Fibromyalgia - Information and Natural Cures

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome (fibromyalgia syndrome, or FMS), or a cluster of problems.

Fibromyalgia is an invisible disease. Sufferers look fine on the surface. However, under their outward appearance they are often exhausted and in excruciating pain.

Pain is the most distinguishing characteristic of fibromyalgia. Medically, it's described as generalized musculoskeletal aches, pain and stiffness. For the pain to be diagnosed as fibromyalgia, it has to be present in all four body quadrants (arms and legs) for at least 3 months, and there has to be pain when pressure is applied to at least 11 of the 18 identified trigger points.

The pain waxes and wanes, varying in intensity. People have good days and bad days. Some days it's not too bad; some days it's pretty much disabling. The pain of fibromyalgia often gets worse on cold or humid days, when you haven't slept well, when you are too inactive or too active, when you are stressed or when your hormones change.

The second most disabling characteristic of fibromyalgia is fatigue. Recent findings suggest that the fatigue is due to a stage four sleep disorder called alpha EEG anomaly. During deep stage four sleep, the brain has bursts of awake-like activity, so there is not enough undisturbed deep sleep for the body to get sufficient rest.

In addition to alpha EEG anomaly, many FMS sufferers also have sleep apnea, upper airway resistance syndrome, bruxism (teeth grinding during sleep), limb movement and jerking and restless leg syndrome. All of these contribute to the fatigue of fibromyalgia.

Pain and fatigue are the most disabling features of fibromyalgia, but there are other distressing symptoms, too. 40-70 per cent of fibromyalgia sufferers experience irritable bowel syndrome or other gastrointestinal problems. Constipation and diarrhea, abdominal pain, excessive gassiness, nausea and gastroesophageal reflux are common.

Many fibromyalgia sufferers are distressed by associated mental and emotional problems that manifest themselves alongside the physical ailments. Anxiety and depression are common. It's not known whether they are independent factors, or if they are related to living in constant pain and fatigue and the social stigma of fibromyalgia. People also complain of confusion, experiencing difficulty thinking clearly and a reduction in ability to perform mental tasks. This overall mental fogginess has been termed "fibro fog."

Other symptoms of fibromyalgia include headaches, restless leg syndrome, skin sensitivity and rashes, dry eyes and mouth, Reynaud's syndrome, and various neurological problems.

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No one knows what causes fibromyalgia. Anyone can get it, but it is most common in middle-aged women. People with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases are particularly likely to develop fibromyalgia. There is no cure for fibromyalgia, but medicines can help you manage your symptoms. Getting enough sleep and exercising may also help.

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=> The two ways that Fibromyalgia usually appears
=> The two most common treatment methods for Fibromyalgia
=> The six most common Fibromyalgia symptoms
=> How to properly manage and treat Fibromyalgia

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Stress and pain are irreversibly linked in fibromyalgia. For many people, some kind of stressful event is what initially triggers fibromyalgia. It often shows up after a serious illness, some kind of emotional or mental shock or with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). There is probably a genetic tendency toward fibromyalgia, and many people believe that stress unmasks the disorder.

Fibromyalgia is thought to be a central nervous system disorder in which either pain-sensing nerves are excessively sensitive, or the brain is extremely sensitive to pain impulses. People with fibromyalgia have poor functioning of the HPA axis-hpyophysis-pituitary-adrenal axis-which is our body's system for responding to stress with neurochemicals like adrenalin and serotonin. We don't know how pain sensation and an abnormal stress response are related, but we do know that people with fibromyalgia experience more pain when they are stressed.

Just having fibromyalgia is stressful. Dealing with constant pain, fatigue and mental cloudiness is stressful. Not being able to accomplish things is stressful, especially if it affects your employment situation. That can lead to financial stress. The fact that few people understand what you are going through and expect you to behave "normally" is stressful. Dealing with a chronic illness and lifestyle changes is stressful.

Stress reduction is an important part of managing your fibromyalgia. Here are a few ways that may help alleviate some of your stress.

1. Good self care. Eating a nutritious diet, getting the right amount of the right kind of exercise, establishing regular sleep habits and giving yourself grace are all part of taking good care of yourself. They are important.

2. Practice body awareness. People who deal with chronic pain, as in fibromyalgia, become accustomed to ignoring their bodies; it's one way they cope with the pain. If you learn to recognize your body's cues that you are becoming tense, you can use a relaxation technique or exercise early on, before stress becomes unmanageable. At the same time, you don't want to lose that protective lack of awareness about pain. Take breaks every so often and just sit quietly and pay attention to how you feel. Learn where you feel stress first. Do you get heartburn? Do your shoulders get tight? Once you learn that, you can periodically scan to see if your body is showing tension.

3. Change the way you think. This takes practice, but it gives you a chance to respond to situations instead of reacting.

4. Keep a stress journal. This has two purposes. You can journal about stressful incidents and use the journal as a tool to help you identify situations that are stressful to you. This can help you either avoid repeating these situations or be better prepared should they be unavoidable. Journaling about a stressful event also helps you debrief and de-stress after the event.

5. Learn stress management techniques, such as visualization, meditation and breathing. These techniques decrease the level of neurochemicals circulating in your body, and help decrease both stress and pain.

6. Physical therapy, stretching and massage can help decrease muscle tension and stress, and help minimize pain.

7. Talk to a counselor who specializes in stress management and pain treatment. He or she can help you learn new ways to manage stressful events.

If you decrease your stress, you will probably experience less pain and fatigue from your fibromyalgia.

The most effective treatment for fibromyalgia is exercise. Which seems totally weird, because most people with fibromyalgia hurt worse and are more fatigued after exercise, and they may feel that way for days. The key is the right amount of the right kinds of exercise.

If you are new to exercising within the constraints of fibromyalgia, it may be helpful to enlist the help of a trainer, physical therapist or exercise physiologist to design a program specifically for you. Every person with fibromyalgia has a different exercise capacity, so you need an individualized program.

Another important concept related to exercise is your "baseline." Each person has a different baseline. It is the level of exercise that you can maintain over time. It does not mean that you are pain-free, but that the pain doesn't interfere with your lifestyle. You also need to remember that you'll always have good days and bad days. You don't stop or reduce your exercise because of a bad day. (Although you may reduce it for a while if you have a bad flare-up that lasts days or weeks.)

Exercise training for someone with fibromyalgia begins with stretching. Stretching reduces the stiffness and keeps ligaments and tendons from shortening over time. Stretching should be gentle and it should feel good. It is usually a good idea to warm your muscles with mild aerobic activity, such as walking, for a few minutes before stretching.

Daily low-impact, gentle aerobic exercise is the next step. Aerobic exercise has tons of health benefits. It specifically helps reduce fibromyalgia symptoms because it improves flexibility, causes your body to release endorphins and other happy chemicals and reduces stress. Walking and bicycling are excellent low-impact exercises. It is important to start at a level suitable to where you are and increase your level of exercise slowly. If you get fatigued after five minutes of walking, start there and increase your time by a minute or two every week or two.

Some activities are especially good for fibromyalgia. Water aerobics and swimming are wonderful. The buoyancy of the water supports your sore muscles and allows you to exercise with less pain. Swimming has a double benefit of gentle stretching along with aerobic exercise.

Tai Chi and Qi Gong and Yoga emphasize slow, gentle movements that are ideal for people with fibromyalgia. All three exercises include breathing and focusing, which decrease stress. You also learn to be aware of your body and learn to recognize signs of stress.

Whether we are talking about exercise or sleep, pacing and routine are important if you have fibromyalgia. Going to bed and getting up at the same time every day helps with sleep. Exercising at the same time every day helps with exercise. Your body begins to respond to routine.

Exercise must be paced, too. That means starting at a low level, increasing gradually, and incorporating rest into your routine. You exercise, then rest, then exercise some more. Over time, you can shorten the rest periods and/or lengthen the exercise periods. Rhythm and pacing make a big difference in how much exercise you can tolerate.

It is recommended that you consult your doctor before starting any new exercise regime.

To find out more on why exercise can be so beneficial please visit EliminateFibromyalgia.com .

Treating the pain associated with Fibromyalgia can be a difficult task since cures that help one person might not help you. Here is a list of popular and common pain remedies that should help your symptoms.

1) Entering into a consistent and relaxing exercise routine is one of the easiest and most beneficial ways of dealing with Fibromyalgia. Please remember to never start an exercise routine without consulting a doctor first.

2) A low carb and high protein diet is another popular way to help relieve Fibromyalgia pain. Not only will eating right help your body overall, by eliminating high amounts of saturated fat, refined white sugar, caffeine and alcohol, you can eliminate many common symptom triggers.

3) As any long time sufferer of Fibromyalgia can tell you, nothing feels better than a good heating pad. Pads help with circulation and also help to loosen up muscles and joints that can ache during severe bouts of Fibro flare-up.

4) The use of topical pain medications is another popular way to deal with Fibromyalgia. But a quick trip to your local drug store reveals an overwhelming choice in pain relief rubs. The industry standard is, of course, Bengay.

5) Meditation might not be a cure-all for pain, but it can help relieve a lot of stress that can be a major trigger for Fibromyalgia symptoms. Meditation is a very personal, and for most a private practice.

6) A final helper for pain is deep tissue massage. By helping to stimulate blood flow in the joints and muscles that are aching, symptoms and pain can be reduced. This works much the same way as a heating pad, but many Fibromyalgia sufferers swear by the deeper and more complete relief of a massage.

Fibromyalgia can be a painful and debilitating ailment. Luckily, there are many non-drug methods of dealing with the chronic pain caused by this condition. You may have to try several methods before you find one that is right for you, but there is hope for everyone with Fibromyalgia.

For more information on overcoming Fibromyalgia symptoms please visit EliminateFibromyalgia.com.

One method of treating Fibromyalgia that many sufferers agree helps is changing your diet. While there is no ironclad recipe of foods to include and foods to avoid, you can use these tips as a starting point to easing your Fibromyalgia symptoms. The key here is remembering what works for some, doesn't work for all. It will take some time and some experimentation to figure out the right diet modifications for your Fibromyalgia.

=> Try to balance your diet. The first goal of any sufferer is to get the body in as optimum condition as possible. Cut down on fatty foods and try to eat more veggies and fruit. Drink more water to help flush everything through your system. Cut down drastically on junk food.

=> Take in more protein and less carbs. Even if you don't suffer from Fibromyalgia, this is sound advice. Lean proteins, like skinless chicken, lean beef and fish, are an excellent and healthy way to fuel your body. They help keep energy levels high and can even help with hypoglycemia. The carbs, on the other hand, help the body to make insulin, which in small doses is good, but if your body makes too much, it can lead to your system storing fat.

=> Avoid caffeine and anything that has caffeine in it. This may be close to impossible when you consider the popularity of coffee and soft drinks today, but caffeine is a diuretic and can exacerbate IBS symptoms that are common with Fibromyalgia. This means no caffeinated pop and also no chocolate or coffee.

=> Try to eliminate alcohol consumption. Not only can the combination of many common prescription medications and alcohol be very bad for you, even alcohol on its own can make symptoms worse. Alcohol can aggravate the stomach and digestive tract and cause increased bowel problems.

=> Finally, try to reduce or eliminate refined white sugar from your diet. Again, this falls under the category of sound medical advice to anyone, but for Fibromyalgia sufferers, it's an especially good idea. Not only can sugar disrupt sleep patterns if too much is eaten, it can harm your immune system and tests have shown that Fibromyalgia patients report fewer symptoms and less severe symptoms when they decreased their sugar intake.

Treating your Fibromyalgia can be a chore, especially when some doctors won't even admit it exists. But there are significant steps you can take at home to decrease your Fibromyalgia symptoms by changing what you eat for the better. While everyone may get different results, these tips will hopefully have you on your way to a healthier tomorrow.

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