Homeopathy Treatment for Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia/Fibromyositis/Chronic muscle pain/Fibrofog/Fibromyalgic syndrome (FMS)
Fibromyalgia means pain in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons—the soft fibrous tissues of the body without any detectable inflammation. Fibromyalgia does not cause body damage or deformity. However, undue fatigue plagues the large majority of patients with fibromyalgia and sleep disorders are common in fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is common, with a prevalence of approximately 2% in the general US population, and it is more common in women.
Fibromyalgia is closely related to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which causes similar symptoms, except that in fibromyalgia, muscle pain predominates over fatigue, whereas in CFS, fatigue predominates over pain.
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Causes of Fibromyalgia
The causes of fibromyalgia include:
- Immune system problems – Certain immunologic abnormalities are common among people with fibromyalgia. Some suggest that fibromyalgia is the result of toxins accumulating in the muscles from lactic acid build-up.
- Physically Unfit Muscles
- Disturbance in brain chemistry – Many people who develop fibromyalgia have a history of clinical depression
- Sleep Disturbances or Insomnia
- Infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the virus that causes infectious mononucleosis, or with the fungus Candida albicans
- Food allergy (dairy products, wheat, fermented foods, and nightshades-potatoes, eggplant-are most common)
- Emotional stress
- Intestinal candida overgrowth
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Adrenal exhaustion
- Chronic mercury poisoning from amalgam dental fillings
- Anemia
- Hypoglycemia
- Hypothyroidism.
Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
- Widespread pain for more than 3 months.
- Tenderness in the neck, shoulder, knee, elbow, or upper buttocks or thigh areas.
- Trouble sleeping.
- Tiredness- In the morning or late in the day
- Mood changes.
- Irritable bowel syndrome.
- Headaches, sometimes migraines
- Difficulty concentrating.
- Numbness and tingling in hands, arms, feet, legs or face.
- Abdominal pain.
- Bloating.
- Constipation.
- Diarrhea.
- Patients with FMS may feel down, or even mildly depressed, though clinical depression only results in about 25% of people with FMS
- Some patients experience chronic anxiety and may have a difficult time concentrating.
- Some patients experience paresthesia, or a numbness and tingling in their hands and feet
- Sensitivity to light or temperature.
Diagnosis
To meet the fibromyalgia criteria for diagnosis, patients must have:
- Widespread pain in all four quadrants of their body for a minimum of three months
- At least 11 of the 18 specified tender points
The location of the 18 tender points is:
- (1 & 2) Occiput: on both sides (bilateral), at the sub-occipital muscle insertions.
- (3 & 4) Low Cervical: bilateral, at the anterior aspects of the inter-transverse spaces.
- (5 & 6) Lateral Epicondyle: bilateral, 2 cm distal to the epicondyles
- (7 & 8) Knee: bilateral, at the medial fat pad proximal to the joint line.
- (9 & 10) Second Rib: bilateral, at the second costochondral junction, just lateral to the junctions on upper surfaces.
- (11 & 12) Trapezius: bilateral, at the midpoint of the upper border of the muscle.
- (13 & 14) Supraspinatus: bilateral, at origins, above the spine of the scapula (shoulder blade) near the medial border
- (15 & 16) Gluteal: bilateral, in upper outer quadrants of buttocks in anterior fold of muscle.
- (17 & 18) Greater Trochanter: bilateral, posterior to the trochanteric prominence.
Treatment of Fibromyalgia
If you are devastated by symptoms of severe widespread pain and daytime exhaustion and you have been diagnosed for having fibromyalgia, you need not get disappointed as homeopathy is there to help to get rid of the sufferings.
Homeopathy helps the fibromyalgia patients in the following ways:-
- Homeopathic medicines stabilizes the nervous system and calms the hyper-sensitivity of nerve tissues
- Homeopathic medicines help in balancing the functions of your pain-receptor cells, and other biochemical responses of the body to avoid over-stimulation of the nervous system thus reducing pain.
- Homeopathic medicines help in increasing the blood circulation thus relaxing the musculo-skeletal system as the increased circulation cleans up the toxins that cause pain.
- Homeopathic medicines help in strengthening your muscles, ligaments and cartilages
- Homeopathic medicines help in restoring the disturbed immune system immune system, so as to stop it from being indiscriminately hypersensitive.
The homeopathic medicines are selected after a full individualizing examination and case-analysis, which includes the medical history of the patient, physical and mental constitution etc. While choosing the homeopathic medicine the cause of fibromyalgia is also evaluated such as depression, mental stress, infections, nutritional deficiencies etc. This is overlooked by the allopathic practitioners.
Homeopathy works at the physical as well as the mental plane and hence can be instrumental in giving maximum relief to the patients of fibromyalgia. Homeopathy is a science which works on the body as well as the mind of a patient and considers that mind and body are not separate. That is why homeopathy can do wonders in cases of fibromyalgia as mind (stress) plays an important role in triggering the condition. The underlying stress can be effectively handled with Homeopathic treatment. It improves the general immunity and vitality of the patient and also targets the increased sensitiveness to pain that these patients suffer from.
SERCH (Society for the Establishment of Research in Classical Homeopathy) participated in a study investigating the efficacy of homeopathic treatment in fibromyalgia. This was conducted through the University of Arizona.
Management of Fibromyalgia
There is no specific diet plan to treat fibromyalgia. Comparatively few diet studies have been undertaken to assess the impact of food on fibromyalgia, and there is no clear evidence indicating that any specific foods improve this complex syndrome. Also, there is no clear medical evidence that dietary supplements improve symptoms. Indeed, blood and hair tests have revealed no pattern of mineral deficiency in fibromyalgia patients. Thus it is misleading to say there is an effective diet to reduce the symptoms of fibromyalgia, however a well-planned diet with the right nutritional supplements will help optimize your health.
In addition there are several therapies involving massage, yoga to give patients relief.
Home Remedies
- Radish and Cranberry juice are some of the effective fruits for treating fibromyalgia..
- Lemon juice with honey provides temporary relief to patients
- Raw papaya
- Half teaspoon of Turmeric powder taken with warm water is highly effective