Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that consists of plenty of different signs. The primary symptom is pain & tenderness in multiple areas of the body. This is often linked to fatigue, sleep disorders, digestive issues, & depression. Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are thought about to be overlapping disorders which plenty of think about to actually be the same disease. Dr.Khan has developed an aromatherapy formula called Fibromyalgesic & an herbal formula called FibroTea for these conditions.
Plenty of people think about these conditions to be psychosomatic in origin because people suffering from these conditions can look healthy & normal from the outside, & yet complain of so plenty of different signs. These signs can include mental signs such as brain fog, forgetfulness, spaciness, depression, moodswings, anger, & extremes in behavior. Regrettably, as a result plenty of people with this disease are viewed with skepticism by medical practitioners & lay people similar & are often branded as hypochondriacs.
Another view of CFS & fibromyalgia is that the conditions are auto-immune diseases which are triggered by an infection. Most doctors take the view that Epstein-Barr virus, which is the virus that causes mononucleosis, is the primary culprit. This is doubtful, in my view, since most of the population is exposed to this virus early on in life without this virus triggering any serious long-term complications.
Then there is a new theory emerging among doctors who have used long-term antibiotic therapy to treat these conditions that fibromyalgia & CFS are not basically auto-immune diseases that are triggered by infections, but that the signs are signs of a chronic ongoing infectious disease technique in the body. These doctors claim to have had excellent ends in the treatment of these syndromes using long-term antibiotics, often in high dosages. They have also had excellent results with treating other so called “auto-immune diseases” with long term antibiotic therapy. Often, patients suffering from fibromyalgia, CFS, & other diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, & rheumatoid arthritis experience complete remissions after a long work of antibiotics.
The positive results that these patients are experiencing implies that plenty of auto-immune diseases may well be chronic undiagnosed bacterial infections. There’s a lot of pathogens that are not basically detected in the body through standard diagnostic procedures & that are not basically killed off through a short work of treatment. These pathogens may be involved in fibromyalgia & chronic fatigue syndrome. There is a new theory that chronic fatigue syndrome & fibromyalgia may be related to chronic mycobacterial infections.
It is also feasible that plenty of of these people actually suffer from Lyme Disease which has seldom been diagnosed due to the shortage of proper testing. Lyme Disease is the quickest growing infectious disease in this country next to AIDS. Cases have been present in all of the lower forty-eight states. Lyme Disease is cause by a spirochetal bacteria called borellia burgdorferi. Borellia burgdorferi is a resilient & adaptable organism. Doctors with clinical experience in the treatment of this disease have noted that definite antibiotics work for definite forms that the bacteria can take, but not for others. The spirochete can take a cyst form where most antibiotics cannot reach it. It also hides in the joints of the body, in areas of poor circulation, & it may hide within the cells of the immune method.
The Middle for Disease Control estimates that one in ten Lyme Disease patients are ever properly diagnosed. The CDC also estimates that it takes an average of thirteen doctors & an average of five years for these people to be properly diagnosed. By the time the diagnosis is made, the disease can be entrenched in the body. There’s also often plenty of co-infections in Lyme Disease patients that may cause a host of other complications. Nevertheless, since the disease & its associated co-infections are caused by bacterial organisms, & these organisms can be killed, there is hope for recovery.
Lyme Disease may cause all of the plenty of signs that people with fibromyalgia & CFS suffer from. It may cause achy muscles & joints, depression, fatigue, migraine headaches, tingling nerve sensations, insomnia, sleepiness, digestive issues, poor circulation, blurry vision, hearing irregularities, mental issues, weak limbs, pain in the rib cage, liver enzyme irregularities, hypothyroidism, an increased tendency for red blood cells to clump together, swollen lymph nodes, & far more. The irregularities in liver function may be responsible for the chemical sensitivities that plenty of people with fibromyalgia & CFS experience. Because the organism that causes the disease is often not in the bloodstream, it is difficult to diagnose the disease through testing. Doctors who are familiar with the disease tend to base their diagnosis chiefly on the clinical signs the patient presents & the risk factors that the patient has had exposure to, using testing as only a secondary measure for making a diagnosis.
According to the doctors who use it, long-term antibiotic therapy may help individuals who suffer from fibromyalgia, CFS, Lyme Disease, & plenty of other “auto-immune diseases”. Nevertheless, there can be serious side effects from this type of therapy. Antibiotics used a long time period may cause kidney & liver destroy. They may cause gallbladder issues. Plenty of people also cannot tolerate oral antibiotics well because of the strain on their digestive method.
There’s plenty of alternative health options that can complement treatment with antibiotics & which may reduce side effects, & there’s plenty of natural cures that have antibiotic & immune-enhancing properties of their own.
Acupuncture may help to improve blood circulation & oxygenation to various areas of the body, enhancing the immune system’s ability to fight off infections. The increase in oxygenation can also generate an inhospitable situation for bacteria that prefer a low oxygen surroundings. It can also stimulate the body to release natural pain relieving opiates in to the body. The improvement in blood circulation may also help to increase body temperature in hands & feet & other areas of the body that tend to get cold basically. These are often areas of the body where bacteria, such as borellia burgdorferi, which prefer a low body temperature, may tend to congregate. Acupuncture can be used together with antibiotic therapy. It may help to improve the efficacy of antibiotic therapy by improving circulation.
According to Chinese research, there’s plenty of Chinese herbs that have immune enhancing & antibacterial properties. There’s also plenty of Chinese herbs that can help the various symptomatic aspects of fibromyalgia & CFS. Some herbs such as astragalus & schizandra can improve the body’s ability to handle stress & can boost immunity. Other herbs such as coptis & scutellaria have anti-bacterial & anti-inflammatory properties.
Zyzyphus seed may help with sleep issues & anxiety. Bupleurum root may help relieve the moodswings & emotional aspects of fibromyalgia. The various types of ginseng can help to improve one’s energy level. Pseudoginseng, frankincense, & myrrh can help stimulate blood circulation & may help with signs of muscle weakness due to poor circulation. Walnuts, gingko biloba, frankincense, gotu kola, & fo-ti may all help with the brain fog & cognitive difficulties that plenty of people with fibromyalgia & CFS experience. Codonopsis, atractylodes, mint, & citrus peel may all help with digestive issues. Chinese herbs are used together in herbal formulas that are individualized to address the pattern of disharmony that the person presents. They are usually not used separately on a symptom by symptom basis.
For Lyme Disease, a few different Chinese herbs stand out for their potential usefulness. Smilax (tu fu ling), coptis (huang lian), garlic (da suan), houttuynia (yu xing cao), & teasel root (xu duan) are all herbs that appear to help to treat Lyme disease in different ways. A quantity of them have antibacterial properties, some strengthen the body usually, & some improve circulation. Chinese herbal formulas such as Huang Lian Jie Du Tang, Ge Xia Zhu Yu Tang, & Xiao Fu Zhu Yu Tang can be helpful. Formulas designed to clear heat, move qi & blood, tonify yang qi, & transform dampness can all be helpful for different patients depending on the pattern of disharmony they present. After a long period of disease or for patients with emaciation & insomnia it may be necessary to nourish yin as well. People with a babesial co-infection, an infection with signs similar to malaria, usually need heat to be cleared from the shaoyang channel & need nourishing of yin. Artemisia can be a useful herb for babesia. It’s been shown to have anti-malarial properties in China & Vietnam. For people with Lyme Disease who have nerve issues, it may even be necessary to clear liver wind.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has been used to treat people with Lyme Disease. Plenty of have experienced lovely results & there is ongoing scientific research at the moment concerning its efficacy.
The bacteria that causes Lyme Disease prefers an oxygen deprived surroundings. Its presence in the body appears to increase coagulation of blood & decrease circulation. It may thereby generate the oxygen deprived surroundings that it prefers. This is great for the bacteria but can be the source of much of the difficulty that a person with this disease experiences. Plenty of of the signs that people with Lyme disease, CFS, or fibromyalgia complain of are similar to signs that people experience from altitude disease, which is caused by oxygen deprivation at high altitudes. The fatigue, the mental difficulties, the sleepiness, the feeling of having a ton of bricks attached to one’s limbs are all similar to signs that people with altitude disease experience. It makes sense to me that generating an oxygen-rich surroundings could potentially be helpful. It is important for testing for co-infections before beginning this technique, because there’s other bacteria that could be present that prefer a high oxygen surroundings, complicating the picture. There’s potential side effects as well such as nearsightedness.
Colloidal silver is supplement that may have broad-spectrum antibiotic properties. Its proponents claim that it can aid all sorts of conditions from asthma to rheumatoid arthritis. It did appear to help my fatigue a bit at the early stages of my Lyme disease. There is the chance that excessive use may cause a condition called argyria, which is a permanent bluish discoloration of the skin, although plenty of people have sizable quantities of colloidal silver with no issues at all. I is also helpful to take an acidophilus supplement while using this supplement in order to replace the lovely bacteria in your intestines & prevent issues with candida. Massive amounts may be necessary to have an impact on Lyme Disease. It is feasible to buy a colloidal silver generator & make your own colloidal silver at home. This is less pricey than purchasing it on a regular basis at the health food store, but care must be taken to make it properly.
Aromatherapy is one of the most promising holistic therapies for conditions such as fibromyalgia, CFS, & Lyme Disease, in my view. The essential oils are concentrated versions of the volatile parts present in herbs.
It can take plenty of pounds of plant matter to make an ounce of essential oil. For the most precious oil, made from the Bulgarian rose, it can take a ton of rose petals to make a pound of oil. Most of the oils have antiseptic & antibacterial properties. Plenty of of them stimulate the immune method & trigger increased production of white blood cells. The oils also improve oxygenation of the body’s tissues & promote detoxing. They may have a chelating effect, which means that they may assist in carrying toxins such as heavy metals out of the body. Some oils such as lavender can be sedative & aid with sleep & reduce anxiety. Oil of oregano, which is a well-liked supplement present in health food stores is essential oil of oregano diluted in vegetable oil. It is always necessary to dilute the oils before using them because they are so concentrated. Interestingly, plenty of people with CFS, Lyme Disease, & fibromyalgia are likely to find that a quantity of their signs worsen when inhaling the fragrance of the oils. This is often a detoxing reaction. People with Lyme Disease usually appear to derive greatest benefits from stronger dilutions of essential oil than most aromatherapists usually use. It is important to make use of care when the oils are utilized in this manner. The oils are processed by the liver & kidneys & may cause liver & kidney issues in high amounts. One ought to reduce the amount used if there is nausea or discontinue use if there is any allergic reaction. People with these diseases may discover that much of their fatigue, muscle weakness, mental fogginess, & pain can be significantly reduced with regular application of the oils. The oils can be used diluted in vegetable oil for massage of affected areas of the body, & they can be used by the drop in one’s bath water. They may even be absorbed in to the bloodstream by the lungs basically by inhaling their fragrance. The oils also penetrate the blood-brain barrier & may be helpful for neurological issues due to infections or other reasons. A quantity of the oils can trigger seizures in people liable to them. Some other oils, such as jasmine & ylang-ylang may help people to control seizures. Oil of oregano taken internally as directed may even be helpful in the treatment of Lyme Disease.
Massage can improve oxygenation of body tissues & improve blood circulation as well as reduce pain. If a person has fibromyalgia or CFS due to an infectious disease technique, or a person has Lyme Disease, massage ought to only be used in combination with a therapy that is antibacterial in nature. Otherwise, it is likely to fire up dormant bacteria & fire up signs in lieu of providing symptom relief. When massage is used in combination with a therapy that is antibiotic in nature, it may improve the efficacy of that therapy by bringing bacteria out of hiding in order to be killed. Deep tissue massage may improve the efficacy of treatment with antibiotics, with herbs, with aromatherapy, or with heat. Used by itself, though, it may fire up latent issues in people with these conditions.
Heat can be helpful for treating Lyme Disease because the bacteria appears to prefer a low body temperature and is vulnerable to high heat. There are many different sources of heat that can be used to treat this condition. Heat can also be helpful for people with fibromyalgia and CFS who may actually have undiagnosed cases of Lyme Disease. People usually feel a worsening of symptoms before they feel an improvement with the use of heat. My personal theory is that this is because the heat stirs up the bacteria before it kills it off or triggers the immune system to kill the bacteria off. This is speculative on my part. The use of saunas can be very useful. A far infrared heat lamp can be used on problem areas. Hot baths taken for forty minutes at 102-104 degrees Fahrenheit have been shown to enhance immune system response in people with infectious diseases and auto-immune disorders in a research study done at Bastyr University. A Chinese therapy called moxibustion can also be useful in warming problem areas. I do not recommend the use of cold packs or ice for pain in people with Lyme Disease, fibromyalgia, or CFS as these therapies reduce circulation to areas where circulation is likely to already be compromised. Also, the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease appears to prefer a cool environment, so cold therapy may cause real problems in people with this condition.
In spite of the fatigue that people with fibromyalgia, CFS, and Lyme Disease may feel, a certain amount of exercise can be very beneficial if they are up to the challenge. It is important not to overexert oneself, but a brisk walk or other exercise that gets one’s heart pumping can be helpful. Again, exercise can be helpful because it can improve circulation in the body, and improve oxygenation of the body’s tissues. Exercises such as stretching and yoga that help to improve flexibility and loosen muscles can also be helpful. Hot yoga, where yoga is done in a room where the heat is cranked up can be particularly helpful because it combines exercise with heat therapy. It is important not to push too hard when doing exercise. The point is to improve your health, and not to wipe yourself out more.
Magnesium appears to be a useful supplement for people with these conditions. Many people report an improvement in their muscle pain when taking a magnesium supplement on a regular basis. It is important to reduce intake of sugar, dairy products and bread while increasing intake of green vegetables. Spirulina can be a useful addition to your health regimen as it is both nourishing and detoxifying. It may also be helpful to reduce consumption of tomatoes as they seem to encourage acidity in the body. Flax seed oil has an anti-inflammatory effect that can be very helpful. Alpha-lipoic acid is a helpful anti-oxidant. It may help nerve function and improve liver function.
As you can see, fibromyalgia, CFS, and Lyme Disease are complex ailments, but there are many promising therapies that people with these conditions are likely to find helpful.