My Doctor Said Fibromyalgia

FIBROMYALGIA

We often hear on our TV, “ my doctor said I've got fibromyalgia,” and then lots of stories of some famous medicine underlining all of the drug's side effects.

WHAT IS FIBROMYALGIA?

The word comes from Latin word Fibro ( fibrous tissues), Greek word  Myo (muscles)  and  Algia (pain).

Fibromyalgia, when mentioned, makes one think of anything but pain, yet it is a syndrome of pain. In olden times it was called FIBROSITIS.

FIBROMYALGIA SYNDROME

The syndrome is a collection of chronic pain symptoms varying from stiffness of muscles, tenderness of muscles, tendons, and joints. This may be accompanied by restless sleep, anxiety, fatigue and depression. It may also have disturbed bowel function.

Not a life threatening condition, fibromyalgia can be very troublesome to the millions of Americans and similar numbers of people around the world who suffer the daily impairment and reduced quality of life. Primarily a muscle condition, fibromyalgia should not be confused with arthritis, which has joint inflammation.

WHO IS AFFECTED 

It affects predominantly women, between the ages of 35- 55 and 80% of sufferers are women. Men, children, and the aged are less prone to this syndrome.  More needs to be learned about the fibromyalgia syndrome in association with rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus.

CAUSES OF FIBROMYALGIA

The cause of Fibromyalgia is still unkown, but research shows that patients of this ailment have higher levels of a nerve chemical called P and a nerve growth factor in the spinal fluid. They also have low levels of serotonin and exhibit impaired REM, rapid eye movement, resulting in unrefreshed sleep.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

The symptoms are not easily discernable, because they vary from person to person. Many of the symptoms copy other disorders. There are no standard test to establish this disease.The pain of the disease is wide spread, affects both sides of the body, and affects the neck, buttock, shoulders, arms, upper back and chest.

AGGRAVATION

People with this syndrome find they become aggravated by noise, weather changes, bright lights and emotional stress.

TREATMENT

Conventional treatment depends on various types of painkillers. The best bet for its treatment lies in homeopathy, coupled with yoga, and other form of exercises. Lifestyle changes has to be adopted with special attention to food.

HOMEOPATHY

In my opinion homeopathy is most suitable as it takes a holistic approach, i.e body, mind, and soul.

Each person must be treated as an individual using standard methods of thorough case-taking to arrive at one medicine. Homeopaths dealing the case would be the best judge how to go about treatment. Since there are no specific medicines for this ailment the range of remedies can be anywhere from Rhus Tox to Anacardium out of the thousands of homeopathic remedies available.

I close this blog with the hope that more input in the form of discussion and experience with patients will add to our knowledge.