*** Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Helpful Therapies

Fibromyalgia (FM) is an illness syndrome that includes aches and pains all over the body; severe fatigue; mental unclarity and difficulty focusing (often called ‘brain fog’); depression; insomnia; digestive disorders (vague pains, diarrhea); and multiple allergies to foods and other items.

Symptoms of FM overlap with those of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and candidiasis. All of these are diagnoses that conventional medicine often does not even acknowledge, much less treat. With the focus of conventional medicine upon the body (frequently ignoring the person who inhabits the body!), the best treatments on offer are for symptomatic treatment of depression, insomnia and candidiasis.

Helpful wholistic approaches reported by clients over the years:

Psychotherapy to identify stresses and behavior patterns that are unhealthy. People with FM are often altruistic, putting the needs of others ahead of their own – until their body insists on a rebalancing of focus and energies.

WHEE: Whole Health – Easily and Effectively® can be of enormous help with reducing pains, releasing buried feelings, changing self-limiting beliefs, and addressing insomnia and allergies.

Dietary changes and nutritional supplements, under the guidance of a nutritionist.

Physical exercise – carefully graded and not pushed past one’s tolerance.

Acupuncture, homeopathy, and spiritual healing have also been helpful to some with FM.

Case report:n'Trudy,' a single, 27 year-old secretary, struggled with depression for several years, finding it increasingly difficult to get out of bed in the morning, and dragging through her work and daily life. She had very low energy levels, suffered from chronic headaches, and found herself much slower at work than she had ever been before. "It was as if my thoughts had to ooze through some sort of muck before they sorted themselves out."

Gradually, she found herself weaker and weaker, to the point that she could no longer work a full day, and soon was unable to manage being out of bed for more than a few hours at a time. Any exertion was overwhelmingly tiring. Her body ached all over, as though she had been through heavy exercises – although she was unable to manage any serious exertion at all. Even though she was tired, she had difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep during the night. She often had stomach cramps and diarrhea.

Her family thought she was just lazy or avoiding stresses she had experienced at work. Her family doctor told her she was depressed and started her on antidepressant medication. This helped her mood a little, but not her tiredness and weakness. Finally, a naturopathic doctor diagnosed fibromyalgia.

Trudy turned out to be allergic to gluten. Her stomach problems cleared within two weeks of starting on a gluten-free diet. Careful pacing of activities to not tire herself was helpful, as were gentle yoga exercises. Acupuncture helped with her pains, but they kept returning several days after the treatments.

Homeopathic remedies helped with brain fog.

WHEE: Wholistic Hybrid derived from EMDR and EFT was helpful with her depression, which had not cleared despite using several different antidepressants. WHEE helped Trudy clear feelings, memories and self-limiting beliefs from childhood that were contributing to her depression. WHEE was also enormously helpful with her insomnia. She was able to use WHEE directly to fall asleep, but also to identify and clear problems that were troubling her sleep. WHEE also enabled Trudy to strengthen positive views and beliefs about herself and to instill hope.

While Fibromyalgia may be a difficult diagnosis to make within conventional medicine, which has no explanations for how it occurs, it is an obvious entity and easily recognized when the full-blown syndrome is present. While treatment is usually slow and progress is gradual, there are deep lessons learned by many who walk this path, ever so slowly, to recovery.