This information is provided free of charge from the caring doctors of Kukurin Chiropractic & Acupuncture Network. Our office is rated one of the top practices in the country by the Consumer's Research Council of America The results our patients obtain with painful conditions are so dramatic they have been published in the National Library of Medicine.

If you are in pain call us right away, our award winner doctor has over 20 years of experience in helping people just like you.

Kukurin Chiropractic Network

Kukurin Chiropractic & Acupuncture 12409 W Indian School Rd C304

Avondale, AZ 85392

623.547-4727

Click on the office address for a printable map
 

Unfortunately, patients who suffer from fibromyalgia have damaged pain control switches.  So in patients with fibromyalgia, the radio gets louder and louder and the switch to turn it down or off is damaged.  Some very recent research into fibromyalgia has uncovered anti-bodies (compounds designed to kill viruses and bacteria) which erroneously attack and damage the serotonin switches that the body normally uses to turn off pain signals.  So the pain signals get louder and louder until the patient experiences pain even to normal sensations like pressure.  Remember the test where the doctor presses over your muscles to see if they are painful?  In patients without fibromyalgia this pressure just feels like pressure.  In patients with damaged pain control switches this pressure hurts.  So in a nutshell, your body hurts because even normal non-painful sensations like pressure or normal movements, feel painful because the switches that control the volume of the pain signals  are damaged.  Your body has impaired ability to turn down the radio.

Typical medical treatment for fibromyalgia often starts with anti-inflammatory drugs.  As we discussed above there is little or no inflammation in the muscles of a fibromyalgia patient.  So it is no wonder that these types of medications rarely offer relief to patients with fibromyalgia.  Sometimes patients receive shots into their painful muscles.  Unfortunately the needle causes damage to the tissues and this sends more pain signals to the brain.  So once the pain medication wears off, you actually have more pain signals going to the brain.  And as you should know by now, the fibromyalgia patient can’t turn off these pain signals.  That is why most injections and needle acupuncture rarely work for fibromyalgia patients.   In fact as a general rule any treatment that is too aggressive can activate the pain signals in the fibromyalgia.  Remember that even normally non-painful stimulation like pressure can cause pain in the fibromyalgia patient.  That is why exercise and activity, even  normal activity often causes a flare-up in the fibromyalgia patient.

                                     So what works?  

Well the bad news is that most, if not all, of the typical pain management methods don’t work (even can’t work) for patients with fibromyalgia.  In fact the only type of medication that seems to offer even slight relief is the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SSRIs.  These drugs act on the serotonin switches and have been shown to offer some relief to patients with fibromyalgia.  Some relief, but not good relief.  This is because the “selective” re-uptake inhibitor drugs are very specific (selective) and the truth is there are at least 3 types of serotonin switches that need fine tuning in fibromyalgia.  See it is a little more complicated than the radio example we used.  In addition to turning down the volume of the radio with one serotonin switch, we also need to use a couple of other serotonin switches to fine tune the radio.  Learn more about this process by clicking here:  Cont.

Fibromyalgia is a Brain Disease

Not a Muscle Disease: Part II

Pain signals travel from the site of injury or illness, through the peripheral nerves to the pain processing centers of the brain. These higher brain centers normally turn off or suppress the pain signal. This doesn’t happen correctly in  patients with fibromyalgia.