Fibromyalgia, also known as soft tissue rheumatism, is a disease that those who suffer from this disease try to learn every aspect of, but those who do not suffer from it somehow hear about it. This disease, which affects sleep, causes fatigue and weakness, and is often characterized by migratory pain, is a disease that tires patients and impairs their quality of life because it lasts a long time and the pain increases and decreases. In fact, it is not that difficult for a physician to diagnose fibromyalgia. When we exclude general pain-causing factors, infections or diseases that cause inflammatory rheumatism, we make the diagnosis immediately by listening to the patient and examining the patient. Especially the patient's history immediately directs the physician. Diagnosis is easy, but treatment is challenging for both the patient and the doctor.
When looking at the treatment guides in the literature for fibromyalgia treatment, it is recommended to plan the treatment according to which clinical feature of the patient is at the forefront. These clinical features are listed as follows; Patients with sleep disorders, patients with pain, patients with mental problems such as depression/anxiety, and patients whose problems prevent them from even going to work. Various medications are recommended for each subheading, and for patients who cannot even go to work, cognitive behavioral treatment (a type of behavioral change-based psychological treatment) is recommended along with medication called multimodal treatment.
Fibromyalgia patients usually apply to the doctor because their pain is getting worse. It happens when they can no longer cope. Drugs or drug combinations can quickly provide solutions to the patient's sleep, pain and fatigue problems in exacerbations where the patient is in very painful conditions. The patient, whose symptoms have decreased, uses these medications for a while and, seeing his/her well-being, of course stops taking the medications. Those who come for regular medical check-ups may also be advised by the doctor to stop taking them. After a while, the symptoms start again, sometimes accompanied by pain and sometimes sleep disorders, and we go back to the beginning. Therefore, it is the main duty of the physician to find the problem points here and to follow the treatment accordingly.
Fibromyalgia is a difficult disease, sometimes physical, sometimes emotional, sometimes spiritual, even minor traumas, and sometimes the pain recurs even from the food eaten. knows. The important thing is to prevent the patient from wandering from doctor to doctor again and falling into despair. Of course, the first step is to inform the patient about his disease. This information should include a detailed explanation of the disease-causing mechanisms of fibromyalgia. Instead of the patient "accepting fibromyalgia and learning to live with it", "the disease is treatable and the logic of what needs to be done for treatment" should be explained. Because it is actually the easiest to prescribe medication, and of course it can be used for short periods of time, especially in the initial stage, to control severe disease. What then?
So now let's look at what needs to be done for treatment. Since fibromyalgia disease is due to many causal factors, it is essential to identify these causal factors and create a plan by combining them with the individual characteristics of the patient. Because, naturally, what needs to be done in the treatment should be directed towards the causal factors.
There is an autonomic nervous system imbalance underlying fibromyalgia and almost all other chronic pain. The autonomic nervous system consists of 2 separate organizations; One of these is the system that alerts the body against stress (sympathetic nervous system), and the other is the calming system (parasympathetic nervous system). Both are very necessary and the basis of life. They are systems that enable our body to work in perfect harmony with itself. Your sympathetic system is activated in life-threatening situations. When activated, heart rate and respiratory rate increase, blood pressure increases, and blood sugar increases. In other words, it makes the body ready to fight. During this time, the parasympathetic system automatically withdraws while the sympathetic system is active. Because the parasympathetic system has a slowing and calming effect. Because if there is a life-threatening situation, you should not slow down. But if a person is constantly under stress, the sympathetic system remains constantly active, there is no time to calm down, and the human body becomes unable to withstand this high tempo after a while. Sleep is disrupted, fatigue increases, and a wide range of symptoms begin to appear, such as headaches, muscle aches, and jaw clenching. Wherever the person's weak link is, the symptoms related to that area become more dominant. In this case, what needs to be done in the treatment is to reduce the activity of the sympathetic system, to reduce the activity of the parasympathetic system. To increase min activity. Can drugs do this? They can partially reduce sympathetic activity indirectly and during the time they are used, but it is more difficult for them to increase parasympathetic activity.
So, are there other ways to establish balance in the autonomic nervous system? The good news is that there is: More than one. For this purpose, neural therapy and acupuncture are the two most commonly used methods that can yield the best results. With these two methods, it is possible to control pain and other functional disorders in a short time. With both of these methods, it is possible to reduce sympathetic system activity and increase parasympathetic activity.
Apart from autonomic nervous system imbalance, another causal factor in patients with fibromyalgia is the high toxic load in these patients. The accumulated toxic load disrupts the immune system and antioxidant system. Disruption of these two systems means that an inflammatory condition called inflammation occurs in the body and intracellular cleaning mechanisms do not work. In summary, the body's ability to cope with pain and other functional disorders deteriorates, and the increased toxic load and inflammation begin to cause many visible and invisible diseases such as fibromyalgia. Here again, neural therapy and ozone therapy provide an effective treatment opportunity to eliminate these problems. These two treatment methods support the immune system and help remove toxins from both the intracellular and intercellular spaces. Neural therapy and ozone's positive effects on blood and lymph circulation will also improve blood circulation disorders caused by sympathetic system dominance.
Is the treatment completed when you find a colleague who will perform these treatments for you? Unfortunately, no. In a sense, these treatments administered by the physician for patients with fibromyalgia can be considered as acute period treatment. In other words, they open a very good window of opportunity for the rapid correction and balancing of causal factors during a period when the pain is severe. The patient will feel good for a while, depending on the reserve of the body system. Chronic stress, toxic load, and disruption of blood and lymph circulation that continue over time will cause the disease to emerge with a final blow caused by physical or emotional stress. For this reason, the treatment approach that the patient himself should follow is It should be introduced into the patient's life as a way of life during the period when the pain disappears or decreases.
First of all, nutrition should be regulated. Nutrition should be started with foods that reduce inflammation and toxic load and have high antioxidant properties. To put it briefly; Sugar and sugar derivatives, grains should be cut; Foods containing plenty of vegetables, fruits and fiber should be taken (vegetables and fruits of different colors, especially dark colored ones); drink enough water; Organic and natural origin foods should be prioritized; Vegetables and fruits should be washed with carbonated water to avoid pesticide residues; Toxic products should also be avoided in the kitchen, cooking and storage materials.
Sleep is a very important time period when the body, in a sense, "resets". For healthy sleep, it is important for the patient to take the necessary precautions and pay attention to sleep hygiene. The first things that come to mind are not to go to bed late, to sleep in a dark and cool room, to stop using computers, tablets and phones 3 hours before sleep, to take a warm shower before sleep and to use calming herbal teas (chamomile, lemon balm) to create a sleep routine.
When talking about a disease such as fibromyalgia, which mainly concerns the musculoskeletal system, it is impossible not to mention the importance of exercise. Exercise works by regulating blood circulation, increasing the body's oxygen intake, and increasing muscle strength, flexibility and endurance. In addition, exercise mediates the increase of endorphins and serotonin, which are happiness and pain-relieving hormones. Regular exercise begins to show its positive effects within 8 weeks. Flexibility and aerobic exercises are primarily recommended for patients with fibromyalgia. However, weight-bearing exercises have greater endorphin and serotonin increasing effects. The most important thing that patients with fibromyalgia should pay attention to is not to start exercising at a fast and intense pace. Unaccustomed loads to the body may be perceived as physical stress and cause increased pain. The basic understanding is that the patient should start a sportive activity he likes slowly and with low intensity and continue it for a long time. Studies report the positive effects of swimming, yoga, thai chi and pilates exercises.
As a result, fibromyalgia is a disease that can be treated in one way and managed in another. your patient Being knowledgeable about both treatment and management and cooperation with the physician are the keys to the door to achieving the best results.
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