Those struggling with fibromyalgia know exactly how it feels. However, they are rarely satisfied with a mere diagnosis or the “answers” they have been given.
Practitioners handing out this diagnosis don’t exactly know what it is. They may not be satisfied with the diagnosis either, but don’t have any better labels to offer.
Fibromyalgia is classified as an idiopathic (of unknown origin) condition. There is a severe bias towards this being a neuropsychogenic condition. In other words, medical science doesn’t know what causes it, so the default is to blame it on your mind.
There are over 10 million people in the U.S. struggling with fibromyalgia. 90% of those diagnosed are women.1 Studies are not yet conclusive as to why this affects more women than men.
“Garbage Can” Diagnosis
Fibromyalgia has been called a “garbage can” diagnosis. It earned this name for two reasons:
- The medical community struggles to comprehend its confusing nature.
- It’s easy to blame an increasingly toxic world as well as damage caused by medications on this one scapegoat of a diagnosis.
Research isn’t helping much. Often, it only offers simplistic thinking when it comes to identifying the cause. Pharmaceutical interests compound this problem by funding (aka biasing) the research to further promote prescription drugs. This creates life-long dependency and ultimately no resolution.
Everyone agrees that inflammation is a major contributor to fibromyalgia. But we can’t stop there. If you are struggling with fibromyalgia, keep asking questions.
What is causing the inflammation? Where is the fire? What is the body trying to tell us through the symptoms generated by the inflammation?
Simply blocking inflammation, or blocking the pain felt by inflammation, is not enough. Even with the use of natural remedies!
Fibromyalgia varies from person to person. The symptoms can be as mysterious as they are debilitating and frustrating. There is a source to the pain and inflammation in each person. In order to find this source, we need to ask the right questions.
Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
For those struggling with fibromyalgia, pain is the defining symptom. The pain is wide spread, persistent, and chronic. Fibromyalgia pain is mostly felt in the muscles, soft tissue, and joints.
Other common symptoms that accompany pain are:
- Fatigue
- Fibro fog/ brain fog
- Migraines
- Headaches
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Memory issues
- Digestive issues (constipation and/or diarrhea)
Does this sound like another mysterious and misunderstood condition? Lyme disease shares many parallels with those struggling with fibromyalgia. Diagnostically these two conditions may be worlds apart. Yet, the symptoms and systems involved are close enough to be clinical cousins.
Both profit and politics have clouded the judgment of many good clinicians and researchers. Most have become too distracted by the “what” (i.e. diagnosis) and less concerned about the “how,” “why,” “when,” and “where.”
Diagnosis is only the beginning of understanding each patient. The more a patient is understood, evaluated, and respected as an individual, the less significant the diagnosis becomes. Precious time and energy are wasted chasing the wrong thing. In the meantime, the patient suffers.
This is why the BioRestorative Matrix offers a clinical advantage and problem solving leverage. A skilled practitioner must consider every aspect of a patient’s life as either helping, or hindering, the condition. It is through this matrix that imbalances are more readily recognized and integrity can be brought back to the patient.
The BioRestorative Matrix
The BioRestorative Matrix shows us five main factors contributing to the inflammation with fibromyalgia:
- Biological terrain impairment
- Dysbiosis
- Mitochondrial dysfunction
- Neuroinflammation
- Autonomic nervous system imbalances
Addressing the Biological Terrain When Struggling with Fibromyalgia
Any disease process cannot be fully understood unless the biological terrain is considered. This is the “soil” that holds us together; it is the substance that supports every tissue, cell, and microbe in our body. The condition of the terrain will determine the state of our health.
Any disease process cannot be fully understood unless the biological terrain is considered. This is the “soil” that holds us together; it is the substance that supports every tissue, cell, and microbe in our body. The condition of the terrain will determine the state of our health.
When the biological terrain is compromised, the following occurs:
- Cells do not receive nutrients, nor detoxify poisons.
- Lymphatic fluid, water, and blood do not flow as well.
- Nerve endings are no longer properly protected.
- Microbes turn from symbiotic helpers to infectious burdens.
Pathologic change to the peripheral nerves is one of the more significant contributors to the pain associated with fibromyalgia. Recent studies show that fifty percent of all fibromyalgia patients have damage to the nerves responsible for sending sensory and autonomic information to the brain.2
Dysbiosis & Fibromyalgia
Dysbiosis occurs when there is an unfavorable shift in the body’s microbial balance. There are different subtypes of dysbiosis, but the one that most applies to fibromyalgia is SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).3
A high carbohydrate diet, hypothyroidism, antibiotic exposure, stress, and low/slow motility of the gut can all spark dysbiosis, no matter what type.
Due to the particular microbial, toxic, and inflammatory stresses it places on the body, SIBO is a major cause of fibromyalgia. For example, the bacterial toxins produced from SIBO not only alter the gut barrier, but the blood brain barrier as well. This allows powerful neurotoxins (like LPS and ammonia) to leave the gut and start considerable inflammatory processes on the brain.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction & Fibromyalgia
It is likely that toxins leaking from the gut cause the most significant damage to the mitochondria. All environmental toxins, whether internal or external, inhibit mitochondria. The resulting dysfunction and impairments to the mitochondria cause a strain on our immune system, energy production, and detoxification.
Damaged mitochondria will send out signals for more inflammation. Coupled with the inflammation already occurring in the gut, systemic inflammation is now in full effect. This systemic wildfire puts multiple tissues and systems at risk leading to any number of chronic conditions.
Neuroinflammation & Fibromyalgia
The condition of neuroinflammation is referred to as “brain on fire.”4 This is the protective mechanism the brain uses after trauma, or when it attempts to remove a noxious stimulus or toxin.
There are many independent, co-existing contributions from dysbiosis, damaged mitochondria, heavy metals, EMFs, and nutrient deficiencies. These forces combine to bring an overwhelming insult to the brain, which lowers the threshold for pain and causes a person to feel more pain.
The sources of toxic stimuli need to be discovered and carefully removed to address neuroinflammation. In addition, the brain’s ability to heal (neuroplasticity) needs help initiating.
Autonomic Nervous System Imbalances & Fibromyalgia
Like most chronic conditions, fibromyalgia’s complexity comes from the involvement of multiple systems.4 It is through the autonomic nervous system that these systems are interconnected. Our autonomic system is the primary way we adapt to stress. It balances our “fight or flight” and “rest, digest, and repair” responses to our environment.
Patients with fibromyalgia display signs of sympathetic hyperactivity. This “fight or flight” response in overdrive is a major mediator of chronic, widespread pain. It creates the deep groove of a path well worn in our brain that drives down the threshold for pain. This makes pain more easily felt and less easy to tolerate.
Balancing the autonomic system might be the gatekeeper for seeing any progress with symptoms associated with fibromyalgia. In fact, even if all the above (i.e. biological terrain, mitochondrial dysfunction, dysbiosis, neuroinflammation) are addressed, there may be little or no change in pain or energy if autonomic healing is not under way.
Therefore, chasing down symptoms to merely relieve them, or cover them up, is never a long-term solution. Conditions like fibromyalgia need practitioners to stay curious and dig deeper for what is truly happening with each patient.
The doctors at the Institute for Restorative Health know that complex conditions don’t require complicated solutions. We understand that with your chronic condition you need a healthcare partner working as hard as you are to reclaim, restore, and renew your health.
To find out if our approach is a good fit for you, click here.
References:
1. http://www.fmaware.org/about-fibromyalgia/prevalence/
2. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2019 Apr; 48(5): 933-940.
3. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2008 Aug; 47(8): 1223-7.
4. Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume12, page242 (2016).
5. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2000 Feb; 29(4): 197-9.
