Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder marked by muscle pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points. Although often considered an arthritis-related condition, fibromyalgia is different because it does not cause inflammation of the joints, muscles or other tissues like arthritis does. For the three to six million Americans afflicted with the condition, as many as 90 percent of whom are women, it can be debilitating, and difficult to diagnose and treat.
“Fibromyalgia is also called fibrositis,” says homeopath Dana Ullman. “For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a somewhat newly defined disease. At first, there was controversy as to whether it existed or not, but now there’s basic acceptance that it is a condition. It’s not officially arthritis, although it is thought to be a type of rheumatism where the person experiences pain and discomfort in the joints. They can also experience fatigue and even emotional and mental changes such as poor concentration, anxiety, and irritability. There might also be an irritable bowel, headaches, and cramps. The syndrome comes on in exacerbations. The person may be fine at one point and then all of a sudden have all these symptoms.”
Other symptoms may include sleep problems, painful menstrual periods, restless legs syndrome, and temperature sensitivity.
Because the symptoms of fibromyalgia are similar to those associated with other conditions, patient often see a number of practitioners prior to diagnosis. There are no laboratory tests specific for fibromyalgia. Many patients are reportedly told that their pain may not be real or that there is nothing that can be done to relieve it.
Diagnosis of fibromyalgia is based on two criteria established by the American College of Rheumatology: widespread pain that affects all four quadrants of the body and lasts more than three months; and the presence of at least eleven out of eighteen standard tender points.
The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown. Among the theories are trauma, stress, repetitive injury, illness, or genetic predisposition. Research is being conducted to determine the role of female reproductive hormones, as well as chemical interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system.
Mainstream doctors tend to focus first on medication. In 2007, the Food and Drug Administration approved Lyrica as the first drug to treat fibromyalgia. Other medications are used to treat the symptoms. They include analgesics (painkillers), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), antidepressants, sleep aids, muscle relaxants, and benzodiazepines.
Beyond medicine, there are a variety of lifestyle modifications that have proven beneficial. Adequate sleep is very important. Exercise may be difficult but has been shown to be one of the most effective methods of relief. This includes aerobic and flexibility exercise, as well as strength training.
Fibromyalgia patients should maintain a healthy diet high in fiber, low in animal fat, and emphasizing whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. In her Fibromyalgia Cookbook and Fibromyalgia Nutrition Guide, Mary Moeller recommends eliminating four substances entirely from the diet: chocolate, carbonated beverage, coffee, and alcohol. Other items that should be avoided include high fat dairy foods, white sugar and white flour, fried foods, preservatives, salt, and red meat.
Among the complementary and alternative therapies for fibromyalgia are massage; movement therapies such as yoga, Pilates and the Feldenkrais method; sound resonance therapy; chiropractic; and acupuncture. Herbs and dietary supplements also have been found to be helpful. Dr. Ray Sahelian offers the following recommendations, some of which are based on recently published research: fish oil capsules, acetyl L-carnitine, SAM-e, coenzyme Q10 (50 mil- Fibromyalgia 435 ligrams or less), ginkgo (40 or 60 milligrams), mucuna puriens (100 to 200 milligrams), ribose. The hormone supplement DHEA is unlikely to be helpful, and may cause adverse effects.
Dana Ullman, a homeopath who has done a lot of work with fibromyalgia, tells about some useful remedies. “A study was published in the British Medical Journal on fibromyalgia. The researchers admitted into the study only those patients who fit the most popular homeopathic remedy used to treat the acute stages of fibromyalgia. It’s a remedy called Rhus tox [Rhus toxicodendron], which is poison ivy, believe it or not. [With] actual poison ivy, not only [does] an overdose cause skin eruptions, but if taken internally, and I don’t recommend it, at least in a crude dose, it can and will have effects upon connective tissue that make the person feel extremely stiff, re-creating many of the symptoms that people experience when they have not only fibromyalgia but even many types of arthritis.
“They found that 42 percent of the people they interviewed fit this remedy. So they admitted these people into this study. In the first half of the study, half the people got a placebo and half the people got the real remedy. Then halfway through the study they switched, and the people who got the placebo now got the real remedy, and the people who began with the remedy got the placebo. The researchers found that when people began the real remedy, the homeopathic medicine, that’s when relief began.”
Ullman recommends some other homeopathic remedies. “Another remedy that comes to mind is Bryonia. Bryonia is an herb called wild hops. This is not the same hops that you drink in a beer. It’s a different botanical substance entirely. This is for people with various types of musculoskeletal problems where any type of motion exacerbates the condition. By contrast, people who benefit from Rhus tox have this rusty-gate syndrome where they feel worse only on initial motion and then loosen up and limber up. People who need Bryonia, the more they move, the worse they are. Here is a really obvious difference. That’s one of the unique and nice things about homeopathy. We can be quite precise in finding a remedy that fits each person because the bottom line is that we are all biologically individual. We don’t have the same type of joint disease or headache or depression or fatigue. We all have our own unique constellation, our own pattern of symptoms, and homeopathy is an exclusively effective, individualized approach to using these substances from the plant, mineral, or animal kingdom to augment the body’s own defenses.”
Another remedy Ullman describes is honeybee venom (Apis mellifera). “For those of us who have ever been stung by a honeybee, or at least we know what it’s like, it’s a burning and stinging type of pain, somewhat sharp. If you’ve ever had a bee sting, you also know that if you put ice on the bee sting, it provides some relief. But if you get near heat or you apply heat to it, it worsens the pain. Likewise, people who will benefit from homeopathic doses of Apis will have joint pain with swelling, much like a bee might cause, because the bee not only causes that burning, stinging pain, but also causes that inflammatory redness and heat. Thus, there will be swelling that will be increased by cold applications and aggravated by heat.”
An increasing body of evidence is showing the benefits of natural modalities to overall health and well-being. Following is a sample of recent peer-reviewed scientific studies in the area of fibromyalgia.
Research published in Rheumatology International (2013) found that eight weeks of supplementation with magnesium citrate (300 milligrams/day) in combination with amitriptyline (10 milligrams/day) was effective in reducing fibromyalgia severity and significantly improved pain, tender points, depression and anxiety, sleep problems, and irritability. A 2012 study published in Clinical Rheumatology determined that fibromyalgia patients who practiced tai chi twice a week for twelve weeks had notable improvement in pain, physical function, and mobility. Scientists from Tufts University Medical Center published similar results in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2010: in a twelve-week study of 66 patients with fibromyalgia, those who participated in tai chi had an 18.4 percent greater reduction in severe symptoms when compared with participants in a wellness education/stretching program. In 2010, a Pain Management Nursing study found decreased pain, depression, and anxiety, and improved sleep following music therapy along with other relaxation techniques based on guided imagery. Research published in 2011 in the Journal of Pain Research found that an eightweek course of yoga intervention yielded improvements in pain, psychological functioning and mindfulness, as well as changes in cortisol levels in women with fibromyalgia.