Information » Diseases » Fibromyalgia
This syndrome of muscle pain throughout the body is poorly understood by conventional medicine and there is little drug treatment available. This is because every patient reaches this endpoint from a different path of dysfunction. Many of our patients approve when we address the underlying causes and help with a combined approach of natural therapies.
Many people with fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have a variety of symptoms that suggest one or more of the following problems:
The treatment of FM and CFS is different for every patient, and it is based on what kinds of symptoms people are having and what happened at the time they first developed these symptoms. This provides a surprisingly reliable picture of what it was that tipped the scales and overwhelmed the body's healing abilities.
Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum is a physician with fibromyalgia who has written a book titled From Fatigued to Fantastic that should be read by all CFS and FM sufferers. He published a small clinical trial suggesting that D-ribose may be helpful. Patients were asked to rate their energy, pain, sleep, mental clarity and well-being on a scale of 1-10 before and after taking 5 grams three times daily for about three weeks. At the end of the study, patients reported improvements of 1-2 points in all five categories. Overall, about 65% of patients said they were much better or somewhat better.
D-ribose is a simple sugar that helps cells make ATP, the major energy source used by every cell in the body. Small trials suggest that it may improve congestive heart failure and angina by increasing the amount of energy available to the heart.
Low-dose Naltrexone
Naltrexone is a prescription drug that was developed in the 1970s to treat heroin addiction. It blocks the opioid receptors on nerves that heroin, morphine and other narcotics bind to - so they cannot make an addict high. These opioid receptors are designed to bind with endorphins - the natural feel-good molecules released by exercise, positive emotions, sex - and chocolate.
It turns out that very low doses of naltrexone block the opioid receptor - just a little. Just enough to stimulate the body to make more endorphins on its own. This means more than just feeling good. It means a healing response - because endorphins are one of the powerful links between the nervous system and the immune system.
Low-dose naltrexone has been demonstrated to induce remission in Crohn's disease. Another recent double-blind pilot study at Stanford University suggests that it improves the pain of fibromyalgia. Read about it here.