Fibromyalgia is not one single condition. It does not have just one "disease process" or cause. Because the causes are variable, it is very unlikely that a single approach to treatment, or a single medication will be effective for most fibromyalgia sufferers, despite what the ads for Lyrica would lead you to believe.

"Fibromyalgia" is simply a set of symptoms that can be caused by any number of underlying conditions. And while fibromyalgia is still considered to be untreatable for the most part (Lyrica works well for a few people, but it is far from what it is being advertised as, and the side-effects rule it out as an option for many people who try it), the underlying conditions that are causing the symptoms are usually quite treatable. Unfortunately, many doctors are taking the easy way out by diagnosing fibromyalgia and not bothering to look any further. Even if they are looking further, they don't know what to look for, and often wind up missing something very important, yet relatively easy to fix.

In most situations, the majority of potential causes of fibromyalgia are not even checked for by the doctors who propose to diagnose and treat it. Of those, such as hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia, that are typically tested for, the standard testing procedures may not be adequate to uncover subtle or "subclinical" problems that can be more than enough to produce rather severe symptoms.

Patients who present with the usual pattern of symptoms (such as diffuse pain, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue, digestive problems, etc.) all get lumped together under the fibromyalgia diagnosis. Worse yet, fibromyalgia sufferers are typically told that there is nothing that can be done to cure them and the best they can do is manage the symptoms with medication.

In fact, many of the people I have seen with the fibromyalgia diagnosis have told me that their doctors actively discouraged them from "wasting their time" trying to find a better way to deal with the situation. After all, if the doctor said it was incurable, you should just take his or her word for it - who are YOU to disagree with "THE DOCTOR"?

Unfortunately, there are so few healthcare practitioners who do know what to look for, how to look for it, and how to fix it when they find it, that the vast majority of fibromyalgia sufferers are being managed by doctors who really don't know much more about it than the patients themselves!

The good news is that you don't necessarily have to find a doctor to help you - although assistance from certain healthcare providers is usually very helpful. You can take a "shotgun" approach to the problem using a combination of natural approaches. Unlike using medication, using multiple natural treatments at once (within reason) isn't hazardous (you wouldn't want to take medication for every possible cause of fibromyalgia because you probably wouldn't survive the side-effects!). In fact, the "side-effect" of the approach I'm about to recommend is that other health problems usually improve at the same time as the fibromyalga symptoms! The biggest downside is that using multiple natural approaches simultaneously can be somewhat costly, but costs can be kept down the more you learn to do for yourself and when you use approaches/products that "kill two (or more) birds with one stone".

Specifics of treatment are beyondwhat can be discussed here, but in most cases, a combination of exercise, diet, nutritional/herbal supplementation, body work (such as massage, chiropractic, etc.), reducing systeic toxicity, handling allergies and infections, and working to restore bioelectrical balance to the body is required. With this multi-tiered approach, which is different to some extent for every person, most fibromyalgia sufferers will put their symptoms into remission. Although this approach is not a "cure" in the sense that it is necessary to continue the program for life to keep the symptoms from returning, it is a far superior approach for most people than trying to manage fibromyalgia with medications that are usually minimally effective at best.


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Dr. George Best has been a holistic healthcare practitoner working with fibromyalgia sufferers since 1992. For additional free information on natural fibromyalgia remedies, please visit the natural fibromyalgia relief section of his blog at http://www.BestHealthAndWellnessInfo.com .