Fibromyalgia Treatment
Fibromyalgia is a chronic, idiopathic condition of widespread, musculoskeletal pain, where there is no apparent cause. Women are primarily affected by FM. Fibromyalgia patients typically experience pain “all over,” tender points, fatigue, weakness, and nonrestorative sleep. FM patients may also experience other painful conditions that are classified as overlapping pain conditions and are usually distinct from FM. A patient may experience a variety conditions related to and overlapping with fibromyalgia depending on their fibromyalgia specialist. To diagnose fibromyalgia symptoms of the same patients, gastroenterologists often use terms like functional gastrointestinal disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, non-ulcer dyspepsia, and oesophageal dysmotility, while urologists use cystitis, chronic prostatitis, vulvodynia, and vulvar vestibulitis to describe pelvic pain and urinary interstitial symptoms, while dentists treat patients for the temporomandibular joint syndrome.
It is believed that these chronic pain conditions have similar underlying pathology as a result of alterations in central nervous system function, resulting in enhanced nociceptive processing and a variety of somatic symptoms related to the central nervous system, such as fatigue, sleep, memory loss, and mood disorders. This indicates that the CNS amplified pain and that there is a fundamental problem with augmented pain or sensory processing in the CNS. In Fibromyalgia, neuroimmune activation may play a role in the abnormalities described in the central nervous system.
Fibromyalgia treatments remain a challenge for physicians due to the heterogeneity of symptoms and poorly understood pathogenesis. Currently, FM doesn’t have an effective treatment, but a number of drugs have been shown to reduce fibromyalgia pain to varying degrees. There is weak evidence supporting the efficacy of the pharmacological intervention, and it should only be indicated in specific cases due to potential side effects and low compliance.
In treating Fibromyalgia treatment medication, acupuncture plays a major role since it affects all of the immunological, neuroendocrine, and neurological systems that contribute to this pain.
- Reduces pain by habituating pain-related brain areas
- Anxiety, depression, and mood swings can be relieved by modulating limbic system activity
- It balances the hypothalamic-pituitary axis for energy as well as hormone balance in the brain
A person’s well-being and health are influenced by the flow of qi (life essence and energy), which travels along invisible pathways called meridians. The pathways make up a network throughout the body. That’s why acupuncture works so well.
Through this network, acupuncture can improve the nerve and endocrine control, improve sleep, decrease mental sensitivity to anxiety and depression, stabilize blood pressure and blood sugar, improve GI function, and produce amplified synergistic effects. This is accomplished by reducing pain, inflammation, and swelling, and speeding up healing. The effects of acupuncture on bone marrow, both directly and indirectly, optimize the nerve-immune axis, resulting in a synergistic effect. In our office, most patients with fibromyalgia experience improvement in all areas and regain their ability to function normally.
