Unlike diseases with clear-cut diagnosis, the treatment of fibromyalgia is not definitive. This stems from the very nature of the disease which is compounded by different symptoms in different people. For some, the symptoms include stiff joints, sleep disturbances and fatigues. Other patients suffer from cognitive dysfunction, numbness, bowel abnormalities and tingling. The most common symptom amongst fibromyalgia sufferers is chronic pains all over the body and pain in all pressure points in the body. These include the back and front lower parts of the neck, hip joints, elbows and knees. Doctors also draw a relation between psychiatric conditions like anxiety, depression or stress-related conditions with fibromyalgia.
Like other diseases which lack an accepted universal diagnosis, treatment of fibromyalgia aims at managing the symptoms rather than curing the condition. As such, a combination of modern and complementary medicines, as well as behavioral therapy and exercise are all used to relief the intense chronic pains that patients experience.
Recently, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) approved two drugs: Cymbalta and Lyrica, for treatment of fibromyalgia. Cymbalta is an anti-depressant that increases the nor-epinephrine and serotonin in the patients nervous system since most fibromyalgia sufferers have low levels of the two neuro-chemicals. Lyrica on the other hand is an anticonvulsant that reduces pain levels in Fibromyalgia patients by calming damaged nerves through binding specific proteins within affected nerve cells. Other medicines used in the treatment of fibromyalgia include sleep initiators, analgesics, stimulants and muscle relaxants.
Since most fibromyalgia suffers are sensitive to contemporary medicine, the use of supplementary and herbal treatments gives them a healthy and helpful alternative. Consumption of vitamin D rich foods is for example recommended for patients who suffer from multi-skeletal pains. Acupuncture is also another supplementary treatment of fibromyalgia conditions, which is known to relief symptoms such as depression, irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disorders and pain.
Bodywork therapies are also used for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Such include myofascial-release therapy, therapeutic massages and energy medicines. The latter are practices that maintain balance in the bodys energy fields. Although such have little scientific backing, most patients claim to experience a measure of health restoration once the energy medicine is administered.
Regular exercise is also recommended as a viable treatment option for fibromyalgia. However, most patients find this hard to accept especially because body movement in fibromyalgia patients is met with pain. No matter the level of discomfort suffered by the patients, doctors advise them to desist from too much rest since that only leads to stiffening of muscles and joints, and more severe symptoms.
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