Treatment for Fibromyalgia varies from person to person who has the syndrome. The reason for this variability is because there are such diverse symptoms that go with the syndrome, plus there are a diverse group of people that have Fibromyalgia – young and old, male and female, and all races.
Pain Treatments
Drug therapies are the most common Fibromyalgia Syndrome treatment for pain. Because Fibromyalgia causes widespread pain in the patient, from mild to severe, pain is the most pressing issue to solve in order to allow the patient to live a vibrant and fully functional lifestyle.
For mild pain relief, over the counter medications are used such as aspirin or ibuprofen. For more severe cases there are several drug therapies available. Brain mapping is a technique to help pinpoint the pain problem areas so that drugs can be targeted to the specific parts of the body that need it most. Once those areas are identified, the type of drug therapy needed can be decided upon and introduced in the Fibromyalgia Syndrome treatment.
Trigger point injections are used to inject anesthetics into the most painful areas of the patient’s body. Since Fibromyalgia patients have to have at least eleven trigger points in order to be diagnosed with the syndrome, there are multiple points for these injections.
Psycho Therapy and Sleep Therapy
Psycho therapy and sleep therapy are also common Fibromyalgia Syndrome treatments that serve to relieve pain. In psycho therapy, patients undergo a series of sessions with a trained psychologist, working to change their beliefs and lower their stress levels. Since scientists believe that one possible cause of Fibromyalgia is stress, if the way a patient handles stress can be changed by him a different belief system and tools for handling stress, the symptoms of the syndrome can be relieved. Depression is also an underlying cause of the syndrome which psycho therapy and drug treatments help to relieve.
Sleep therapy can also coincide with psycho therapy, since a lesser anxiety level tends to produce better sleep patterns. Sleep therapy also often involves drug therapy through sleeping pills to allow patients to get the deep sleep that they have been missing, thus allowing the body to do muscle repair, another underlying cause of Fibromyalgia.
Alternative Therapies
Fibromyalgia Syndrome treatments can also sway toward alternative therapies when the traditional methods have failed, or when a patient is reluctant to use prescription medication. Chiropractors help to relieve compressed meninges, which are the coverings of the upper spine. By doing minor adjustments, the pressure and the pain are relieved, at least for a period of time.
Other alternative therapies include acupressure, hypnosis, relaxation techniques, oxygen therapy and even marijuana to reduce the pain. Fibromyalgia Syndrome treatments do not cure the syndrome, but they do help to relieve the pain and allow the individual to more fully participate in and enjoy in most cases. However, there are some Fibromyalgia patients who not only suffer from this syndrome, but also contract another one called Fibromyalgia Myofascial Pain Syndrome. This syndrome is similar to Fibromyalgia in the widespread pain it produces, but tends to be more targeted to the face and jaw area in most patients, and has additional symptoms that vary from Fibromyalgia.