The unpleasant symptoms in case of fibromyalgia significantly disrupt the quality of life, so phytotherapists, or fitotherapists, recommend the use of products based on spices and healing herbs.

You may be suffering from fibromyalgia, If you literally feel pain everywhere in your body. The disease is manifested by long-term pains felt in the muscles and in the joints, sensitivity in certain points in the body, as well as by considerable tiredness and languor.

This disease has been known for a century and a half, but initially it was regarded as a mental illness. Only fifteen years ago, it was finally recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Nowadays, although it is hard to be diagnosed, its occurrence is more common than ever. Usually, it occurs after the 40^th year and it affects women in more than 90% of the cases. Its intensity can be influenced by many factors, such as insomnia, stress, weather, physical inactivity. This disease may last for years and in some cases it can last for a lifetime.

Symptoms

As previously mentioned, this disease is very difficult to be diagnosed. This is mostly due to the fact that the symptoms of this syndrome coincide with the ones of many other diseases.

Most often, fibromyalgia is characterized by increased sensitivity to pressure in characteristic anatomical regions in the body, chronic widespread pain or prickling, tingling sensation in the muscles and in the bones, tiredness and exhaustion.

People suffering from it regularly experience morning stiffness that lasts more than an hour, as well as swelling of the joints and the soft tissues on the palms and on the feet, even though there’s no actual swelling. These patients also lack quality sleep, so they wake up in the morning feeling even more tired than they were before they went to sleep.

The constant pains, tiredness, and exhaustion influence their work efficiency and thus reduce it, so patients feel sick and depressed. Women suffering from fibromyalgia experience menstrual pains as well.

Among other symptoms, people with this disease often suffer from headaches and migraine. Other symptoms linked to the disease are: tingling sensation everywhere in the body, dry lips, stiffness in the neck, constipation, diarrhea and bloating, vertigos, anxiety, problems with the jaw joint, and others.

Reasons for its occurence

The exact culprits for the occurrence of fibromyalgia are still unknown, but its target groups are specified. Fybromyalgia usually occurs in women, especially during menopause, people who have low tolerance of pain, depressive ones and those who suffer from other psychic disorders, then people who are very sensitive, anxious people, as well as those who have experienced injury in the neck area of the spine.

There are some doubts that fibromyalgia can be caused by an unidentified viral infection, however. Several studies have shown that , in patients who are believed to suffer from this disease, certain components of the immune system behave abnormally.

In particular, there are indications that some changes have taken place in the immune system. This leads to the belief that there may be a troublesome fight of the organism against the infectious agent.  Consequently, the strengthening of the immunity may be a very important factor in the soothing process of the fibromyalgia symptoms.

What makes fibromyalgia hard to be diagnosed is the fact that blood analyses and x-ray imaging in patients are completely neat and there’s no other method of diagnosis that can determine the presence of the disease, therefore, the clinical finding is the only means of its diagnosis.

As a result, some particular instructions for diagnosing this disease have been established. As these instructions say, the patient has to be experiencing pains and stabbing at least in 11 of the 17 standard painful points in the body.

The pangs have to be present for at least several adjacent months, and their intensity may vary. These painful points are located in the knees, ankles, hips, the upper part of the chest, upper and lower back, elbows, wrists jaws, neck.

There are some cases in which the right diagnosis is established by using the method of elimination, and these are quite common. It functions by eliminating the existence of other diseases that can provide the exact clinical picture.

Unfortunately, doctors rarely take this medical condition seriously, mostly due to lack of knowledge about it, because all the medical analyses indicate that there are no health problems.

Thus, the patient’s condition is believed to be invented by himself. Nevertheless, the pangs that patients experience are real and the symptoms are not derived from “their mind”, even in cases when fibromyalgia is caused by long-term stress.

Fibromyalgia therapy

The treatment of this disease requires a multidisciplinary approach, done by a team of doctors of different specialties, including a rheumatologist, physiatrist, neurologist and if needed, a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

If practiced separately, they do not give results, that’s why all methods of treatment should be combined- therapy with medications and physical therapy.

Physical treatments for muscle relaxation are compulsory, such as laser therapy, magnetic therapy, as well as interferential and ultrasound therapies. In addition, medications that are usually used in the treatment of this disease include painkillers, antidepressants, and sleeping pills.

Furthermore, other favorable means in addition to the treatment of the disease include body massages, warm baths or pools, acupressure, acupuncture, and behavioral therapy provided by a psychotherapist.

Phytotherapists also believe that particular types of herbs may help soothe the symptoms of fibromyalgia, since their properties soothe pains and relax the muscles. These include: calendula, willow, thyme, horsetail, ginger, and blessed thistle.

An essential part of the treatment is changing the way of thinking on patients, their lifestyle, their diet, and to help them incorporate regular physical activities in their daily schedule, which will be adapted to their abilities.

The article continues on page 2…