I tend to go with the view that fibromyalgia is the body’s response to stress (both emotional and physical), because it’s what makes the most sense in my case. I was diagnosed this past July, but had been symptomatic for a good few months prior to that. All things considered, I was diagnosed remarkably quickly–I’ve heard some horror stories from other fibro patients–so I can count myself lucky for this.
My symptoms first started to show at a time when the medication I was taking for Graves’ Disease and the resultant high blood pressure and anaemia was finally starting to take effect, so you can imagine there were quite a few changes going on in my body.
Graves’ Disease did a real number on me, to put it bluntly. It was diagnosed in August 2008, after an immigration panel doctor noticed my swollen thyroid, but I’d had symptoms since January 2006. The trouble is that the symptoms were all so random that I never got properly checked out. I put everything down to a lung infection that had knocked me for six back in 2006, and everything else down to stress and the generally unhealthy student lifestyle that I’d been living.
During the time I went undiagnosed, I had: Weight loss (I’m almost 5 foot 9, but at one point my weight went down to about 7 stone), thinning hair, seriously high blood pressure causing my hands to shake and my legs to wobble, heat intolerance (which may not sound like much, but actually it was pretty horrific when a perfectly mild spring day felt like a furnace from hell), the inability to walk more than five feet without having to sit down, dizzy spells, joint pain, swollen legs, and rather severe muscle wastage.
I also had a pretty unpleasant flare of psoriasis, which covered my entire hands and the soles of my feet for about a year. It comes back from time to time, but has never been that severe since.
I look back at photos of myself from 2006 and I look seriously unwell. My face was so gaunt that my eyes are practically popping out of my head (although fortunately, I haven’t had the eye involvement that can occur with Graves’ Disease–thank God, I have enough issues with my ugly mug without turning into Pop-Eye) and my hair was thin and awful.
I guess I never thought that there could be a real problem because after the first flare up of the sickness (lasting about eight months) things seemed to subside. I stopped experiencing dizzy spells whenever I tried to walk further than the end of the street, and I pretty much wrote everything else off as just me being out of shape.
I went from being able to walk six miles a day to being unable to climb a flight of stairs because my leg muscles just… disappeared. And yet I put it down to being a bit out of shape, not stopping to think that the reason I was a bit out of shape was because I’d suddenly found myself unable to walk without dizziness and unable to climb stairs, for pity’s sake!
I didn’t get my leg muscles back until about February 2009 and I was so damn happy about it. I could do things! I could go for long pretentious walks in the park with my camera! I never had been lazy, I’d just been SICK!
And then, at the end of February, I had my first major fibromyalgia flare. Since then I’ve either been:
a) a completely symptom-free WALKING KING (seriously, I love these days)
b) moderately sore but able to walk without mobility aids
c) in need of my stick due to leg/back problems
d) getting carried home from work by my considerate managers after my back starts to spasm so badly I can’t walk
e) not even getting out of bed, thanks.
So it comes and goes. Much like my mental problems, actually. I would prefer it if I could synchronise them (if I could be depressed whilst in physical pain because then I could just get them both out of the way at the same time, and if I could be pain-free whilst hypomanic, that would be excellent) because I’ve had some ridiculous moments where I’ve been mentally bouncing off the walls…
…whilst bedridden. During a particularly unpleasant mental episode, no less. Picture your maiden aunt lying in her sickbed whilst burning up with restless rage, screaming at the fucking thunderstorm to just bloody well TRY frying her with lightning, and trying to punch the walls, and you’ve got it.
“Good god,” said my coworker, when I described it, “it sounds like something out of The Exorcist.”
Well, you’ve got to laugh, haven’t you… until you remember you’ve got costochondritis and it hurts too sodding much.
Recently I was talking to my mom about the newest thing I’m thinking of trying. It’s suppose to balance the pH of your water, along with add electrolytes and minerals. (see link) She asked, “How can you afford to take all of these things?”
The truth is, financially I can’t really. I’m stretched as thin as a butterfly’s wing. These are hard, economical times.
On the flipside, can I afford to NOT keep trying new therapies in hope that remission will soon be giving me a high five at my doorstep? Sure I’m feeling great in a sense that I’m completely functional with RA. But as long as I’m not in complete remission, there’s still damage being done. I’m thinking long term. It’s the same as keeping up on your teeth cleaning. If you don’t, you could end up with some serious tooth decay, along with heart conditions and toxins invading your body. What kind of damage is happening to my hands long term? And there’s no guarantee with conventional drugs either that you can skip out on the deformities. Just clue into a recent post and you’ll see that hand deformity is just like the disease itself in that it varies from person to person. So you have to do your best to get inflammation under control no matter what you’re taking. Even if you’re taking DMARD’s and Biologics, you have to consider that eating right and exercising would be a wise, helpful choice since these medications can raise cancer risks, among other things. Our bodies are long term investments.
From time to time expense comes up as a topic in my RA support group. The idea of going organic, buying fresh food vs packaged, and taking supplements that can improve overall health seems too expensive to some. Most people embrace the burden of the extra costs, but a few need encouragement that long term, investing in the right foods and supplements will save money. This is particularly tough when a lot of us, including myself are living paycheck to paycheck. What you pay now at the grocery mart will help determine the costs of your future medical bills. Just like I am spending money on supplements, rather than movies or haircuts, I’m figuring that the money I spend now could make for a less expensive health bill in the future. Not only that, but the better I feel and the more that I can do, the better chance I have at making more money in the future, simply because I’ll be able to keep up a career and hopefully advance in that career.
So my motto is, when you’re trying to decide what to eat for lunch and your choice is a hamburger on the doller menu or that organic salad with grilled, free range chicken that were raised without antibiotics….. choose the latter. Because in my opinion, you’re going to be paying for your health in one way or another.
I usually don’t discuss how I treat fibromyalgia unless I see you in the office or talk with you on the phone, because what I do is a pretty unique combination of things I have learned from some amazing doctors, patients, and from research. The knowledge I have, and my approach to the treatment of fibromyalgia is part of the value in my care. The thing is I really don’t mind sharing an overview with you though, because if you are suffering with fibromyalgia you need to know how we are different. My approach to treating fibromyalgia is a thick combination of many different techniques, clinical experiences and research. With that said, I’ve been fortunate to learn and be mentored by excellent teachers, and for that I’m very thankful. Without great teachers, I wouldn’t be able to provide you with this information.
One thing you will discover as you learn more about fibromyalgia, is that there are probably 50 different hypotheses for its cause. I encourage you, when presented with one of these “causes”, that you always ask why. Always continually ask why until you are at the root cause, not just another symptom or side effect of a deeper underlying problem. I encourage you to go through this line of questioning, knowing that currently, there is not a definitive answer to the cause of fibromyalgia. I believe, as do many other doctors, researchers, and people with fibromyalgia, that the cause is stress.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Stress in the form of chemical, physical and emotional stressors, that disrupt your body’s normal physiology/function. Once you have come to the conclusion that stress is at the root of your problem (and I firmly believe it is), your plan should be, to figure out how to address the stressors in your life, and treat your symptoms without creating more problems as a result of the treatment, as some medications can do.
I’ve got a plan to help you begin tackling this problem, and to help you remove this stress from your life. I use all natural, drug free, treatments including neurologically based therapies to help you significantly reduce your stress for good. The plan consists of in office care, and out of office lifestyle changes that are extremely important to the speed of your recovery. So here’s the plan…
1) REMOVE
Remove all possible, toxic chemical stressors. (food, cosmetics, house hold chemicals, environmental, etc)
Remove all possible physical stressors. (ergonomic, postural/biomechanical, excess body weight, etc)
Remove all possible emotional stressors. (financial, relationships, address emotional trauma from the past, work related, etc)
2) REPAIR
Begin a neurologically based treatment program to focus on improving how your brain and nervous system function.
Replace toxic chemical stressors in your environment, with safe nontoxic ones.
Normalize metabolic/chemical/hormonal imbalances within your body through temporary nutritional supplementation.
Eat a diet rich in whole, unprocessed foods (organic if possible).
Begin an appropriate exercise program.
Correct any postural/biomechanical/ergonomic imbalances causing excess strain and stress on your muscles and ligaments.
Get your finances in order, end or strengthen stressful personal relationships, address work related problems, seek professional assistance for past emotional trauma)
etc…
3) Maintain
Maintain the progress and changes you have implemented.
Use the principles here, to guide you in the future with respect to limiting stress in your life.
Keep your biomechanical/postural stressors limited through regular traction and bodywork sessions
Don’t stop learning, and give back to others by sharing your knowledge.
That’s basically the overview of how my program and treatments are designed to help patients with fibromyalgia. This approach is also successful at treating other conditions because it focuses on reducing the cause of so many of our health problems, STRESS.
If you have fibromyalgia our treatment may be able to help you. Dr. Shook is available for complimentary phone consultations to see if you could benefit from our care. If you would like to schedule an appointment or if you have any questions, just give us a call at (828) 324-0800, or email Dr. Shook at drshook@alliancechiropracticcenter.com. You can also visit us at www.ncfibroclinic.com.
1. Wood PB. 2004. Stress and dopamine: implications for the pathophysiology of chronic widespread pain. Med Hypotheses. 62(3):420-4.
2. Martinez-Lavin M. 2004. Fibromyalgia as a sympathetically maintained pain syndrome. Curr Pain Headache Rep. Oct;8(5):385-9.
3. Martinez-Lavin M, Solano C. 2009. Dorsal root ganglia, sodium channels, and fibromyalgia sympathetic pain. Med Hypotheses. Jan;72(1):64-6.
4. Martinez-Lavin M, Vidal M, Barbosa RE, Pineda C, Casanova JM, Nava A. 2002. Norepinephrine-evoked pain in fibromyalgia. A randomized pilot study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2002;3:2.
5. Martinez-Lavin M. 2007. Biology and therapy of fibromyalgia. Stress, the stress response system, and fibromyalgia. Arthritis Res Ther. 9(4):216.
6. Martínez-Lavín M. 2001. Is fibromyalgia a generalized reflex sympathetic dystrophy? Clin Exp Rheumatol. Jan-Feb;19(1):1-3.
7. Cohen H, Neumann L, Alhosshle A, Kotler M, Abu-Shakra M, Buskila D. 2001. Abnormal sympathovagal balance in men with fibromyalgia. J Rheumatol. Mar;28(3):581-9.
8. Martínez-Lavín M, Hermosillo AG, Mendoza C, Ortiz R, Cajigas JC, Pineda C, Nava A, Vallejo M. 1997. Orthostatic sympathetic derangement in subjects with fibromyalgia. J Rheumatol. Apr;24(4):714-8.
9. Arias M. 2008. Is fibromyalgia a neurological disease? Neurologia. Nov;23(9):593-601.
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Last night my children and I had dinner together upstairs in our bedroom. My husband was off to Western Mass. to bring our lovey dog to his parents for Camp Callie. Usually, If we go away our sensitive dog, Callie, either stays at home and our neighbors and friends come in to feed her and walk her but this time the grandparents wanted to have the dog and take care of her. She loves them.
My son was in an absolutely celebratory mood, a Junior in High School, he also works every day after school, with the exception of “off limits Fridays.” he came home happy, haven gotten a Christmas bonus from our lovely neighbors and he was thrilled. As a mom, I of course was thrilled for him. In addition to money they also gave him a huge selection of jelly bellies and a box of chocolate for the family. Quite a lovely and thoughtful gift from his employers (our neighbors!)
I gave Tim money to get dinner for us and he went to his favorite place, Villarina’s, to gt some wraps for Jillian and for me. I can’t begin to express the love and fun that was at the meal as the three of us crowded around my bed and ate and talked. We were excited becauae we were going away for a few daysto Aruba, something that Tim had been looking forward to and had not been able to go for years. Our moods were bright with the promise of tomorrow and without the more formal seating of the kitchen table.
For pre-D, (pre-dessert) Tim opened up his box of assorted jelly beans and started tasting them and of course, threw some to Jillian and to me. There was laughter and joy and warmth I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. I felt like i hadn’t had this opportunity to just be with the kids for a long time. After all, I had been sick for almost two years. The jellybean dinner was the payoff. The opportunity to be with my two teenagers as we laughed, and teased each other and caught up on some old memories. This was worth more than any expensive dinner I could have gone too. This was living; this is what I meant to do.
I was home, with both children with me, not stressed, and full of fun. for a : holiday wish, you just can’t get better than this: a memory of fun, closeness,love and warmth and yes, at least 50 different flavors of jelly beans. Happy Holidays to all!
They said it could not be done…..stabilizing Reactive Molecules? Many of the country’s finest University Research Departments looked very carefully at the incredible discovery.
One by one they said “That’s Impossible! It cannot be done!
After 16 years of research… and 17 Patents
These same scientists said
HOW DID THEY DO THAT?
When I heard this I had to try it…here’s why:
Though not a scientist myself, I consider myself very qualified to speak about the personal evaluation of wellness products. Being a patient of traditional western medical treatment, I can also speak on what years of medication can do to a body. Many of these products for which I was told would do me great good, only let down time and time again. I had success with a couple, usually the ones on the cutting edge. But for the most part, many products I found were alike in what they promised, what they contained, and what they delivered. I will say that I was drawn to the Network marketing Industry out of a real necessity to earn an income from home. Secondly I found that some of these products worked on others, but not on me. I guess I am a very tough case. You can imagine how disappointing that would be over time, especially when trying to build a business as well.
In 1992 after a two year ordeal of not knowing what was wrong with me, I was tagged (what I know now as a misdiagnoses) with a “clinical diagnoses” of Multiple Sclerosis. Numerous tests, scans, and MRI’s ruled out Lupus, Lyme Disease, Parkinson’s, and a Brain Tumor but did find minimal scars on my brain and spinal cord. At that time there was no such thing as Chronic Fatigue syndrome, Epstein Barr Virus, or Fibromyalgia.. In my quest to get well, it became apparent that I had to empower myself to manage my pain, or I would be hopelessly chained to pain meds for life.
I have been prescribed so much medication that I dare say it has wrecked my liver. Much of the medication has been given to help with the pain. But others have been given to counteract the side effects of the original medication, which caused depression, sleeplessness, skin rashes, or weight gain.
I have lived with terrible constipation and such a slow digestive process that I have felt like a walking toxic waste dump. Unless I used a product with natural fiber, and ingredients like cascara sagrada, senna, slippery elm etc, I would be ‘stopped up, eliminating only once to twice a week.. The more constipated I was, the more toxic I felt. This is where I put together the connection to migraine headaches. Mind you this is purely my own personal diagnoses of myself. I have been to so many doctors, and they have not done a much better job except keeping me on drugs. I began to experience chronic migraine headaches about the same time I was on the most medication and was so constipated. I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that INTERNAL POLLUTION levels in my body have always been very high.
The most wonderful thing I have ever found to keep my system hydrated, alkalized and oxygenated is kangen water. I learned that fibromyalgia was nothing more than an extreme symptom of acidity, and once the acidity was gone, the symptoms would subside, and they did, (the fibromyalgia)
Migraines and constipation have been more complicated, and I think it’s because of all the medication I have been on for so long. I knew that to get off the medication and clean my system at the CELLULAR LEVEL, would require a miraculous product to come into my life. As I learned about acidity and alkalinity I felt I was really on to something , and my cells had a fighting chance of being released from being submerged in years and years of internal pollution.
It’s like a fish tank. We feed our fish, they poop….and poop…and if we don’t change the water what happens? We walk in one day an nemo is floating on the top of the tank! We don’t give nemo a pill if he gets sick right? We change the internal pollution!!
Along those same lines I learned about a body of science that has been studied very intensely in the last 7 or 8 years called Redox Signaling. You can look it up, but the simple explanation is that our cells are basically little packets of salt water, with a complex communication system within them. Scientists figured out a way to actually suspend the REACTIVE MOLECULES in a salt water solution, so it is shelf stable. That is what many scientists said could not be done!
When I started on this reactive molecule product, ASEA, the first thing I noticed was increased elimination. I went from twice a week, to twice a day! That is unheard of for my body. The big deal for me is that all the toxicity is moving out of my body! Secondly, I am having fewer and fewer headaches and at some point soon, I am confident they will be gone entirely* I have NEVER been MORE HOPEFUL about a product for my health or for the health of those I care about. ASEA will change the Wellness Industry, not for what it is…but more for what it is not!! We don’t need another Juice!
Get Ready to be very excited..You can go to http://www.aseabreakthrough.com if you can’t wait!
The following is a complete explanation of the technology, and the exciting Story of ASEA!
Stabilized Reactive Molecules
A New Scientific Break Through That Can Dramatically Improve Your Health & Athletic Performance
For the first time scientists have been able to form balanced reactive molecules outside the body. It has taken 16 years of research and many millions of dollars to make this major breakthrough in the field of natural health supplements.
Interestingly, ASEA is not a vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, juice or energy drink, yet it dramatically improves the efficacy of all of these in the body.
This exciting scientific breakthrough can have a direct impact on improving your health and significantly increasing your athletic performance!
Reactive Molecules & Anti-oxidants
Anti-oxidants protect us from free radical damage and aging. However, anti-oxidants cannot function properly in our bodies without balanced reactive molecules to trigger them.
As we age the cells in our body produce fewer and fewer reactive molecules. This is one reason why as we grow older it takes longer to heal from an injury or recover from an illness. Our body needs to maintain a proper chemical balance of these reactive molecules at all times in order to sustain optimum health.
Fortunately, there is now a safe, natural way to supplement the body’s production of balanced reactive molecules. A revolutionary new health supplement has been developed as a result of this scientific research. The product is called Asea. It comes in liquid form and is easily assimilated by the body. There is no other natural health supplement like it in the world!
Health Benefits of Asea
Asea mirrors the balanced reactive molecules that are produced naturally by our bodies. This revolutionary new product can benefit your health and athletic performance in the following ways:
ASEA stimulates the production of anti-oxidants. This product turns on and activates the anti-oxidants in our body and can make them 500% more effective.
Asea has zero levels of toxicity.
VO2 Max Test results, showed that participants had an average increase of 12% in their ventilatory threshold, lower average heart rate and less soreness and fatigue after a workout.
Accelerates the body’s production of its own antioxidants such as gluthathione, SOD and catalase.
More Health Benefits of Asea…
Natural body detoxification
Fortifies and protects your cells
Reduces body inflammation
Helps the cells achieve their natural healthy balance
It empowers the cells at the molecular level
Many athletes are setting new personal bests and are reporting a marked decrease in recovery time after a heavy workout by taking Asea on a regular basis.
The product is not available in health food stores or at your local supermarket. This new super supplement is exclusive to the Asea Corporation and its independent distributors. How Does Asea Work?
ATP is the body’s natural source of energy and is produced by mitochondria (rod shaped organelles within each cell). The mitochondria produce two sets of reactive molecules. The first group of reactive molecules activates the anti-oxidants in our bodies. Without these reactive molecules the anti-oxidants are powerless to act.
The second set of reactive molecules is referred to as immune system communicators. These reactive molecules communicate with and signal the immune system to respond to active threats to each cell or groups of cells.
These two sets of reactive molecules need to be in proper balance one with the other in order to be effective. When these reactive molecules are in balance they help the immune system and the cells of the body to communicate clearly with one another.
Reactive Molecules and Autoimmune Disease
In the last twenty years there has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of auto-immune diseases. Auto-immune disease occurs when the cells in the body do not communicate with each other.
When the immune system is called on by the body to deal with toxins and if there is poor cellular communication it may attack the good cells as well as the harmful ones. This is what happens inside the body to those individuals who suffer from psoriasis, for example. The immune system is attacking the body. This is an indication that the body is suffering from a lack of balanced reactive molecules.
* Please note that the statements made here, and information provided in this article has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Nothing stated here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information provided is not a substitute for a face-to-face consultation with your physician or other health-care professional and should in no case be construed as individual medical advice. The testimonials on this blog are individual cases and do not guarantee that you will get the same results
For more information: Go to http://www.AseaBreakthrough.com
“Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” (Psalm 54:5 NIV)
I’m having one of those days. You know the kind. A day where there are multiple pain sites on my body, some of them severe enough to slow me down. A day where between the pain and fatigue, I realize I’m just not up to par and I can feel my plans for the day slipping away into the realm of “not possible.” What to do?
One thing we all can always do and my first step today is to give thanks. I’m thankful I don’t have as many days like this as I used to in the past. I’m thankful my physical situation isn’t worse. Truly.
I know of someone facing back surgery, a pastor friend in pain with a kidney stone, a friend just diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and another one waiting for a liver transplant. We all know others in pain. While their pain doesn’t minimize ours, it’s important we not get too inward even if we’re hurting. It helps when we pray for others.
After securing a thankful heart, we can walk in faith. We can choose to believe the Lord is actually our help, meaning He will help us accomplish all we need to do. This is the time to exercise faith for the To Do list. I have a lot on that list this week and I can’t afford to lose a day, but I’m not going to worry. Instead, I ask the Lord for help and then choose to believe everything that needs to get done will get done.
And let’s trust Him. As we meditate on the verse above and even speak it out loud, we will build our trust. The Lord is the One who sustains us. He is with us and we can rest in His sustaining power.
Praise the Lord! Whatever happens or doesn’t happen today, we can rejoice not only in His strength, but also in the fact He extends that strength to us.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your help and grace available to us today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Faraone lives in Whitefish, MT with her husband, Scott, and their three teenagers. Erica has Fibromyalgia, high blood pressure and inappropriate sinus tachycardia. She has also dealt with infertility, migraines, TMJ and depression, but she gives God glory for much improved health. The Lord is her strength and her song! Connect with Erica at http://ericafa
I’m currently in the midst of a fibromyalgia flare up. My neck, shoulders and back are seized up and very sore, my hands and ankles are sore and I’m, to be frank, absolutely knackered. Sleep doesn’t help and it’s frustrating to wake up more tired than I was when I went to sleep. I even know why I’m in this state, it’s because a few days ago I was high and totally overdid it. Instead of pacing myself I scampered about town up and down hills, knowing at the back of my mind that “I shouldn’t be doing this” and that I was hurting but I did it anyway. My rebellious streak was a mile wide that day! Now I’m suffering the consequences. Still a part of me thinks “it’s not fair” and that why should I not do “normal” things when I’m feeling good? Because I feel like S*** for many days afterwards that’s why! The moral of the story….take it easy!!
“Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” (Psalm 54:5 NIV)