Don’t believe everything you hear or read! When it comes to Fibromyalgia that is more important than ever. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) there is no cure for fibromyalgia but doctors can help manage and treat the symptoms. 

Sometimes the solution can cause as many problems as the original condition. The Arthritis Foundation states that common “side effects” of fibromyalgia medications include:

• Abnormal thoughts and behaviors
• Memory loss
• Anxiety
• Drowsiness
• Dizziness 
• Diarrhea
• A “drugged” feeling
• Fatigue 
• Headache

These are not side effects. These are the effects of medications. They might not be desired effects but they are effects. And, the more medications you take the greater the chance you experience more undesired effects.

Medicine looks in only one direction when it comes to treating illnesses, conditions, and diseases. They look for how they can alter or manipulate the body to bring about the outcome they are looking for. Rarely does that work in the long run because it never fully addresses the underlying issue. 

A Different Approach

Instead of looking for what’s wrong and adding more chemicals into the body, let’s look at how the body works and see if we can help support it. Sometimes extreme intervention is necessary for survival or to control the most severe symptoms. You always have that option but that will not bring about healing so here’s another perspective.

The human body is amazing and I describe it as being hardwired to express health and vitality. If that is not happening then we need to look at what might be interfering with that. 

The human body is programmed to:

• Self-Monitor: your body is continually monitoring the status of thousands upon thousands of body functions including hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters, heart function, digestion, infection, repair, healing, sleep, etc. 
• Self-Regulate: all the thousands of functions that it is monitoring are being adjusted second by second in an effort to maintain homeostasis or balance. All this happens outside of our conscious awareness.
• Self-Healing: your body is in a continual state of repair and healing. Cells die and need to be replaced. Tissues are injured and need repairing. Infection by bacteria and viruses happen and the immune system must be summoned. 

While you might be doubting some of this in light of your fibromyalgia you have and continue to experience these on a daily basis, otherwise you would perish. The question you should be asking is first what system of the body is responsible for these functions.

The answer is the Brain and Central Nervous System!

The next question is why is this not working the way it should? If it were you wouldn’t be suffering with fibromyalgia. Let’s look at how to change that.

The Common Issues with All Chronic Conditions…

…Fibromyalgia included!

It’s estimated that 90% or more of all diseases are stress-related. Even if somehow a condition is initiated outside of stress, eventually stress plays a role in the illness. Part of the issue is that stress is a much bigger problem than the conventional assumption that is limited to emotional or psychological challenges. 

Stress is more broadly all the stimuli in your world that your nervous system must process. These stimuli are energetic or technological as in phones, computers, tablets, light and electricity, and movement. These stimuli are emotional and often date back to your environment as an infant and child. And, these stimuli are chemical as in foreign chemicals in the air, water, and food. 

We live in a soup of stress and what makes this so impactful is that the vast majority of these “stresses” are relatively new to humans. Our nervous systems have not had time to evolve. 

The Damage of Stress is Due to…

Stress causes an activation of a part of the nervous system called the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) that is commonly referred to as the “Fight-or-Flight” system. When the SNS is activated it triggers responses meant for immediate survival like:

• Increased heart rate and blood pressure
• Release of stress hormones like Cortisol and Adrenaline
• Increased blood flow to and tension of muscles
• Reduced digestion
• Increased inflammation
• Reduced quality sleep

If we relate this to fibromyalgia, think about how long term disturbed sleep, inflammation, muscle tension and poor digestion would lead to fatigue and how the cycle could worsen and worsen over time. 

Why does one person develop fibromyalgia and others develop high blood pressure, heart disease, acid reflux, inflammatory bowel disease or some other malady? I don’t know. 

But let’s look at how we can restore balance…

The 4 Critical Legs

I’ve already offered you plenty of clues as to where we’re going but let’s dive in and explore. The big goal is to restore balance to the body by removing sources of nervous system interference that are disrupting its ability to recover and heal. 

Critical Leg #1: Remove any source of irritation to the ANS. The goal is to interrupt that self-perpetuating cycle of activation of the “Fight-or-Flight” system that is driving inflammation, pain, poor sleep, poor digestion, and fatigue. History and exam by a practitioner skilled in this assessment is key. This is the biggest issue in the never-ending cycle of pain and fatigue.

Critical Leg#2: Restore Structural Balance. When the structure of your body is out of balance it causes tension and irritation to your nervous system that becomes one of the perpetuating factors in the imbalance interfering with regulation and healing. Check this out for yourself.

Stand in front of a bathroom or full length mirror. Have someone help you from behind by putting their hands on top of your pelvis. Is one hand higher than the other? In all likelihood it is and if that is the case there is a chain of tension running up your entire spine to the base of your skull. Bringing you back into balance will immediately reduce the internal stress your system is constantly experiencing. 

Critical Leg #3: Remove any Life Imbalances. If you want to get better then you have to be vigilant in eliminating as many sources of stress that you have control of and adopt as many routines and habits that support healing. Here are the big ones:

• Sleep hygiene: as you remove sources of nervous system irritation sleep will improve and it will be easier to get quality sleep. Some keys are a consistent sleep schedule, avoiding food for 2 or more hours before sleep, avoiding bright LED or halogen lights or bright screens in the hour before bed, and avoiding both stimulants and sedatives.
• Diet: there is not room here to dive deep but the idea is to feed yourself healthy nutritious food and avoid the opposite. Whole food is ideal. Anything that comes boxed or packaged is likely lacking in nutrition. Eliminate industrial nut and seed oils like canola, safflower, peanut, soy, corn, and cottonseed from your diet. They are inflammatory in nature. Eliminate as much refined sugar as it drives insulin and is inflammatory.
• Avoid: people and situations that challenge you and increase your tension, pain, and fatigue. Fibromyalgia is a state of system exhaustion and if you are to recover you must cut out the toxic people and situations. It’s not always easy but it is possible.

Critical Leg #4: Activate the Vagus Nerve. Chronic conditions like fibromyalgia not only are driven initially by overactivity of the Sympathetic “Fight-or-Flight System” but that causes an inhibition of the Vagus Nerve. Take a look at what a healthy Vagus Nerve does and you’ll understand the value of activating it:

• Promotes rest, relaxation, and recovery
• Lowers elevated heart rate and blood pressure
• Lowers inflammation
• Supports healthy digestion
• Supports healthy sleep
• Supports healthy immune system

What I’ve laid out here is about supporting your body in being able to do what it is programmed to do; regulate and heal. The fact that you have not been able to recover from fibromyalgia indicates interference to the body’s healing ability. Everything here will support the reduction of interference and the return to balance. 

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