Fibromyalgia and Homeopathy

If you feel pain all over your body, muscles ache all over and you frequently feel exhausted and unrefreshed even after a sleep. Also there are these points in your body where slight pressure causes severe pain and it so happens that even after numerous tests no diagnosis has ever been confirmed. If this sounds familiar, you may have fibromyalgia.

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic disorder although it resembles arthritis due to excessive pains, it is not at all like arthritis. It does not cause any damage or inflammation of joints, muscles and tissues.

Widespread muscle pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points are few of the important symptoms that often characterize the disorder. Tender points are specific places on the body where even slightest pressure causes extreme pain?they can be present on the neck, shoulders, back, hips, and upper and lower extremities.

As more medical advancement is being made to understand this strange disorder it is becoming more and more evident that sleep plays an important role in this disease. Usually people with fibromyalgia seem to wake up with tired-up feeling even though they seem to sleep enough. This morning fatigue is being linked to a kind of sleep disorder where a person is not able to go into deep sleep. Recent medical studies have suggested that this sleep problem is due to alpha wave interrupted sleep pattern, a condition where deep sleep is interrupted often by bursts of activity in the brain similar to wakefulness. So people suffering from fibromyalgia are deprived from this restorative phase of sleep.

In addition to the above mentioned symptoms those suffering from fibromyalgia may show a wide array of symptoms-, morning stiffness, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, painful menstrual periods, numbness or tingling of the extremities, restless legs syndrome, temperature sensitivity, memory problems, depression or a variety of other symptoms

What causes fibromyalgia?

Although it is still unclear as to what causes this disease, some evidence points towards its association with emotional or physical stressful events. Some researchers link this disease to other auto-immune disorders. They believe that those suffering disorders such as arthritis etc. are more likely to develop it. This disorder is more prevalent in females.

Homeopathy and fibromyalgia.

The treatment available with conventional medical system is just palliative, where as Homeopathy offers an effective form of treatment, aiming at curing the disorder. This statement is based on a hardcore research done by the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, United States . This study involved patients affected with fibromyalgia; they were selected beforehand according to symptoms referring to a specific homeopathic medicine. The results showed a significant superiority of the homeopathic treatment, as regards pain, the quality of sleep and the overall condition.

Homeopathic treatment in such disorders is based on assessing one individual group of symptoms and thereby finding the most suitable medicine. Mental and physical make-up both are taken into consideration while prescribing. It is this holistic approach that gives homoeopathy an edge over the conventional system.

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Reduce stress levels

As stress causes an increase in the symptoms of fibromyalgia, make sure to reduce your stress levels. Also make sure to follow a regular daily routine as people who tend to reduce their physical work due to pain, end up suffering more.

Getting enough sleep

Ensure adequate sleep in order to reduce fatigue. Follow a regular pattern in going to bed and getting up at the same time each day and limiting daytime napping

Regular exercise

Although initially the exercise would increase the symptoms, but eventually regular exercise would lead to reduction of the symptoms

Eat right

Having a regular balanced diet is essential in fighting all chronic disorders, especially if one suffers from irritable bowel syndrome along with.

Adjust your activities

Keep your daily activities on an even level. If you exert too much on a good day, you might have too many and severe bad days.

his feature ( authored by Dr. Vikas Sharma ) was earlier published in The Tribune(north India?s largest circulated daily newspaper). Dr. Vikas Sharma is regular Homeopathic columnist for The Tribune.You can mail him at  vikas@drhomeo.com