Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia Syndrome is a debilitating disorder characterised by long-term widespread pain and tenderness in the joints, muscles, tendons and other soft tissues.
It is often associated with debilitating fatigue, marked sleep disturbances, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and depression. Fibromyalgia is most common among women aged 20 to 50.
Patients with fibromyalgia lack the deep, restorative level of sleep, called "non-rapid eye movement" (non-REM) sleep. Consequently, they often awaken in the morning without feeling fully rested, even though they seem to have had an adequate number of hours of sleep time. Some patients awaken with muscle aches or a sensation of muscle fatigue as if they had been "working out" all night!
The pain in fibromyalgia is not caused by tissue inflammation. Instead, these patients seem to have an increased sensitivity to many different sensory stimuli and an unusually low pain threshold. The body pain of fibromyalgia can be aggravated by noise, weather change, and emotional stress.
Many patients experience cognitive dysfunction (known as "brain fog"), which may be characterised by impaired concentration, problems with short and long-term memory, impaired speed of performance, inability to multi-task and diminished attention span. Other neurological symptoms can include numbness and tingling in hands and feet.
A significant proportion of patients may also suffer from auto-immune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
Fibromyalgia, together with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are two disease patterns which have baffled both general and specialist medical practitioners for a long time. Numerous drugs have been used to manage the symptoms with limited degrees of success.
There are various hypotheses as to the cause of this condition and the one which best explains the signs and symptoms is called Increased Intestinal Permeability, also known as Leaky Gut.
Here, certain poorly digested foodstuffs, as well as bacterial toxins, are absorbed through an inflamed small intestine and cause the havoc described above. Diagnosis of Leaky Gut syndrome is simple. All you have to do is palpate your abdomen all over. If there are areas of significant tenderness, they indicate intestinal inflammation and an inflamed intestine is always indicative of a leaky gut.
Where the challenge arises is in identifying the cause because, in my experience, different patients may have very similar symptoms but the cause of their illness differs. Therefore everyone has to be assessed individually and their nutritional, metabolic and bacteriological imbalances fully and comprehensively identified. This enables specific, evidence based treatment, which is the basis of healing.
It is often associated with debilitating fatigue, marked sleep disturbances, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and depression. Fibromyalgia is most common among women aged 20 to 50.
Patients with fibromyalgia lack the deep, restorative level of sleep, called "non-rapid eye movement" (non-REM) sleep. Consequently, they often awaken in the morning without feeling fully rested, even though they seem to have had an adequate number of hours of sleep time. Some patients awaken with muscle aches or a sensation of muscle fatigue as if they had been "working out" all night!
The pain in fibromyalgia is not caused by tissue inflammation. Instead, these patients seem to have an increased sensitivity to many different sensory stimuli and an unusually low pain threshold. The body pain of fibromyalgia can be aggravated by noise, weather change, and emotional stress.
Many patients experience cognitive dysfunction (known as "brain fog"), which may be characterised by impaired concentration, problems with short and long-term memory, impaired speed of performance, inability to multi-task and diminished attention span. Other neurological symptoms can include numbness and tingling in hands and feet.
A significant proportion of patients may also suffer from auto-immune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
Fibromyalgia, together with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are two disease patterns which have baffled both general and specialist medical practitioners for a long time. Numerous drugs have been used to manage the symptoms with limited degrees of success.
There are various hypotheses as to the cause of this condition and the one which best explains the signs and symptoms is called Increased Intestinal Permeability, also known as Leaky Gut.
Here, certain poorly digested foodstuffs, as well as bacterial toxins, are absorbed through an inflamed small intestine and cause the havoc described above. Diagnosis of Leaky Gut syndrome is simple. All you have to do is palpate your abdomen all over. If there are areas of significant tenderness, they indicate intestinal inflammation and an inflamed intestine is always indicative of a leaky gut.
Where the challenge arises is in identifying the cause because, in my experience, different patients may have very similar symptoms but the cause of their illness differs. Therefore everyone has to be assessed individually and their nutritional, metabolic and bacteriological imbalances fully and comprehensively identified. This enables specific, evidence based treatment, which is the basis of healing.