How I treat Fibromyalgia, an overview.

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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