Fibromyalgia

What is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia whose main symptoms consist of chronic pain and fatigue. It can lead to severe exhaustion, inability to function (even with basic day to day activities), and pain that changes to various locations in the body.

What causes fibromyalgia?

It can be brought on by different forms of stress. Stress in the form of Physical, Emotional, and/or Chemical stress.

Physical Stress from car accidents, falls, bumps, or bruises.

Emotional Stress due to financial difficulties, a failed marriage, abuse, or difficulties at work.

Chemical Stress from alcohol, tobacco, and/or junk food.

Chemical, physical or emotional stressors can cause an interruption of the neurological firing mechanisms in the brain and brainstem. Once a stressor is too large and the nervous system is taxed beyond the range at which it can recover, the symptoms of fibromyalgia can begin to appear.

Stress causes the brain to lose impulses - or decrease its frequency of firing. When you are stressed, a chemical called cortizol is released into the bloodstream. CORTIZOL IS TOXIC TO THE BRAIN AND CAUSES A DECREASED FIRING OF IMPULSES (how your brain sends signals to your entire body).

The largest part of the overall problem lies within a part of the brainstem called the mesencephalon. The mesencephalon is where the sleep centers are housed. When the brain itself is not firing as much as it should (due to stress) it causes the brainstem to over fire and run out of control. This is what causes the fibromyalgia sufferer to not be able to get down into a deep restful sleep. This leads to an entire cascade effect that can cause the fibromyalgia patient to fall into a chronic state of being sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation leads to fatigue. Next is chronic fatigue, which ultimately leads to exhaustion and depression.

What are the main symptoms of fibromyalgia?

PAIN ... when the upper brainstem (mesencephalon) is over-firing it drives down an area of the spinal cord called the IML or Inter-medio-Iateral cell nucleus which causes the adrenal gland (on top of your kidneys) to release chemicals that cause PAIN! The adrenal gland releases catacholamines and norepinephrine into the bloodstream. When these chemicals are released into the bloodstream, they stimulate pain fibers, specifically, TYPE C pain fibers which are the smallest and MOST PAINFUL pain fibers.

INSOMNIA ... the problem is that upper brainstem (mesencephalon) again! (Can you see a pattern emerging?) Inside the upper-brainstem (mesencephalon) is the mesencephalic reticular activating system. This is a big, fancy, three dollar term - but it is WHY YOU ARE NOT SLEEPING! When the upper-brainstem (mesencephalon) is over-firing you are NOT SLEEPING. When it is firing at its normal rate, because the lower-brainstem (ponto-medullary region) is slowing down or inhibiting the upper-brainstem (mesencephalon), you are sleeping like a newborn baby.

IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome is characterized by episodes of diarrhea and constipation, abdominal pain, nausea, and even vomiting. In the lower-brainstem there is an area called the NTS. Another big term, but it stands for the Nucleus Tractus Solitarious. Inside the NTS is the origin of the Vagus nerve. Guess where one of the places the Vagus nerve goes to ... THE ABDOMINAL AREA! So if you are suffering with IBS, your lower brainstem is NOT firing the way that it should.

HEADACHES ... the reason you have headaches is because the upper- brainstem (mesencephalon) is over-firing due to the fact that the brain is NOT firing impulses to the lower-brainstem and the lower-brainstem (ponto-medullary region) is not inhibiting or slowing down the upper-brainstem (mesencephalon).

"FIBRO FOG" and LOSS OF MEMORY are due to decrease firing of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain.

DIFFICULTY EXPRESSING WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY In the left frontal lobe of your brain is "Broca's Speech area" and when this area of your brain has a decrease in impulses or FOF (frequency of firing), you will have difficulty expressing what you would like to say.

INCREASED HEART RATE is due to the upper-brainstem over-firing again. Remember when I said the IML (inter-medio-Iateral cell nucleus) over-fires when the upper-brainstem (mesencephalon) over-fires? Well ... that is what is also causing your heart to race. Yes, that's the problem. The IML drives down the spinal cord and causes the electrical nodes (SA on the right and AV on the left) in your heart to miss-fire. This will cause you to experience an increased heart rate, an irregular heart rate, or both of these at the same time.

DIZZINESS ... Near the back of the brain is an area called the cerebellum. The cerebellum controls all of your spinal muscles AND your balance AND your coordinated movement. When fibromyalgia patients are dizzy or lightheaded, their cerebellum has decreased its firing. Many of them have been told by other healthcare professionals that their dizziness is being caused by their inner ear. This is the case for some people but not for most fibromyalgia sufferers.

CHRONIC URINARY TRACT INFECTION ... Fibromyalgia patients often have chronic urinary tract infections because the part of their brain that is responsible for signaling the urinary bladder is not firing properly and the bladder is not getting the signals to tell the bladder to completely empty when using the bathroom. When the bladder doesn't completely empty, the warm and moist environment is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

IN CONCLUSION:

The brainstem controls so many functions and when it is being chronically irritated, it can misfire and send the wrong signals to the different nerves throughout the body. (Every nerve that carries signals to every area below the neck goes through the neck.) That is what explains all of the painful symptoms that fibromyalgia patients have and the fact that the location of the pain is so random and in different locations at different times.

In treating thousands of fibromyalgia patients, we have repetitively found that the physical stressor in a significant number of fibromyalgia patients is straightening of the cervical curve (the natural and normal curve that your neck is supposed to have). When that occurs, it is known as Phase 1 Spinal Degeneration. The joints in the spine do not glide on each other once the neck has gone into that phase of degeneration. Instead, they grind on each other and that is what causes the popping or cracking sound that patients describe when they are turning their head. Ultimately, this leads to more aggressive stages of spinal degeneration and degenerative disc/disk disease. This disease process can lead to bone spurring in the neck, spinal fusion (where two bones are fused in the neck - EVEN THOUGH YOU DID NOT HAVE SURGERY!!) and disc dessication (where the disc has lost its' water content and is dehydrated).

We treat fibromyalgia from a neurological perspective and we use some or all of the following treatments depending on the unique needs of various patients......

OXYGEN ... your brain and nervous system need TWO things to survive, FUEL AND ACTIVATION. Activation comes in the form of some of the treatments that are listed below, BUT fuel is in the form of OXYGEN and glucose. You get the glucose from the food that you eat which is why it is important to eat a healthy diet, but AS YOU AGE, YOUR ABILITY TO UTILIZE OXYGEN DECREASES. One of the treatments that we do in our office is to place some patients on oxygen to increase their body's fuel delivery system. It's like gas in the car ... if you don't have any gas in the car, you are not going anywhere. If you don't have oxygen available for your brain and nervous system, most likely, no treatment will work!

UNILATERAL SOFT TISSUE TREATMENT ... the right brain controls the left side of the body and the left brain controls the right side. If there is a decrease of firing or impulses in one side of the brain, I ONLY WANT TO ADJUST YOU ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE. Makes sense, doesn't it? WE ONLY USE VERY LIGHT SOFT TISSUE TECHNIQUES SO IT WON'T AGGRIVATE YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM! Have you ever had an adjustment and felt worse afterward? It is because the adjustment was TOO MUCH for your nervous system. It over-stimulated your nervous system - or (get ready for another $3 term that neurologist's use) it exceeded metabolic capacity.

AUDITORY STIMULATION ... listening to sound in one ear will stimulate the opposite side of the brain and increase impulses to that side.

OLFACTORY STIMULATION ... smelling different smells will stimulate the brain. Your sight, sound, taste, and touch all travel through a sensory area of your brain called the thalamus. SMELL doesn't go through the thalamus. SMELL GOES DIRECTLY TO THE BRAIN.

CALORICS ... warm water in the ear will stimulate the semi-circular canals in your ear and fire the vestibular nerve back to your cerebellum. The cerebellum fires to the brain, the brain fires to the lower-brainstem (ponto-medullary region) and your lower-brainstem slows down the upper-brainstem (mesencephalon).

DRX 9000 Spinal Decompression ... In our clinic, we have the DRX 9000 Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Unit that actually REHYDRATES a herniated or bulging disc without surgery. It is called TRUE SPINAL DECOMPRESSION. The DRX9000 has been featured on National News Programs and has been heralded as "Surgery without a knife" for the treatment of disc injuries, severe sciatica (leg pain), neck / arm / hand pain and degenerative disc disease. Some patients have disc problems that agitate the symptoms of fibromyalgia.

COLD LASER THERAPY ... Everyone knows that light has healing properties. Our cold laser device sends light into the soft tissues at a wavelength of 830 nanometers to penetrate deeply into your soft tissues to dramatically speed up the healing process. It is non-heat producing and painless.

So many of our patients describe that even after their first or second visit, they get the best sleep they have had in years. One of our patients' families took her to the emergency room that night because she fell into such a deep sleep, her family thought that something was wrong with her heart. Another common comment is that our fibromyalgia patients talk about how much better they are able to turn their head after going through cervical treatments on the DRX9000. They say that they hear much less "cracking, crunching, or popping" when turning their heads and often say that they can turn their heads to back their cars up again instead of having to use their mirrors or turn their body to back up.

How do I get started?

Contact our office at 281-392-6550 to schedule an initial consultation with the Doctor to determine your individual situation. Medical Evaluation and Diagnostic testing procedures should be performed prior to beginning any treatment in order to determine the most effective process. After carefully studying your case history and exam findings, the Doctor will sit down and explain his recommended plan of action for you. After answering any questions you may have about the recommended plan, you may begin your care.

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