How I am beating Fibromyalgia

Atlantoaxial manipulation is dangerous in skilled hands - and

i admit a bias as a neuroradiologist - but i would not have anyone

manipulate me at C1-2. Great way to dissect (injure) your vertebral

or carotid artery - and I've seen cases of just that after chiropractic

neck manipulation. Massage? great. Accupuncture? better, and it works,

from properly trained practictioners.

Eat well, avoid stress. Hell move out of this country and you will feel better!

From a fellow joint and muscle pain sufferer....

Interesting thread, OP, although, as a fellow fibromyalgia sufferer (since 1999) who has since developed rheumatoid arthritis, I disagree with everything you feel is the cause, and cure, of fibro. Not to be disrespectful, it is just my opinion.

I have pretty much beaten it as well, with no help from a chiropractor, Lyrica, Cymbalta, or any of the immunosuppresant drugs they push.

If all that works for you, then wonderful. My mother also has fibromyalgia, and she did the chiropractor thing, because she saw it on a news program as a "cure". Didn't work very well for her, unfortunately.

I personally feel that a great many autoimmune disorders are caused by variations of mycoplasma....and yes, I blame our government for turning it loose on the general public.

I use "alternative medicine" and it has been a God-send for me.

I enjoy reading about how others have conquered this beast, so I appreciate your sharing your experiences.

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
I use "alternative medicine" and it has been a God-send for me.

Care to elaborate, please?

While this is an interesting post, I have found that for my own symptoms, what the cause was, and that the answer is that I need to learn to live with it. I have found chiropractic helpful over the years at various times in my life, but also turn to" alternative medicine" vs traditional whenever possible. A good meditation session never hurts either for stress relief. At 49, with a resting pulse of under 65 and a consistent bp of 90/60 or less, I'm in pretty fair shape for my age. ;-) I've been lucky in that my doctor doesn't push pills on me, as so many and I do not get along.

I love the idea and it merits further consideration, as I've had wierder cures in life.....I would love to pick one of those guys' brains for a couple hours and see just why they think the way they do..

reply to post by drphilxr


Thanks for adding your experience with this! I really mean that btw, I am interested in all sides of this and folks need to know the risk involved as well.

I find myself in a strange spot with this because I did find an article about Upper Cervical on Quackwatch after your post prompted me to do some digging. In the past I have use this exact site many times to discredit other alternative treatments. On the other hand, this specific procedure worked amazingly well for me and it seems to have the science to back up why it works. I am not saying it is a cure all for everything that it might be recommended for(especially kids- cringe) , or even that it will help everyone with specifically FM, but it may be a good alternative for some who wish to try it.

I also found a rebuttal to certain claims made by those opposed to this procedure. Here are some stats from that site:

In addition to these published studies, data from the National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company (NCMIC), which insures over 50 percent of US chiropractors, is also useful for estimating the risk of cervical manipulation. Since chiropractors deliver 80-90 percent of the spinal manipulation performed in the US, and this company insures about one-half of the profession in the US, this malpractice insurer is a good source of statistics on this subject. According to a member of NCMIC Board of Directors (personal communication with Louis Sportelli, DC, Dec. 21, 1994), in the three years of 1991-92-93, NCMIC closed a total of 96 claims for CVA; of this total 61 were closed with payment, and 35 were closed without payment. If one concludes that there was little or no merit to the 35 claims which were closed without payment, this would represent an average of 20 CVA claims per year.

If these NCMIC chiropractors are similar to the national average, they see approximately 120 patient visits per week (10). Curtis and Bove (11) report that rotary adjustments of the cervical spine comprise about 30% of the visits made to chiropractors. Therefore, chiropractors insured by NCMIC each performed some 1800 cervical manipulations in each of those three years. Considering these numbers, we calculate that NCMICs 24,000 DCs perform some 43,000,000 cervical manipulations per year. If this leads to 20 strokes, that's a rate of less than one stroke per 2 million cervical manipulations.

According to this, the risk of injury is >1 per 2 million manipulations. I am not saying you are lying about seeing so many, you may very well have a bad doc in your area doing some real damage to people, but it doesn't seem to be all that common. Your area of expertise would also certainly lend to you having a higher run in with this type of injury as well. Personally, in all my years working the ICU, I have never seen a single injury due to a bad chiropractic case. What I have seen plenty of is complications from surgeries as well as bad adverse reactions to meds. Every surgery will not lead to complications, and not all medicines will lead to an adverse reaction, but there are risks involved with almost anything you do. Thank you for pointing out the risks involved with this particular procedure. Each person should be informed of the bad with the good when it comes to making healthcare decisions.

~OkieDokie

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Thanks for jumping in here Fission! I believe it was one of your threads that finally prompted me to sign up to ATS, if not, then it was one you were heavily involved in. I don't take any offense to what you are saying at all. I was a firm believer that FM was caused by a virus prior to experiencing such a turn around with this. The thing that mainly pointed me in the virus direction was the amount of nurses reporting to be diagnosed with FM. It seemed to fit the bill of possibly being a hospital acquired illness.

In my specific case, the cause appears to be stemming from my neck. All of my symptoms make sense in view of what my chiropractor presented as the cause, and obviously I was pleased with the outcome of the procedure.

I am glad to know you have found what works for you! I know this is a tricky illness and people just have to search until they find what is right for them. It sounds like there are more and more beating FM everyday!

~OkieDokie

I am so happy this is helping you so much! I am about to have a spinal cord stimulator trial done, as no manipulations, nerve blocks or medications have helped me with my RSD/CRPS pain (Nerve blocks help for about a week, so at one point I was begging my doctor for one every two weeks). My doctor is an Osteopath, so he likes to try alternative things before invasive.

I feel you on the Lyrica weight gain. I tried Lyrica and Neurontin, and had no relief, and put on A LOT of weight. The next one to try is Topamax. Unlike the other two, this one has a side effect of weight LOSS. This is all if the stimulator does not help. I also have tried anti-depressants without help. Pain medication itself only helps with the aching pain, it doesn't touch the burning, stinging pain. The ice cold extremity, the atrophy, the purple skin, etc. It sounds horrible but... if the Lyrica or Neurontin had helped, I don't know if I could have continued them. I literally gained 100 pounds over the course of a year. Once off the meds and taking better care of myself, I lost 70 (I'm over 6 feet tall so it was a little easier to lose it). I figure that if the Lyrica helped me, but I put 100 more pounds of weight on my bad foot, that it would still be bad.

I hope you continue to get relief, it's great to hear of good results like this

Originally posted by charlie0
reply to post by OkieDokie

 

I suffered for almost 15 years and lost my trust in US medical system. I am 68 just to give you some perspective. In my early 24 years life I went twice to Doctor. Lived on herbs in that period not to say that our Hospitals were free. My first visit to Dentist was at age 31 and that was on my wife insistence. I am not a doctor or a Scientist but was an engineer and worked in Research. Combined early life experience with work experience Since 2005 I reversed my many medical problems and I can tell you that there is no dedication. The knowledge is fragmented I am thankful to many who wrote their observation and experiences on sights like this. Here is my 2 cents. On December 21, 2012 Dr. Oz Aired an episode "The Provocative Doctor to Revolutionize your Health" a guest Doctor Soram Khalsa, who looked like an East Indian with white long beard. He learned some of his early medical science in India before he came back and got his Medical Education in USA.. If you could find that Doctor. He has full medical Education, Nutrition, Chiropractor, Alternative medicine. He spent many years. your couple visits to him will make you a new person. I can give you a long lecture what to eat or not to eat but all of that will be useless. When you find the information please post it here so others can benefit from your experience.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


i'd be interested in hearing what you have done. i have some minor symptoms of FM that come and go and also some symptoms of RA.... all starting in april of 2012. as of last week my left index finger is no longer fully mobile and i think the joint may be too far gone. since that happened in under a year i'm fearful of more damage in the coming years. oddly my fibro symptoms are not daily and only happen at night when they do happen. the pain is severe enough that i dream about being unable to walk due to the horrible pain.... because of the pain i'm actually in while dreaming.

as for the OP i do have neck issues due to an injury when i was 18 (fell on the ice in a parking lot). i now have bone spurs and feel the grinding. i have TMJ but it's not too bad and i get headaches that are pretty intense sometimes. i have gone to the chiro before but i freak out about having my neck adjusted so i quit going.

reply to post by pasiphae


I don't want to derail the OP's thread in any way, but I have a slew of vitamins and herbs I take that specifically address inflammation and the microbes I feel are causing it.

Feel free to U2U me, and I'll share everything I take, and where I get it from.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


thanks! i U2U'd you.

reply to post by charlie0


Thanks for updating that info. I tried to find him on Dr. Phil's archives yesterday and didn't have any luck, it makes sense why now.

He actually seems like he has a very reasonable approach to healthcare. Eat right, exercise, and get the proper nutrients. I think just about anybody could benefit from following those standards.

~OkieDokie

reply to post by SweetKarma


Sounds like you have found a pretty good doc. It's always nice to have one that actually listens to you and doesn't try to push lot of meds down your throat. I too have low BP, about 90/60. I don't know how that would tie into the whole neck thing, but it is something that is common in Fibro. I am learning more about this as I go along, so maybe that is something I can ask my doc about next time I am in. I know when I was pregnant with my first, I would drop as low as 50/30 and was constantly about to pass out. It didn't seem to affect me like that with my daughter though.


~OkieDokie

reply to post by Deadscreameyes


Please let me know how the stimulator works for you. My father in law has been talking about trying that as on option for his pain as well (years of farming has worn on his body). It would be great to know from a first hand source how much it helped or not.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Lyrica. I swear I tried just about everything to get that weight off while I was on it and nothing would help. I was running 3 miles a day 3 times a week and would be in so much pain afterwards, that I would have to take more Lyrica. Go figure. Despite my best efforts, I still put on the 30 lbs, but was able to at least hold it at that. I am 5'9 and went from 125 to 155 and all that weight went directly to my midsection. So glad that you have been able to take off most of the weight. I had the same feeling as you with it, that it can't be good to be putting on so much weight. It's like trading one bad thing for another.

The first med I was tried on was Topamax, mainly aimed at tackling my migraines, but was thought to help with FM as well. It made me have awful sensations all over my body like I was being bitten by ants. That's why they switched me to Lyrica. I hope you have more success with it. I know it has helped others quite a bit.

~OkieDokie

reply to post by OkieDokie


I will update you on it! I know quite a lot of people that have an SCS for their RSD. If it were for back pain, I would definitely go through with the trial! It's actually not that invasive (The trial, that is). For RSD, a lot are hesitant because any surgery, even an IV stick, can spread the disease to that area. But mine is not aggressive at all. It's stayed in the same area of my body for 10 years, though my entire leg has now become purple.. but it doesn't hurt like my foot does, thank goodness! I am very very optimistic about it, and I believe a positive attitude helps a lot!

Wow, those are some strange side effects with Topamax! I hear a lot of people mention that it makes certain foods taste horrible to them, or lose their appetite (Hence the weight loss). I think I read that the FDA has approved it as a weight loss medication recently? That's interesting. Funny how Topamax, Neurontin and Lyrrica kinda have the same mechanism of action, yet Topamax makes you lose weight, as the other two make you just pack on the pounds rapidly! What a horrible side effect!

Here's a link that has some info on Chiropractic care... Source

43. CHIROPRACTIC -- I have been to chirorpractors for most of my adult life for neck and back problems with much success. However, chiropractic never seemed to help my fibromyalgia. Recently I heard from a lady who has had remission of her fibromyalgia with the Atlas Orthogonal chiropractic technique. I don't know if this relief was permanent or not. A-O chiropractic is said to be better than regular chiropractic care. An article was published in "Today's Chiropractic" that stated a cure rate of 92-100% of FMS symptoms after a series of atlas adjustments--the top two cervical vertebrae. Here are some sites about this technique: www.transportlogic.com... www.pendulum.org...
www.uppercervical.org...
www.atlasorthogonality.com...
www.pacificchiro.com...
www.todayschiropractic.com...

I have friends that suffer with this condition so I'm always on the lookout for ways that may help. I just think it's hard to find a good Chiropractor.

reply to post by OkieDokie
Thanks very much for posting this. I have been going to a traditional chiropractor for 20+ years and had never heard of NUCCA. Lately I've been experiencing numbness in my hands and sometimes arms from the elbows down and was worried it might be FM or something like that. I found a NUCCA practitioner about 20 minutes from my house, have had a preliminary evaluation, and appear to be a good candidate for NUCCA. My first adjustment is Saturday.

reply to post by CanAmGal


That's great! I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me. Within 2 days of my first adjustment I could tell a difference in my pain levels, and within about a month I was all but symptom free. It has been almost 2 months since my last visit and I am just now starting to feel the tightness in my neck and shoulders, but I haven't had anymore numbness in my legs, migraines, fatigue, or overwhelming pain. Please keep us updated and let us know how it works for you!

~OkieDokie

Fibromyalgia is a mind/body disorder. Much of the pain can be eliminated by implementing the techniques of introspection developed by Dr. John E. Sarno.

I suffered from debilitating and excruciating pain for many years. Not a day went by that I did not experience one or more symptoms such as neck pain, tunnel carpal syndrome, sciatica, low back pain, TMJ, freezing hands, blinding headaches, wandering pain, etc. I was miserable every single day. The pain was simply incredible. And all therapies and non-narcotic drugs eventually stopped working. I thought I was beyond help, destined to live out my life in piercing pain and dependent on narcotics to find temporary relief. Until...

After reading and following Dr. Sarno's treatment plan, I am now pain free and do 2,000 strokes on the rowing machine every day. I jump, squat, stretch, twist, bend, and do not have pain.

If you are where I was, you may also find Dr. Sarno's treatment plan helpful in reducing your pain.

Here is a link to his web site. You can also find his books on Amazon.
johnesarnomd.com...

Here is a thread I started on the topic 2 years ago. The thread languished but I am happy to report that I am still pain free.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Do not dimiss the power of the mind and the resiliency of the human body.

reply to post by OkieDokie


google beck protocol Fibromyalgia.