Tag: meditation for fibromyalgia

My Top Three Treatments to Fight Fibromyalgia

Posted on by melissanreynolds

If you’ve been fighting fibromyalgia for any amount of time, you likely know there’s a multitude of therapies to try and that there’s rarely one magic bullet.

Fibromyalgia is an illness of unknown origin or cure and there are debates as to whether it will eventually be classed as autoimmune and/or progressive.

3-6% of the world’s population is has a vested interest in finding a cure. Until then we can only try to wade through the treatment options to try.
My Top Three Treatments to Fight Fibromyalgia.png
My posts about other treatment options
Today I’m sharing my top three treatments to fight Fibromyalgia- as a person who’s been fighting it for more than a decade, who’s been researching for several years and who wrote a book about all I do to thrive despite this illness.

1. Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)

This was something I found back in 2015 and followed the research for some time before I asked my doctor to try it. As I documented in the posts linked below, I began in April 2017. It took nine months for effect and now I can’t be without it.

My One Year Low Dose Naltrexone for Fibromyalgia Experiment

It is not a magic fix for me but the results are astounding. You see, for more than 10 years I hadn’t slept well (read: in one hour blocks with great difficulty, every night was a fight) and the LDN actually helped me to sleep in two, three or four hour blocks. This is miraculous for me and I believe the sleep is what helped the rest. Read the above posts for the full experiment and outcome.

What I love most about this medicine is that it is not a typical medicine and does not have any of the nasty side effects that most medicines prescribed for Fibromyalgia have. The worst I experienced was vivid dreams when I was titrating up to find my ideal dose. It essentially tricks the body into producing more endorphins, there is research theorizing that people with Fibromyalgia suffer from endocannabinoid deficiency. I believe it took nine months for me to see effect because my body was slowly healing from a deep sleep deprivation behind the scenes. This leads me to believe that LDN may be the only way to address an insufficiency that currently has no other satisfactory treatment option. I certainly prefer it to pain killers that have many negative effects and few positive ones.

2. Heat

If I had to choose one heat treatment, it’d be my heat pack. I use it first thing in the morning to get going, a couple of times during the day, in the evening and when I get into bed. It’s my go-to treatment. I use it mostly for my neck, but I also use it for the symphysis pubis disorder I experience in pregnancy.
I also use:
  • An electric blanket in my bed for my entire back.
  • Hot baths
  • Hot showers
  • Deep heat rub

3. Yoga/Meditation

Meditation is part of yoga, so it may be cheating to name both, if you really want one it’d be a hard call, but yoga would win and only because LDN helps me to sleep at night.
Yoga is a multi-use tool. I adore the ability to mold it to what I need: one pertinent stretch or pose (cat and cow all the time), a few poses to hit one issue (cat and cow, forward bend and eagle for the back) or a full flowing sequence (sun salutations).
It’s stretching, strengthening and calming for the central nervous system.
Meditation has been a lifesaver since I realised I could experience deep rest to help counteract the lack of sleep. The effects have been profound and I share that in my post about meditation. I am so passionate about it that I incorporate mindfulness and meditationinto my coaching programmesand offer one off sessions to teach meditation.

So here are my top three plus ways to fight Fibromyalgia

  1. Low Dose Naltrexone
  2. Heat
    1. Heatpack
    2. Electric blanket
    3. Hot bath
    4. Hot shower
    5. Deep Heat rub
  3. Yoga/Meditation
What are yours?
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