Fibromyalgia Facts:

In 1986, Fibromyalgia (FMS) patients evaluated chiropractic care via a ‘questionnaire study’, as being more successful than  prescribed medication.(1) Follow-up survey figures in 1991 supported the earlier findings.(2) An additional study demonstrated that chiropractors were amongst the alternative health practitioners that FMS (Fibromyalgia Syndrome) patients most frequently used.(3) Myofascial or deep tissue massage has also been a popular treatment.

Supplementary studies propose that spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments) and myofascial therapy (myofascial release) improved some of the FMS patients’ symptoms, especially the most prolific symptom- pain.(4,5) And in yet another controlled study, para-spinal soft-tissue massage along with chiropractic spinal manipulation worked to increase FMS patients’ general sense of well-being.(6)

Other studies, though, suggest that the long-term use of spinal manipulation does not measurably improve the pain and functional impairment of FMS patients.(7-9)

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These reports are why I do not use spinal manipulation as the sole modality to treat Fibromyalgia in my Denver chiropractors clinic. Contrarily, these reports are one of the reasons I sometimes do.  Treatment plans must be customized to the individual. Spinal manipulation is a tool. Myofascial release is a tool and tools should be used accordingly, based on a fluctuating number of individual factors. In my clinical experience, Fibromyalgia patients who receive too much spinal manipulation or too aggressive spinal manipulation may actually react adversely and get worse. I’ve have found that most Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue patients need metabolic rehabilitation as well as neurological relief.

Most suffer from what I call “Nerve Exhaustion.”

The fact is that spinal manipulation and deep tissue therapy may offer mild-to-moderate but temporary pain relief. Most patients achieve long-term reprieve from pain and additional symptoms only when they go through comprehensive metabolic and neurological treatment and physical rehabilitation.

1. Wolfe, F, Smythe, HA, Yunus, MB, et al. The American College of Rheumatology 1990

criteria for the classification of fibromyalgia: report of the multicenter criteria committee.

Arthritis Rheumatism 1990; 33:160-172.

2. Pioro-Boisset M, Esdaile JM, and Fitzcharles MA: Alternative medicine use in fibromyalgia

syndrome. Arthritis Care Res 1996; 9(1):13-17.

3. Wolfe F. The clinical syndrome of fibrositis. Am J Med 1986; 81(suppl 3A):7-14. 35. Wolfe

F. Personal communication, March 8, 1991.

4. Blunt, K.L., Rajwani, M.H., and Guerriero, R.C.: The effectiveness of chiropractic

management of fibromyalgia patients: a pilot study. J Manip Physiol Ther 1997; 20(6):389-399.

5. Hains G, and Hains F. A combined ischemic compression and spinal manipulation in the

treatment of fibromyalgia: A preliminary estimate of dose and efficacy. J Manip Physiol Ther

2000; 23(4):225-230.

6. Backstrom G and Rubin BR. When Muscle Pain Won’t Go Away. Dallas: Taylor Publishing

Company, 1992.

7. Dimmock S, Troughton PR, and Bird HA. Factors predisposing to the resort of

complementary therapies in patients with fibromyalgia. Clin Rheumatol 1996; 15(5):478-482.

8. Jacobs JW, Rasker JJ, Van Riel PL, Gridnau FW, and van de Putte LB. Alternative treatment

methods in rheumatic diseases: a literature review. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1991; 135(8):317-

322.

9. Fitzcharles MA and Esdaile JM. Nonphysician practitioner treatments and fibromyalgia

syndrome. J Rheumatol 1997; 24(5):937-940

Fibromyalgia Treatment and Oxygen Deprivation

As a Denver CAM doctor, I do not treat fibromyalgia solely a musculoskeletal disorder- because it isn’t solely a musculoskeletal disorder.

Fibromyalgia is far more neurologically based than muscularly based. It’s just that your muscles feel most of the pain. Most of the Fibromyalgia diagnoses that I see come from Rheumatologists. A Rhueumatologist, by definition, is a  doctor that specializes in disorders of joints and soft tissues- not nerves.

In this article I will bring some evidence to the table that may cause you to question whether Fibromyalgia is more of a joint and soft tissue disorder or, as I and others feel it is, a neurological disorder.

Plenty of new research shows that a Fibromyalgia diagnosis is far more likely to be of a neurological origin then a rheumatic one.  The term rheumatology originates from the Greek word rheuma, meaning “that which flows as a river or stream,” and the suffix -ology, meaning “the study of.” (Which is ironic to me since nerves and blood seem to flow like a river much more than joints).

Most of my Fibromyalgia patients are chronically tired. But what actually get tired is your brain.

“Nerve Exhaustion” is a phrase I’ve coined that I feel accurately describes what happens in Fibromyalgia.

One of the unique treatment approaches I employ for fibromyalgia patients is the use of oxygen therapy.

Listen to what noted Professor of Medicine MAJID ALI, M.D. has to say about the four major symptoms of Fibromyalgia sufferers……

4 Major Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

• Persistent muscle pain and weakness. Explanation: Oxygen deprivation contributes to muscle pain.

• Disabling fatigue. Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in tissue can lead to fatigue and exhaustion.

• Brain fog (problems of mood, memory, and implementation). Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in brain cells lead to brain fog and dysfunction.

• Air hunger. Explanation: Oxygen deprivation within the cells causes a craving for air.

I do not take the treatment or diagnosis of Fibromyalgia lightly and you should steer clear of anyone who thinks otherwise. A recent study uncovered evidence that a Fibromyalgia diagnosis can be far more damaging than you may realize.

In The Journal of Neuroscience, a study revealed that the brain can be prematurely aging in Fibromyalgia patients.

And what may be more important is that they found that the longer the individual had been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, the more gray matter they had lost.

“Accumulating evidence now suggests that fibromyalgia may be associated with central nervous system dysfunction.”

The brain matter loss was more than 9 times the normal aging!

Other studies also point to a possible explanation for the decreased gray matter in these disorders. It may be atrophy caused by excitotoxicity or exposure to inflammatory processes (Apkarian et al., 2004). In reviewing the above studies it’s remarkable that in Fibromyalgia patients, gray matter loss occurred predominately in regions of the brain that are most related to stress.

Stress can be managed and I believe it MUST be managed for you to get better. The above research should be all you need to be motivated to adopt some kind of stress management protocol that works for you.

The road to recovery IS often long and difficult. But there IS a road to recovery. I can assure you it’s bumpy but there IS a road- you just may not have found it yet.

My grandfather once told me,

“No matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, turn around… it’s the WRONG road!”

If what the above mentioned studies are saying in terms of brain aging is true, then every moment that you don’t get help counts against you.

The pursuit of health should be paramount in your habits and actions. I know it’s hard, but you have Fibromyalgia, so you’ve proven you can do hard. Fibromyalgia pain is hard.

Denver Fibromyalgia Treatment

With the addition of oxygen therapy to my Fibromyalgia syndrome treatment protocols I’ve noticed a marked improvement when other methods were not causing patients to get better. When it comes to what this CAM  doctor thinks about Fibromyalgia treatment in Denver…I say never give up.

Journal of Neuroscience April 11, 2007 • 27(15):4004 – 4007 www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/15/4004

Oxygen therapy for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Yep.

As a chiropractor in Denver I understand what it means to live ‘a mile high.’

Your brain uses about 20% of all the oxygen that enters your blood from the lungs. But the brain only makes up about 2% of your total body mass.

It’s an oxygen hog.

Your brain consumes and requires more oxygen than any other organ in the body. So, inherently, it’s extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation.

That being said, here’s my FREE Healthy Tip of the Day: Breathe deeply to keep your brain joyfully swimming in cells that are bathed in oxygen.

I see a lot of patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Fibromyalgia (FM). One of the most important modalities that I employ is oxygen therapy.

It can be very effective.

In fact, oxygen therapy for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is one of the “keys” I use in managing those conditions naturally. Fibromyalgia has so many neurological components to it. The nervous system needs oxygen to function. Ignore that fact and you get sub-par results.

To make a complex concept simple, your brain and nervous system need two things to survive:

FUEL and ACTIVATION.

The most important forms of fuel come in the form of oxygen and glucose.  You get glucose from the foods that you eat, but as we age our ability to utilize oxygen decreases.  It’s called oxidative phosphorizalation (scientific talk for ‘your body doesn’t utilize oxygen as effectively as it should anymore.’)

Now add to the mix that most people are shallow breathers and that we live at 5,280 feet and you can start to see why you may not be getting enough fuel for your brain and nervous system. I’d feel tired, beat up and worn down too if I were a brain.

Oxygen is to the body what gas is to your car.  Without gas in the car you’re not driving anywhere.

Without sufficient amounts of oxygen available for your brain and nervous system, not only can you age prematurely but many of the various treatments you attempt may not get you much better.

Breathe…..