Other: Fibromyalgia: An integrative approach

Abstract

This presentation outlines an integrative approach to treating fibromyalgia that focuses on four key areas: (1) sleep disorders; (2) nutritional deficiencies; (3) persistent infections and (4) hormonal deficiencies. Fibromyalgia is not a single illness. Our research has shown that it is a mix of many different processes that can be triggered by many causes, including infections, injury (sometimes very mild), hormonal deficiencies (e.g. low thyroid, estrogen, etc.), chronic stress, and/or nutritional deficiencies. What these processes have in common is that most of them can suppress a major control center in your brain called the hypothalamus. This center controls sleep, your hormonal system, temperature, and blood flow / blood pressure. When you don't sleep deeply, your immune system also stops working properly and you'll be in pain. In support of our work, an editorial in the April 2002 Journal of the American Academy of Pain Management, representing a major multidisciplinary medical society for pain management in the United States noted “the comprehensive and aggressive metabolic approach to treatment detailed in the Teitelbaum study are all highly successful approaches and make fibromyalgia a very treatment responsive disorder. The study by Teitelbaum et al. and years of clinical experience make this approach an excellent and powerfully effective part of the standard of practice for treatment of people who suffer from fibromyalgia and Myofascial pain syndrome.” In our recently published placebo-controlled study, 91 percent of patients improved with an average improvement in quality of life of 90 percent. Many patients no longer even qualified for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia after treatment.