Chronic Pain

(commonly referred to as “Fibromyalgia”)

In times of recovery from an addiction, illness or trauma, our bodies can go through some serious changes. Part of this experience can manifest itself in ways that cannot be explained through the traditional western medical practices. Therefore, “Keeping an Open Mind” is a critical statement in the land of recovery.

One of the most common complaints of Women in Recovery is: PAIN.

… plain and simple: PAIN

There have been many studies done on this type of Condition/SYNDOROME. One of the newest recognized conditions in our society, commonly called a “Yuppie disease”, is named FIBROMYALGIA. Sufferers of fibromyalgia experience a suite of symptoms: chronic pain throughout the body, sleep problems and fatigue. In some, this syndrome starts with no warning; others get it after a traumatic physical injury, a viral infection, or stressful life event. You could look into an online pharmacy for a cymbalta prescription to help fight against the symptoms.

Symptoms can come and go.

For years, doctors thought the problem must be at the tissues or nerve endings — that is, at the places where it hurt. When they couldn’t find hallmarks of injury such as inflammation or nerve damage, many threw up their hands and chalked up symptoms to depression, anxiety, or that all purpose grab bag for female complaints: hysteria. Over the past decade or so, doctors have come to understand that fibromyalgia is actually a problem of the central nervous system — the brain and the spinal cord — not the peripheral nerves that branch into organs, limbs and skin.More recently, researchers using functional MRI scans have found that people with fibromyalgia have increased activity in areas of the brain dealing with where and how much it hurts.

In other words, far from being whiners, they are wired to be exquisitely sensitive to pain.

What also happens for many people suffering with this condition is they are prescribed opiates by well meaning doctors who want to help. Unfortunately, due to the type of pain opiates don’t really address the real problem. In fact most of the pain symptoms with this condition are neuropathic or burning type pain. One of my patients described it like a lava flow going through different parts of her body.

In June of 2007 the FDA approved Lyrica for treatment of Fibromyalgia. Several of my medical colleagues had been using it off label before but most insurance companies wouldn’t cover it and now many of them will. For some people, this may be Lyrica and for others one of the SSRI Antidepressants or the new SSNRI Antidepressant Cymbalta, which is also approved for some types of neuropathic pain management.

Another problem is that many people do not realize that medication alone is not the answer either. The best outcomes in fact are when the patient has a multidisciplinary approach. This includes diet, nutrition, exercise, yoga or stretching, dealing with the psychological/emotional symptoms and an effective medication management plan. Eastern methods of healing can be and have been found very successful.

The theory that I work with is believing that actual CHRONIC PAIN mainfested may be the fall-out of the original illness: SOUL-SICKNESS.

The sufferer may have placed the original condition, whether addiction or illness, under control; but, has yet to alleviate the true cause of the original condition. This is where even the 12 Steps Programs are becoming extremely successful with a mulitude of illnesses. The concept of cleansing through the spiritual action of confession and an inventory of one’s life has some serious positive qualities.

Many of us live our lives turning our attention and hearts away from anyone and anything that HURTS. Therefore, we develop a lifetime of PAINS that have absolutely nowhere to go.

IF these events, attached to guilt or hurt, are never addressed in a rigorously honest fashion, the PAIN will manifest in other areas of our lives. In this last decade, many sufferers are manifesting PAIN in their physical bodies.

 

Do you think there is a correlation?

To learn more about Fibromyalgia please go to http://www.fibromyalgia.com.

Related Articles: http://factoidz.com/fibromyalgia-insight-and-options-from-someone-who-lives-with-it/

A Celebration of Women