care regime? And would medical foods compliment what I already take? I felt unsure and so I put the idea on pause.
I always like to think things happen for a reason, so when an email popped into my inbox a few weeks later asking if I would like to try Sentra PM*– a medical food designed to help improve sleep– I felt like it was meant to be.
I still had my reservations of course but thankfully my questions were answered by the team at Targeted Medical Pharma. I was told that the amino acids in Sentra PM would help to improve neurotransmitter production and could actually enhance the effects of many of the supplements I already take.
Below is my review of Sentra PM and I also have a 20% discount code should you wish to purchase medical foods for yourself. Disclaimer: medical foods are intended to be used under the supervision of a medical professional. Always consult your doctor prior to beginning a new supplement or treatment.
What are medical foods?
A medical food, as defined in section 5(b)(3) of the Orphan Drug Act (21 U.S.C. 360ee(b)(3)), is “a food which is formulated to be consumed or administered enterally under the supervision of a physician and which is intended for the specific dietary management of a disease or condition for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.”
Medical foods are FDA regulated products that address the nutritional requirements or metabolic deficiencies of a particular disease. They are essentially a form of natural medication designed to help patients safely and effectively manage a chronic disease.
Medical foods have been used in clinical practice for over a decade and are prescribed by hundred of MDs in the states today. As the name suggests, all ingredients in medical foods are found naturally in food. There have been multiple clinical trials proving their efficiency over naproxen, ibuprofen and tazodone. You can find a list of clinical references here.
What is Sentra PM?
Sentra PM is a medical food that provides your body with the amino acids that are required to achieve and maintain high-quality restorative sleep. It is non-addictive, is regulated by the FDA and has been clinically shown to reduce the time it takes to fall asleep. In a double-blind clinical trial, people taking Sentra PM fell asleep 60% faster over a 14 night period.
The amino acid formulation found in Sentra PM are the precursors to the neurotransmitters GABA, serotonin, acetylcholine and glutamate. These are the neurotransmitters that are required for restorative sleep.
My experience with Sentra PM
I began taking Sentra PM back in April. I started by taking one capsule for a couple of nights and then, on noting no difference, increased to two capsules. With hindsight, I probably should have stuck to one capsule for longer and built up to two capsules more slowly as I did experience a couple of side effects initially.
I personally found that these side effects were milder than what I’ve previously experienced from traditional medications and they were also temporary and short-lived. For around one week I experienced occasional mild headaches, drowsiness in the mornings and I was generally more tired overall.
With hindsight, I could have reduced the dose so these subsided but I decided to ride it out and sure enough, these side effects disappeared and I experienced no on-going problems.
During those first few days, I tried taking the capsules earlier in the evening to see if this would alleviate the grogginess I was feeling in the mornings. However, I soon realised that shortly after taking a dose of Sentra PM my body was giving me cues that it wanted to go to sleep. I, therefore, found the best time to take the capsules was actually just before bed.
Having a cue to fall asleep from my body was a definite benefit from taking Sentra PM. It’s something I hadn’t regularly been getting from my body previously. I think that’s something a lot of people don’t understand about chronic fatigue; it seems a strange concept to be tired but not necessarily ready for sleep. So it was nice to have this normal feeling restored. As a result, I also found I began to fall asleep much quicker too.
Although my sleep scores from my ResMed S+ didn’t necessarily improve overall, I did notice my dreams became more vivid and I remembered them easily the next day. I can only assume that– even if the duration of REM sleep didn’t improve– the quality of my REM sleep had.
During the time I took Sentra PM, I also noticed I was functioning a little better in the daytime. This was a subtle change but I felt my health was more stable and that I was consistently having better days. I even managed my trip to Copenhagen far better than I imagined I would and this was during the time I was taking Sentra PM.
Despite all of the above, I felt a bit 50/50 towards Sentra PM. Like I mentioned– other than falling asleep quicker– my sleep scores hadn’t improved. As the improvements I felt had been subtle, I couldn’t help but wonder if the Sentra PM was truly helping or whether it was a coincidence? Could I have just been going through a phase of feeling better regardless?
It saddens me to say that money came into my decision process. It’s not that Sentra PM itself is an expensive supplement but rather I questioned if I could justify continuing with a supplement I felt 50/50 on, especially given I already spend a considerable amount each month on supplements. I decided the only way to know if it was helping for sure was to stop taking it and see if I noticed a difference.
Things then became muddied because I began hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). If you are an email subscriber you will know the result of that, but to cut a long story short I had to stop treatment and I have been feeling really unwell, plus more fatigued and in more pain since having HBOT (read my update here).
Frustratingly, I have been slow to overcome this setback,. It’s gone more than two weeks now since I stopped HBOT and I still haven’t got back to the level I was at prior to treatment. Previously a setback would have only taken me a couple of days at most to overcome.
I was having a discussion with my mum and we were both feeling a bit down about my situation as things had been so stable beforehand. She asked if anything else had changed beyond the hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The only other thing that had changed in my routine is that I had stopped taking Sentra PM.
Maybe the better days weren’t a coincidence after all? I have to say I have been getting quite a few comments along the lines of “but you were doing so well”.
I’ve therefore made the decision that I want to continue with Sentra PM and I’m also going to try adding Sentra AM into my health regime as well to see if it will help to combat my fatigue. In order to take Sentra AM and PM I am having to stop taking SAM-e as sadly I can’t afford to take them all. But I am hoping that Sentra AM and PM will replace the need for SAM-e.
I think I need to remember that change happens slowly over time and improvements are generally subtle and gradual. A month probably wasn’t a long enough time for a fair assessment but it is promising that I saw an improvement in how I felt during that time. I am hopeful that with continued use I will see further benefits from these supplements.
I’m currently eagerly awaiting the delivery of Sentra AM and Sentra PM and I hope they will help me get back on track and back to how I was feeling previously. If you suffer from fibromyalgia I would recommend trying medical foods to see if they help to alleviate your symptoms. They are a safe alternative to traditional medications (and may even be able to be used alongside your current medication).
If you would like to try medical foods for yourself, you can find information on each product (that you can print off to present to your doctor) here. You can purchase medical foods directly from store.medicalfoods.com.
At the time of writing this review, a month’s supply of Sentra PM retails at $45 (approx. £30). I have very kindly been given a discount code for you to use should you wish to try medical foods. For a 20% discount, use the code DONNA20 at checkout.
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* I was kindly sent a month’s supply of Sentra PM from Targeted Medical Pharma on the basis that if I liked the product I would write a review providing my honest and unbiased feedback. All opinions are 100% my own and I intend to continue purchasing this product for myself.
