My last article included an overview of fibromyalgia (FM), the incidence, symptoms, and conventional treatment options. This article will look at non-conventional treatments. I will also examine the potential of FM as an auto-immune condition and ways to treat it from that perspective potentially.

When looking at FM, all the treatment modalities look at treating the pain and not looking at the potential underlying issues. Some theories on what the underlying cause revolves around genetics, gut health, infections, and environmental triggers. 

First, we can look at genetics. When you think about your genetic makeup, you may feel that you are stuck with what you have and that it cannot be influenced in any way. There is some truth, but your lifestyle can affect your genes, turning them off or on simply by eating right, exercising, getting sufficient sleep, and decreasing stress. So, don't throw in the towel. You can influence these factors.

The second cause would be gut health and leaky gut, to be more specific. A leaky gut allows objects (proteins, pathogens, or toxins) to be absorbed into our bodies that have no reason to be there. Our bodies react to those objects and create an inflammatory reaction. This reaction is our body's defense response to invading entities. Unfortunately, when your gut is leaky and not healed, the inflammatory response never resolves, and, in most people, we become used to dealing with that response.

Healing the leaky gut begins with eating a good clean diet. Natural healing foods include bone broth, homemade apple sauce, and fermented foods. Supplements to help heal the gut are aloe vera, glutamine, licorice root, isomalto-oligosaccharides, fucosyllactose, and bovine colostrum are a start. GI Integrity is a nice blend of several items listed.  

General digestive support in the form of hydrochloric acid, digestive enzymes, and pro- and pre-biotics should be considered. These products can help to better digest food and prepare it for absorption. Chewing your food 25-30 times per bit and adequate clean water consumption is also a must.

Treating underlying infections, whether bacterial, fungal, or parasitic, can help resolve a leaky gut or at least prevent the absorption of these pathogens that can wreak havoc in our systems. Natural ingredients that can be effective include essential oils red thyme and oregano, herbs like berberine, Oregon grape, and coptis, along with Chinese herbs like licorice, skull cap, and ginger.

When looking at environmental triggers, you should consider decreasing your toxin exposure. These can be toxins from self-care products, cleaning products, pesticides and herbicides from your yard and the foods you eat, unfiltered water, unclean air, and heavy metals from your workplace. Take baby steps in this process and work on small changes to your lifestyle, and over time you will have made great strides in improving your overall health.

 I have written about each of the above topics more in-depth in previous articles, which you can find on the Irsfeld Pharmacy website if you would like more information on them.

Alternative therapies, such as massage, myofascial release, acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal supplements, and yoga can be practical tools to manage FM symptoms. Increasing rest, pacing activities, reducing stress, and practicing relaxation can help minimize symptoms and improve quality of life.

Figuring out the source or underlying cause of FM or any auto-immune condition can be a lifelong process, and, in some patients, they and their practitioners may never figure out the cause. When that happens, we use band aides to treat this issue.

Pain is the primary symptom in FM and is measured by assessing trigger points throughout the body. The pain at these sites can be from inflammation in our periphery or central nervous system (CNS) and its hyperexcitability.

When looking at CNS inflammation, one area of research has been microglia's role in increasing this inflammation. Microglia are a defense mechanism that, when activated, create a cascade of inflammation and release of mediators that genuinely create a chaotic state in our CNS. This chaos created by microglia happens when Toll-Like Receptors (TLR) are activated. By blocking TLRs, we can stop or slow this inflammation in the CNS.

Neuroinflammation is an area where low-dose Naltrexone (LDN) can be helpful. Currently, two clinical trials show a potential benefit for its use in FM pain. One study showed a 30% improvement in pain over placebo and concluded that low-dose naltrexone might be an effective, highly tolerable, and inexpensive treatment for fibromyalgia.

LDN doses are 1.5-4.5mg per day, much lower than its conventional treatments, and with these low doses, the opioid receptor is temporarily blocked, unlike the high doses used for addictions. When the receptor is blocked, several things happen; it messages our brain to increase the production of our opioids which are endorphins and enkephalins, our opioid receptors increase in number, and they become more sensitive.

Once the LDN leaves the opioid receptor, the endorphins stimulate the receptor creating pain relief. The first research on LDN showed that endorphins increase by 300% with this temporary blockage.

The second mechanism happens with the increased enkephalin production, and this creates a modulation of the immune response. The modulation is an anti-inflammatory effect that lowers the total body burden.

The last mechanism is the blocking of TLRs that I spoke about earlier in this article. By blocking TLRs, we can stop the inflammatory cascade from occurring and reduce neuroinflammation.

Remember that this can be used as a band-aid, not a cure for FM. It has been an incredible option for many of our patients when they struggle to get relief from the vicious cycle of pain. I think it is highly effective because we are dealing with soft tissue or muscle and this tissue doesn't become deformed like a patient with rheumatoid arthritis, which can, over time, deform a patient's joints.

It is not uncommon to make a follow-up call with a patient taking this for a month or two and hear them say that the pain that they have had for many years is now tolerable and they have an improved quality of life. This treatment does not work for all patients, but as one patient said, "they should just give it a try." For more information on LDN visit our LDN tab on our webpage or click HERE to take you there.

My staff and I would like to help you with questions regarding fibromyalgia and finding suitable treatment options to decrease pain, so call or stop to schedule a consultation. Please visit my website at www.irsfeldpharmacy.com to see this and other archived articles in the blog section. Until next time, be vigilant about your health!!