Fibromyalgia can be devastating. The constant pain and fatigue robs you of your ability to fully participate in your life. It limits your activity in every aspect of your life. And, medicine is challenged to really explain the underlying cause. They have their theories but that’s all they are, theories. They need a theory in order to prescribe medication.
But, as with all chronic conditions the best a medication can do is partially alleviate the symptoms. And, this is made that much more difficult when there is no clear cause involved.
Every sufferer of fibromyalgia has both some similarities and at the same time they can describe a differing range of experiences.
Here’s a related post I made: The Roadmap to Overcoming Chronic Pain and Fatigue.
According to the CDC Fibromyalgia affects 4 Million US Adults. Given the lack of effective treatment options and poor diagnostic criteria I’d guess the number to be much higher.
A Vitalistic Model of Health
Rather than always looking for what’s wrong so we can prescribe a drug, inject a medication, or cut something out, perhaps there’s another way. We might want to look at how the body works so beautifully and what might interfere with its ability to function properly.
Vitalism holds that the human body has 3 amazing attributes related to health and healing:
- The human body is self-monitoring: it is continually assessing thousands of aspects of biochemistry and physiology from blood glucose to heart rate to hormone production to digestion and more.
- The human body is self-regulating: the body is making adjustments every second of every day based on the data from monitoring, all in an attempt to maintain balance or homeostasis.
- The human body is self-healing: we tend to forget this but everything from cuts and scrapes to fractures to bacterial and viral infections are healed by the body. The immune system is our protection and the body is in a continual state of repair and healing.
Why is this important and how does it relate to how you might consider approaching your Fibromyalgia pain treatment options?
Do the 3 Vitalistic Principles make sense to you? It seems pretty self-evident that the human body is monitoring, regulating, repairing and healing itself. If that is true then an important question to ask with a chronic condition like Fibromyalgis is….
“What might be interfering with the body’s innate ability to heal?”
This isn’t meant to imply there is no need for medicine or surgery. But, might it not make sense to start with an exploration into what might be interfering with the natural processes of the body?
Let’s start with asking what system of the body coordinates or conducts the tasks of monitoring, regulating, and healing.
Do you know?
The central nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord are the coordinators of the functions of monitoring, regulating and healing.
The next question I ask is how or what might cause an interference to the body being able to maintain health and heal.
Stress and Fibromyalgia and Other Chronic Pain Conditions
It’s been estimated that 90% of all chronic illness and disease is stress-related. In my experience Fibromyalgia falls into this group but it might not be what you think. Here’s an overview of how stress impacts our health.
Modern life presents significant demands that range from the physical to the emotional and even the chemical. Let’s call these demands stresses.
Our nervous system is tasked with the responsibility of responding to the stresses of life. Stress activates the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) which is often referred to as the “Fight-or-Flight” system. The SNS is tasked with survival and it interprets even the most seemingly innocuous stress as a threat.
The response of the Sympathetic Nervous System is:
- Shunts blood from our organs to our muscles in preparation to fight or flee
- Increases heart rate and blood pressure
- Increases stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline
- Shuts down proper digestion
- Impairs sleep
- Increases inflammation
All of these responses and more are to focus energy and resources to a potential threat. The problem is that modern life is full of what we call “perceived” threats that repeatedly and continually activate the SNS.
Over time with repeated activation of the SNS it can become overactive and impair many of the functions that support health and well-being. Depending on your history, your upbringing, past emotional and physical traumas this can be devastating.
The counterpart to the SNS is the Vagus Nerve of the Parasympathetic Nervous System. The Vagus Nerve is responsible for all the functions you would associate with health like:
- Lowered heart rate and blood pressure
- Decreased muscle tension
- Good digestion
- Lowered inflammation
- Supports good sleep
- Rest and recovery
- Healthy immune response
Fibromyalgia like every other chronic illness is associated with a combination of an overactive Sympathetic Nervous System and a lowered Vagus Nerve function. Let’s keep this in mind as we look at your choices.
4 Critical Fibromyalgia Pain Treatment Options
We are not going to explore any pharmaceutical approaches to Fibromyalgia here as the medical profession has that covered. The focus is how to support the body in bringing it back to balance so that it can fully regain its capacity to regulate and heal.
The approach I am going to lay out is focused on correcting the major imbalances that aggravate and perpetuate nervous system tension and pain.
Critical Choice #1: Structural Balance. We’ve discussed balance in a couple of ways. By definition Fibromyalgia is a condition of imbalance. Structural balance involving your pelvis, shoulders and head is critical to reduce as much stress as possible from the muscles that work hard to restore balance and the nerves that imbalance puts tension on.
This is always my initial focus in working with someone. I want to see their pelvis level so that every step is not adding unnecessary stress to their system.
Critical Choice #2: Upper Cervical Spine. The top of the neck is home to the brain stem. This is the origin of both the Sympathetic Nervous System and the Vagus Nerve. The Vagus Nerve runs right in front of the top vertebra, C1. Imbalance here is a primary factor in imbalance of the Autonomic Nervous System. This is almost always involved in imbalances between the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Systems.
Critical Choice #3: Spinal Joint Motion with Emphasis on Cervical Spine. Proper motion of the spinal joints is critical in reducing pain. When the spinal joints lose mobility there is a cascade of reactions that occur. Muscles around the joints tighten and spasm. Joints start to wear down causing arthritis. Inflammation increases. Nerves are put under greater tension and cause pain. The shape and flexibility of the spine has a large impact on the degree of tension in the nervous system. Restoring motion to spinal joints is essential.
Critical Choice #4: Vagus Nerve Activation. Once a significant and chronic imbalance is established with overactivity of the Sympathetic System and lowered Vagus Nerve activity it is not enough to remove tension and irritation from the system. The Vagus Nerve requires frequent repetitive activation to bring its function back up. This will also help lower the activity of the SNS.
There are a number of additional strategies that should also be employed in the recovery from Fibromyalgia. As I’ve said the longer a condition exists the more it results in a complex of adaptations and compensations. This is especially true of Fibromyalgia.
Here are a few other considerations in your Fibromyalgia recovery plan:
- Sleep Hygiene and Sleep support
- Low inflammatory diet
- Avoidance of both stimulants and sedatives
- Movement program
Make sure to subscribe to my social media channels where I regularly post tips, insights and practices to help you.
Facebook: Life Chiropractic Facebook
YouTube: Life Chiropractic YouTube
Instagram: Life Chiropractic Instagram
Schedule a Consultation, History and Exam here Life Chiropractic
I look forward to exploring how we can help you.