Fibromyalgia was recognized by the American Medical
Association as an illness and cause of disability in 1987,
yet it has been a struggle for many since Hippocrates first
described a similar set of symptoms in 400 BC. In the early
1900's, fibromyalgia was considered "arthritis of the
muscles" and classified with other rheumatological
conditions involving pain in the muscles or joints.
Stress and pain are irreversibly linked in fibromyalgia.
For many people, some kind of stressful event is what
initially triggers the illness. It often shows up after a
serious illness, some kind of emotional or mental shock or
with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Many believe
that stress unmasks the disorder.
Today fibromyalgia is thought to be a central nervous
system disorder in which either pain-sensing nerves are
excessively sensitive, or the brain is extremely sensitive
to pain impulses. People with fibromyalgia are out of
balance in the HPA axis ' hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal '
which is our body's system for responding to stress with
neurochemicals like adrenalin and serotonin. Pain sensation
and abnormal stress response are related and people with
fibromyalgia experience more pain when they are stressed.
Simply having fibromyalgia is stressful. Though
fibromyalgia feels different to each person, the common
denominators are painful and uncomfortable sensations
throughout the body, fatigue and mental cloudiness. Not
being able to accomplish things is stressful, especially
when it affects your employment situation, leading to
financial stress. Dealing with a chronic illness and
lifestyle changes is stressful.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that you may still
appear healthy to everyone else, no matter how badly you
feel, so that few people understand how compounding these
conditions can be on a daily basis. Anything in addition
to the everyday stress load tends to tip the scales and
cause the fibromyalgia symptoms to be worse.
Stress reduction is an important part of managing
fibromyalgia. Here are a few ways that my help you
alleviate some of the stress:
1. Good self care. Eating a nutritious diet, getting the
right amount of the right kind of exercise, establishing
regular sleep habits and giving yourself grace are all part
of taking good care of yourself. They are important. You
will feel worse, and be able to do less if you do not take
care of yourself.
2. Practice body awareness. People who deal with chronic
pain, as in fibromyalgia, become accustomed to ignoring
their bodies; it's one way they cope with the pain. If you
learn to recognize your body's cues that you are becoming
tense, you can use a relaxation technique or exercise early
on, before stress becomes unmanageable. At the same time,
you don't want to lose that protective lack of awareness
about pain. Take breaks every so often and just sit
quietly and pay attention to how you feel. Learn where you
feel stress first. Do you get heartburn? Do your
shoulders get tight? Once you learn that, you can
periodically scan to see if your body is showing tension.
3. Change the way you think. This takes practice, yet it
gives you a change to respond to situations instead of
reacting.
4. Keep a stress journal. This has two purposes. You can
journal about stressful incidents and use the journal as a
tool to help you identify situations that are stressful to
you. This can help you either avoid repeating these
situations or be better prepared should they be
unavoidable. Journaling about a stressful event also helps
you debrief and de-stress after the event.
5. Learn stress management techniques, such as
visualization, meditation, and breathing. These techniques
decrease the level of neurochemicals circulating in your
body, and help decrease both stress and pain.
6. Chiropractic adjustments may help reduce pain and
improve range of motion. Chiropractors use a wide variety
of manipulative techniques and can individualize your
treatment.
7. NeuroEmotional Technique (NET) focuses on releasing
emotional blocks stored in the body's memory through simple
chiropractic adjustments. Everyone has emotional trauma,
past or present, that the body has locked into its memory,
often below the realm of conscious thought. NET can
isolate these events and release them from the body.
When you decrease your stress, you will probably experience
less pain and fatigue from fibromyalgia. Changing your
lifestyle so that you are taking care of your self can help
prevent flare-ups and give you a better quality of life.
Eat well, think well, and move well!
----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Michael B. Roth has been a holistic chiropractor for 23
years. His goal is to transform the health care system
from crisis/reactive care to a wellness model of health.
Dr. Roth is a dynamic speaker on health and wellness who
can motivate and transform your audience and you to bring
your own health and well-being to a new level!
http://www.rothwellnesscenter.com
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