According to WebMd: Fibromyalgia is a lifelong condition that affects about 5 million Americans. People with it have sore, stiff muscles, but nothing odd shows up on X-rays or most lab tests. Doctors diagnose it based on your symptoms and an exam. While fibromyalgia doesn’t damage joints or organs, the constant aches and fatigue can really impact daily life.
The hallmark of fibromyalgia is muscle pain throughout your body. Typically, you’ll also have:
- Fatigue
- Sleep problems
- Anxiety or depression
- Joint pain and numbness or tingling
Approximately 3.4 % of women in the United States suffer from fibromyalgia. Women are much more likely to develop fibromyalgia then are men. Many people who have fibromyalgia also have tension headache, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, irritable bowel syndrome as well as food sensitivities associated with gut dysbiois.
According to “The Fibro Bible” The causes of fibromyalgia is caused by long term stress, poor diet, and irregular sleep cycles. This creates a combination of gut dysbiosis (poor gut flora balance) improper distribution of gasotransmitters such as nitric oxide, and hormonal imbalances leading to chronic inflammation. It is a very similar etiology as chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, and PTSD.
THE EIGHT MAIN FACTORS OF FIBROMYALGIA
Fibromyalgia is chronic pain caused by eight separate, yet overlapping causes. The predominant factor that causes pain can and does change based on weather patterns, diet, psychological triggering, sleep, and mitochondrial levels. This variability is why fibromyalgia seems so random. For anyone who has been on a fibro forum or talked to a fibro support group, you have heard stories that are terrifying and make the situation seem bleak.
A woman is diligently practicing yoga. She is feeling better by the day and then suddenly, for no apparent reason the pain is back with a vengeance. She was doing everything “right”. She summoned every bit of will power. Why was the yoga suddenly not helping anymore? This lack of understanding is terrifying and leads many to believe that they are cursed or that the situation is hopeless.
A doctor cured several patients with a special diet. It worked exceptionally for some, but not at all for others. Why?
A body worker made one person feel normal again, but caused the next patient to have an extreme spike in pain. Why?
The simple answer is because there are eight different overlapping causes. Seeing them with clarity will allow you to flexibly adapt. It will help you know what to use to help alleviate pain, when to use it, and when to stop. In most cases all of these mechanisms are at work to a varying degree, but one will play a predominant role and alleviating it will allow the others to follow. Finding that first domino creates a metabolic cascade that increases energy, decreases pain, and improves quality of life.
The Light of Context
To really understand fibromyalgia, imagine trying to renovate a dilapidated house. After years of neglect, it has fallen into disrepair. The windows are broken; the basement is flooded and plants are growing up through the moldy floorboards in the living room. Now imagine that someone has told you that uncomfortable homes are caused by moldy carpets. It’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. You tear up the carpet in the living room and replace it. There is less mold, but no one has repaired the windows or the leaky roof. After a while it starts to rain and the carpet is moldy once more. As a result, you forget the mold and hear from a specialist that in order to maintain a comfortable home the thermostat must be working properly. As a result you crank up the heat, but the house is still flooded and the windows are still broken. Repairing this house seems like an impossible task. This is because no one is looking at the big picture. Without context and an order of operations, most of the effort is wasted. As a result, people honestly believe that there is no cure. This is like deciding that a home can’t be functional because you installed a furnace while the windows were still broken. To make improvements that will last, you would first seal the windows and patch up the roof. After this you could drain off the flooded water, repair the electrical system, tear out damaged wood, hire workers, get materials, install new pipes, and finally a heating system. These stages overlap, yet must be addressed in the correct order or else it can lead to relapse. The stages address the following conditions in sequential order.
1. Lymphatic dysregulation and biofilms
2. Gut Dysbiosis
3. Nitric Oxide Dysregulation Associated with Elevated Cortisol
4. Prostaglandin Dysregulation and Platelet Adhesion
5. Mitochondrial Myopathy
6. Venous insufficiency
7. Due to Low DHEA’s /HPA-Thyroid Dysregulation
8. Dysregulation of ACTH and Cortisol Associated with Lumbar Pain and Low Body Temperature
Lotus Spring Acupuncture and Wellness Inc. offers 1 hour comprehensive examination to determine what stages you may be at and addressed accordingly by treatment strategy and therapy to relieve pain, improve sleep and digestion, increase energy level and improve your overall quality of life.
Here is a recent testimonial from a patient:
Call to schedule your one hour examination to see if Lotus Spring Acupuncture can help at 385-498-3914
