FIBROMYALGIA: FROM PAIN TO FREEDOM

John Gutters

• Publisher: Bibliomundi
• Year: 2021
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526041814
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Diseases & Allergies

Fibromyalgia seems more a disease of mime explained in the charades of other ailments.The majority of persons suffering from Fibromyalgia have undergone numerous tests with multiple diagnoses before a medical professional reaches the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia.Aspirin will often relieve a headache but the headache is not brought on by a deficiency of aspirin, therefore aspirin is not a cure for the headache but rather an aid in the relief of headache symptoms. When headaches reoccur we begin to look beyond the ease of symptoms for the root cause. Many times the cause of a headache is stress, muscle fatigue, spinal alignment, digestion issues, body temperature, lack of oxygen in the blood stream, dehydration, or a precursory sign of infection just to mention a few. One could almost conclude a headache as an early warning device of malfunction within the human machine but then aspirin should merely be considered a temporary fix while transitioning through the repair.Chronic headache often is one of the many symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia but Fibromyalgia seems the mime portraying a spectrum of symptoms as an impressionist portraying personalities. It is the vast arrays of symptoms that go and come, appear or disappear that seem to make Fibromyalgia difficult to diagnose and treat because as a whole we are a society that treats the symptoms first; much like taking aspirin for a headache. When we relieve the symptom, usually discomfort or pain, we tend to rejoice in the relief and call it good.There are as many causes to the mere symptom of a headache as there are symptoms to Fibromyalgia.In this book, Fibromyalgia - From Pain to Freedom, we will journey through the forest of Fibromyalgia symptoms, medical diagnosis, pain markers, symptom relief and press forward to Freedom Valley. With that said, it takes an open mind and a willingness to embrace that which is new to us in order to persevere forward.The science of medicine today is absolutely astounding but equally so is the study of medical procedure and herbal symptom cures of ancient tribal cultures. Is it possible the "healing touch" of tribal spiritual leaders may have been the gateway to chiropractic care today? If you are of the belief that the body was designed to heal itself than you must also embrace that the power of the mind is in essence a major factor in that healing. If common sense tells you that a scale equally weighted is considered balanced than consideration might be paid that equality between mind and body would symbolize being balanced as an entity of one. Relief from the symptoms of Fibromyalgia is a huge progressive step but without exploring the cause behind the symptoms and effort put forth to elevate or better control its causes it becomes a vicious circle of painful insanity.Fibromyalgia - From Pain to Freedom is an eye opening guide to the possibilities of a life free from the shackles of Fibromyalgia. Obviously I state "Guide to the possibilities" not a cure to Fibromyalgia. Learning different pain management techniques as well as the triggers that entice the painful symptoms could be considered the avoidance of Fibromyalgia symptoms and without symptoms or pain -well, you judge the name to that outcome.You will learn the medical side of study into Fibromyalgia as to its suspected onset cause, diagnoses of prevalent symptoms and symptom and pain management as well as the naturopathic method to Fibromyalgia management which takes in an entire spectrum of all methods not encompassed by modern day medical science. Naturopathic study lends a hand of enlightenment to modern medical science but modern medical science is not often as accommodating to the study of naturopathy. Ignorance is closing a blind eye for a blind eye has no advantageous purpose to being closed.Open minds to the possibilities that bliss between medical science and naturopathic science have to offer is a freedom. Freedom is the knowledge of knowing what freedom is in order to attain it. One must open their mind to accept knowledge; discernment of that knowledge is a choice.Throughout this journey, you, accompanied by well documented medical science and naturopathic relief will be given great insight on Fibromyalgia, its symptoms and management to the fruition of freedom.You will learn about medical advancements in the study of Fibromyalgia inclusive of symptom and pain management techniques.You will learn the benefits of chiropractic care, acupuncture, deep tissue massage, tension point massage, reflexology, and more within the power of touch.You will learn the many forms of meditation that will help you to quiet brain chatter and relieve stress, how to mentally relieve muscle tightness and fatigue and how to use your mind to over-ride the tensions that seem to be a precursor pain. James Allen authored a wonderful well known book: As a Man Thinketh of which "so shall he become" follows the title. John Maxwell lends the visionary qu

CHAPTER ONE: How Fibromyalgia Affects Your Body

 

Fibromyalgia syndrome (also known as "FMS" or "FM") is a complex, chronic condition, more common in women than in men, which causes widespread pain and fatigue, as well as a variety of other symptoms. The name fibromyalgia comes from "fibro" meaning fibrous tissues (such as tendons and ligaments), "my" meaning muscles, and "algia" meaning pain. Unlike arthritis, it does not cause pain or swelling in the joints themselves, but it produces pain in the soft tissues located around joints, skin, and organs in the body.

The pain of fibromyalgia typically consists of diffuse aching or burning described as “head to toe", and it is often accompanied by muscle spasm. Its severity varies from day to day and can change location, become more severe in frequently used parts of the body (i.e., the neck, shoulders, and feet). In some patients, the pain can be intense enough to interfere significantly with daily routines, while in others it causes only mild discomfort.

Likewise, the fatigue of fibromyalgia also varies from person to person ranging from a mild, tired feeling to the exhaustion of a flu-like illness.

FMS is neither crippling nor fatal, yet it is responsible for impaired concentration, short and long-term memory problems, impaired speed of performance, inability to multi-task, and diminished attention span.

In addition to pain and fatigue, a number of allied symptoms/syndromes are currently associated with FMS. Patients typically experience one or more of the following:

Stiffness: Joint stiffness may be particularly apparent upon awakening and after prolonged periods of sitting or standing in one position or coincide with changes in temperature or relative humidity.

Increased Headaches or Facial Pain: Fibromyalgia patients may experience frequent migraines, tension, or vascular headaches. Pain may also consist of referred pain to the temporal area (temples) or behind the eyes. Approximately one-third of patients with fibromyalgia are thought to have pain and dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, (located where the jaw meets the ear) which produces not only headaches but also jaw and facial pain.

Sleep Disturbances: Despite sufficient amounts of sleep, FMS patients may awaken feeling tired, as if they barely slept. Alternatively, they may have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Some also suffer from the condition, sleep apnea. The reasons for the non-restorative sleep and other sleep difficulties of fibromyalgia are unknown. However, early FMS research in sleep labs documented disruptions in the deep (delta) sleep of some fibromyalgia patients.

The main symptom that a condition of fibromyalgia patient exhibits is fibromyalgia muscle pain.

This is usually what people notice first and what gets them to go into the doctor. The biggest problem with fibromyalgia is actually in the diagnosis.

You see, there are no tests that are able to directly tell the doctor whether or not a patient has fibromyalgia, and so instead, they need to take tests for other conditions in order to rule them out.

Gastrointestinal Complaints: Digestive disturbances, abdominal pain, and bloating are quite common in FMS as are constipation and diarrhea (irritable bowel syndrome).

In addition, patients may have difficulty swallowing food which research suggests is a result of objective abnormalities in smooth muscle functioning in the esophagus.

Genito-Urinary Problems: FMS patients may experience increased frequency of urination or increased urgency to urinate, typically in the absence of a bladder infection.

Some may develop a more chronic, painful inflammatory condition of the bladder wall known as "interstitial cystitis" (IC). Women with FMS may have more painful menstrual periods or experience worsening of their FMS symptoms during this time. Conditions such as vulvar vestibulitis or vulvodynia, characterized by a painful vulvar region and painful sexual intercourse, may also develop in women.

Paresthesia: Numbness or tingling, particularly, in the hands or feet, sometimes accompanies FMS. The sensation can be described as prickling or burning.

Temperature Sensitivity: A Person with fibromyalgia tends to be highly sensitive to ambient temperature. Some often feel abnormally cold (compared to others around them) while others feel abnormally warm. An unusual sensitivity to cold in the hands and feet, accompanied by color changes in the skin, sometimes occur in patients with fibromyalgia. This condition is known as "Reynaud’s Phenomenon".

Skin Complaints: Nagging symptoms, such as itchy, dry, or blotchy skin, may accompany FMS. Dryness of the eyes and mouth is also common. Additionally, fibromyalgia patients may experience a sensation of swelling, particularly in extremities, like fingers. A common complaint is that a ring no longer fits on a finger. Such swelling, however, is not equivalent to the joint inflammation of arthritis; rather, it is a localized anomaly of FMS whose cause is currently unknown.

Chest Symptoms: Individuals with fibromyalgia who engage in activities involving continuous, forward body posture (i.e., typing, sitting at a desk, etc.) often have special problems with chest and upper body pain known as "thoracic pain and dysfunction".

Shallow breathing and postural problems often accompany the pain. Patients may also develop a condition called "costochondralgia" which involves pain in the muscles located where the ribs meet the chest bone.

Disequilibrium: FMS patients may be troubled by light-headedness and balance problems which manifest themselves in a number of ways. Since fibromyalgia is thought to affect the skeletal tracking muscles of the eyes, nausea or "visual confusion" may be experienced when driving a car, reading a book, or otherwise tracking objects.

Difficulties with smooth muscles in the eye may also cause additional problems with focus. Weak muscles or trigger points in the neck or TMJ problems in the jaw may also cause dizziness or disequilibrium.

Cognitive Disorders: Individuals with FMS report a number of cognitive symptoms which tend to vary from day to day. These include difficulty concentrating, short-term memory lapses, and being overwhelmed easily. Many fibromyalgia patients refer to such symptoms as "fibro-fog".

Leg Sensations: Some FMS patients may develop a neurologic disorder known as “restless legs syndrome" (RLS) which involves an irresistible urge to move the legs particularly when at rest or when lying down. One recent study reported that 31% of the fibromyalgia patients studied had RLS. The syndrome may also involve periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS) which can be very disruptive to both the patient and to his/her sleeping partner.

Environmental Sensitivity: Hypersensitivity to light, noise, odors, and weather patterns is common and is usually explained as being a result of the hyper vigilance seen in the nervous systems of patients with FMS. Neurogenic inflammation, a discrete, localized inflammatory response which does not activate the immune response or show up in tests, presumably plays a part in the itching and rashes seen in FMS.

Allergic-like reactions to a variety of substances (i.e., medications, chemicals, food additives, pollutants, etc.) are common, and patients may also experience a form of non-allergic rhinitis consisting of nasal congestion/discharge and sinus pain, but in the absence of the immunologic reactions which the body experiences in allergic conditions.

Depression and Anxiety: Although FMS patients are frequently misdiagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders, research has repeatedly shown that fibromyalgia is not a form of depression or hypochondriasis. However, where depression or anxiety exist concomitant to fibromyalgia, their treatment is important as both can exacerbate FMS and interfere with successful symptom management.

Many patients have gone to hospital for fibromyalgia treatment and found out that they are simply imagining the symptoms.

Therefore, another fibromyalgia self help technique that works includes changing how one thinks and leading a positive life.

In addition, learning the things that affect your stress levels and either avoiding them or work around them can release unwanted tension from the body and promote enhanced wellness.

This fibromyalgia self-help technique has enabled many people live a happy and fulfilling life without the weakening pain that is fibromyalgia.

 

CHAPTER TWO: What Causes Fibromyalgia?

 

Although the cause of fibromyalgia syndrome is not currently known, research has uncovered significant information. For example, fibromyalgia syndrome often develops after a physical trauma (i.e., an accident, injury, or severe illness) that appears to act as a trigger in predisposed individuals. Such a trauma may affect the central nervous system which in turn produces the condition that we know as fibromyalgia.

During 1997, a team of investigators lead by Israeli researcher Dan Buskila, M.D., reported a study of the relationship between cervical spine injuries and the onset of fibromyalgia which uncovered that FMS was 13 times more likely to occur following a neck injury than an injury to the lower extremities. Early studies by Dr. Donaldson's research team in Calgary, Canada, suggest that in fibromyalgia patients, the most powerful electrical activity in the brain is inappropriately in the slowest brain waves (i.e., EEG slowing).

Therefore, there is reason to believe that significant physiological changes may occur in the body following a severe trauma, particularly when the neck or upper body is involved.

Researchers continue to explore a number of avenues which might explain the etiology of fibromyalgia. For example, studies suggest that there is a strong familial pattern in the occurrence of FMS, which often seems to follow the female side of the family. Thus, genetic research is of great interest to many researchers.

Moreover, there is strong evidence that major depression is associated with fibromyalgia, although the nature of the association is controversial. A study that employed functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate brain responses to experimental pain among fibromyalgia patients found that depressive symptoms were associated with the magnitude of clinically-induced pain response specifically in areas of the brain that participate in affective pain processing, but not in areas involved in sensory processing which indicates that the amplification of the sensory dimension of pain in fibromyalgia occurs independently of mood or emotional processes.

An alternative hypothesis regarding the development of fibromyalgia in relationship to psychological conflict proposes that the disorder may be a psychosomatic illness as described by John E. Sarno's writing related to "tension myositis syndrome", in which chronic pain is proposed to be a psychic diathesis of the mind's subconscious strategy of distracting painful or dangerous emotions. Education, attitude change, and in some cases, psychotherapy are proposed as treatments.

Furthermore, the neurotransmitter serotonin (which modifies the intensity of pain signals entering the brain) appears to be deficient in patients with fibromyalgia. In fact, many of the medications currently used to treat fibromyalgia work to counteract this deficit. While it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a breakdown in the pain perception system in fibromyalgia patients, it is not yet known if the problem is related to allodynia (an increase in pain perception which occurs even though the stimuli sent from the various parts of the body are basically normal) or hyperalgesia (a "hyper" response to real pain stimuli).

Not long ago, medical researchers viewed fibromyalgia syndrome as a discrete medical entity. Increasingly, however, FMS is being seen as a condition which overlaps significantly with certain other systemic illnesses along with a number of regional conditions that affect particular body organs. One of the earliest proponents of this point of view was University of Illinois researcher Muhammad Yunus, M.D., who developed the concept of Dysregulation Spectrum Syndrome (DSS).

DSS is an umbrella term for a number of associated conditions that share common clinical characteristics and a similar bio-physiological mechanism. Dr. Yunus includes nine conditions besides FMS in his DSS family: chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), irritable bowel syndrome, tension headaches, migraine headaches, primary dysmenorrhea, periodic limb movement disorder, restless legs syndrome, temporomandibular pain syndrome, and myofascial pain syndrome. He predicts that future research will add new members.

With this perspective, the long list of symptoms/syndromes associated with fibromyalgia can be seen in a special context rather than as one long, baffling list of seemingly incongruent complaints. When FMS and allied conditions are viewed as part of a spectrum, new, coordinated, multi-disciplinary approaches to research and treatment can be undertaken.

There is still much disagreement among researchers and patients alike regarding the extent to which systemic conditions like fibromyalgia syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivities are similar, or even identical, conditions. The overall concept of overlap encourages significant changes in the thinking which has revolved around FMS.

 

CHAPTER 3: Official Diagnostic Criteria of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia syndrome has had a long, rather obscure, history as an illness. Concealed behind numerous medical aliases, FMS has existed throughout history and throughout the wor...

Table of contents

• (Sem título)
• Introduction
• CHAPTER ONE: How Fibromyalgia Affects Your Body
• CHAPTER TWO: What Causes Fibromyalgia?
• CHAPTER 3: Official Diagnostic Criteria of Fibromyalgia
• CHAPTER 4: The Conventional Medicine Approach
• CHAPTER 5: Treating Yourself Using the Power of Natural Remedies
• CHAPTER 6: Fibromyalgia & Your Diet
• CHAPTER 7: How to Get the Fibromyalgia Diet Recipe Work for You
• CHAPTER 8: Delicious Fibromyalgia Friendly Recipes
• Chapter 9: In Conclusion
• CHAPTER 10: The Future of Fibromyalgia Treatment
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• REFERENCES