Is Fibromyalgia the Source of Your Fatigue? 

The fibromyalgia affects the muscles and soft tissue. It is a chronic condition that can cause muscle pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points. This condition is often the result of stress-induced changes to your metabolism and healing process. Although, while it starts slowly, it can worsen if proper treatment isn’t taken. 

You don’t have to suffer from fibromyalgia forever. While it was once thought that it was a permanent condition, it turns out that it can actually be treated — and prevented from recurring. 

What is Fibromyalgia? 

Fibromyalgia affects the muscles and soft tissue. It is a neurological, chronic condition, that causes pain all throughout the body. For instance, it is caused by damage or trauma to the brain stem, which is instrumental for sending signals throughout the body. To explain this, there are 3 parts to your brain stem: top (mesencephalon), middle (called the pons), and bottom (medulla). Typically, the brain sends impulses down to the lower two parts of the brain stem and that slows down the upper brain stem. When a patient has fibromyalgia, this doesn’t happen. The lower part of the brain stem is not slowing the upper brain stem. 

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia 

This neural dysfunction can cause your body to ache everywhere. You may also experience fatigue and have parts of your body that are painful to the touch. You can also experience: 

• Swelling
• Aching muscles 
• Sleeping disturbances
• Depression and mood swings
• Abdominal pain
• Chronic headaches
• Insomnia
• Dryness in mouth, nose, and eyes
• Hypersensitivity to hot and cold
• Inability to concentrate 
• Loss of memory
• Incontinence
• Irritable bowel syndrome 
• Numbness or tingling in the fingers and feet

Risk Factors of Fibromyalgia 

The CDC lists the known risk factors to include age and having lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. While people of all ages can be affected, most people are diagnosed during middle age and it’s more likely to have fibromyalgia as you get older. Further, if you have rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, you are more likely to develop fibromyalgia. However, though these are the two confirmed risk factors, fibromyalgia has also been associated with other risk factors that include:

• Sex. Women are twice as likely to develop this condition as men. 
• Stress or traumatic events. Those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to develop it. 
• Repetitive injuries. Injury from repetitive stress on a joint, like frequent knee bending. 
• Illness, like viral infections. 
• Family history.
• Obesity. 

Treatment Options 

It was once believed that fibromyalgia was only manageable, but ultimately progressive and permanent. However, the truth is that it can be treatable and reversible. At Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center, we offer three types of treatments that can heal and provide relief without surgery or drugs: physical, neurological, and metabolic treatments.

Physical treatments

Our physical treatment options include: 

• Therapeutic massage. This will manipulate the muscles and soft tissues of the body and help ease deep muscle pain. It can also help relieve pain of tender points, muscle spasms, and tense muscles. 
• Myofascial release therapy. This works on a larger range of muscles and can gently stretch, soften, lengthen, and realign the connective tissue to ease discomfort. 
• Trigger point therapy. This can alleviate knots in the muscle fibers that have gone into spasms. 
• Cold laser therapy. This can stimulate tissue into healing and decreases pain sensations. 

Further, the American Pain Society recommends moderately intense aerobic exercise up to three times a week, in conjunction with the treatments listed above, for optimal pain relief. 

Neurological treatments 

• Oxygen therapy. Your brain and nervous system need two things to survive: fuel and activation. Fuel comes in the form of oxygen and glucose. When we use oxygen, we help you heal faster. Exercise along with oxygen therapy can increase firing to the brain — which can help with many conditions.
• Brain-based therapy (BBT). We use therapies like interactive metronome (computer-based visual, auditory, and motor stimulation), vibration therapy, light therapy, and non-surgical spinal decompression to help remove pressure and aid in healing. 

Metabolic treatments 

We also provide metabolic treatments based on blood tests that tell us more about thyroid panel, complete metabolic panel, lipid panel, and complete blood chemistry. With these, we will look at your thyroid, adrenal, blood, and gut function. All of which can be affected with chronic health conditions. 

Make an Appointment with Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center

Fight your fibromyalgia with our team at Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center. If you are suffering from this condition and want to know what your treatment would be best for your specific condition, contact us to make an appointment: (512)-806-0015.