Fibromyalgia

When I look back on that day it honestly seems a little humorous. Since then Fibromyalgia has become a household word because everyone is connected to someone who has it. That’s not the funny part of course, because pain isn’t funny. What I can look back on now and laugh at, is how ignorant I was of health, modern medicine, and the ridiculous nature of spending 1000’s of dollars to have an M.D. label my illness with a scary Latin name that basically means stringy-muscle pain! Now imagine for a minute that a doc said “You have Stringy muscle pain!” True, that wouldn’t scare you much. You might respond, “Hey who are you calling stringy? And yeah I know I have muscle pain. That’s why I’m here! So you can tell me why and how to fix It! Can we get on with it?”

But the truth is most doctors cannot tell you either why you have it or how to fix it. After almost 20 years since my diagnosis – still no progress. It’s sad really. People are still suffering. Is a cure around the corner? No. In fact I would wager to say that it is a literal impossibility for pharmaceutical medicine to “cure” Fibromyalgia due to the very limiting nature of trying to heal a body with patented chemical meds. I say this as someone who quickly threw my pain pills in the garbage and resolved to heal that condition naturally. It took longer than imagined and I was impatient. Today, as a traditional naturopathic practitioner who sees clients seeking wellness from Fibromyalgia daily, I truly realize the multifaceted causes of this chronic muscle pain symptom. And that’s what it is. It is a symptom that has been called a disease. But if Fibromyalgia is a symptom! What is it a symptom of? To be simplistic, it is a symptom of a sick body. Muscle pain is just your body sounding an alarm that something is wrong. Your body isn’t happy about things. It doesn’t like modern living.

It’s beyond the scope of this web page to look into every potential underlying root cause of Fibromyalgia. But here is a partial list of factors that can be engaged with good natural medicine to reverse Fibromyalgia.

Multiple chronic infections that cause chronic “Flulike” muscle aches from immune cytokine activation. In other words just as your muscles ache when you have the flu, they ache from chronic infections that come and never go away. This can include undiagnosed Lyme disease and many other infections, viral, bacterial, parasitic, etc.
Immune system deficiencies and over activity due to above and other causes.
Underlying chemical and heavy metal accumulation and toxicity often due to genetic and other deficiencies in detoxification of these inflaming toxins. Typical natural detoxification therapies are inadequate to make much impact here. The toxicity is too great and too entrenched. Most Fibro sufferers who do a “Detox” just make themselves feel sicker and don’t experience the reward that comes when these are done effectively and for long enough.
There can be underlying hormonal issues and neuro-chemical imbalances along the lines of adrenal and thyroid deficiency. These can contribute to exhaustion, an inverted metabolism (tired in the morning, more energy at night), as well as poor quality Delta regenerative sleep.
Poor circulation of blood and lymph made worse by inactivity.
Damaged and dysfunctional mitochondria that can’t produce enough energy and that themselves create more metabolic toxins to further poison the muscles. Just like lactic acid from vigorous exercise causes athletes to have muscle pain. In the case of Fibro it never goes away.
Liver, kidney, lymphatic, spleen and bowel stagnation. Basically all the organs of elimination are going too slow and are backlogged.
Intestinal Dysbiosis. Too many toxin producing microbes in the gut. Not enough good microbes. Typical probiotic supplements don’t fix this as it is too severe.
Chronic, entrenched, biotoxin accumulation from the multiple chronic infections that the immune system cannot clean up. Pair this with the sluggish detox organs and it is a recipe for having biotoxins jammed into every available space of microscopic real estate in the body: Visceral organs, brain and spinal cord, lymphatic system, interstitial fluid………. Starting to see why you don’t feel good?

To ignore these warning from your body and pound down pain pills, especially highly addictive ones, really makes no sense if you plan on living life to the full. It’s like taking a hammer to your oil light or check engine light as a solution to the discomfort that pesky light causes when you drive. To be sure, recovery from Fibromyalgia is not simple and it is not easy. It also is not common. Most people do not recover. Most people also continue the same basic lifestyle and health choices that got them sick in the first place because we as a society tend to view illnesses as something that just happens to us without our knowledge or involvement. We are programmed to feel helpless. It’s as if we just got hit with an illness while we were minding our own business. With this socially accepted attitude of acceptance and passiveness in fighting back for our health, it’s no wonder so few find the road to full recovery.

There are other major factors and many smaller issues if you dissect the major issues. To understand why many people fail to get any real relief, think of this illustration. If you were sitting on 50 thumbtacks and you pulled out 3 or 4 of them, would you feel much better? No. Not really. You might have the visible proof that you just removed a few tacks and that is a good thing, but you still have the 46 or so in your rear. Fibromyalgia is complex and multi-factoral. Just like CFIDS, just like Lyme disease, and autoimmune conditions. In fact the further back you go in root cause and causal chain, the more these illnesses start to look the same. Do you understand that modern medicine does not look at the body in this way?

But there are many, many common root causes of a variety of health problems, including but not limited to, the ones listed above.

So what do you do with all this? Some general advice from someone who did get better is to be patient. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t get well. Yes it’s true that the causes are complex so roll up your sleeves and get to work. Seek out knowledgeable holistic practitioners who have gotten better and with a track record of helping people heal. Learn from them as well as other sources and remember that you learn by doing. Take action! Don’t be passive. You will learn more from failures than successes. Once you get well you can become an inspiration to others who are suffering. As a Certified Traditional Naturopath and the owner of Natural Health Sciences of Arizona, LLC wellness centers my job is to direct you toward the individual cutting edge, non-toxic, completely natural products and therapies you need in this challenge to recover from Fibromyalgia. Tools that I and others have used successfully! Read More Here….

Lastly, learn the lessons that illness has to teach you. You don’t work to get well in order to go back to a health abusing lifestyle. Live a healthy lifestyle after getting well. There will be a temptation to take risks and abuse your health once you feel strong and believe that you can get away with it. Try and rein that in. Practice the 4 Pillars of health. Reject the unhealthy modern lifestyle that got you sick in the first place. Help your loved ones to benefit from the adoption of a balanced, healthier way of living.