At the doctor’s office – doctor and patient
According to the National Fibromyalgia Association, 3-6% of the world’s population has fibromyalgia syndrome estimating that somewhere around 300 million people worldwide suffer from the condition.
The NHS estimates that 2-4.5% of people in the UK may have fibromyalgia syndrome – estimating between 1.2 million and 2.8 million people. 75-90% of people with fibromyalgia syndrome are women.
It is a condition that conventional medicine currently has no answer for and sufferers are often prescribed with long lists of symptom-managing medication with often damaging side effects. So here are some things your doctor might not tell you about causes and treatment of fibromyalgia, based on my own personal experience and that of my patients:
Prolonged Virus – if you have previously suffered from a prolonged virus such as glandular fever it can either be a primary cause of fibromyalgia or significantly increase your chances of getting it in the future. A prolonged virus increases the sensitivity of your nervous system, lowering your resilience to stressful situations in the future.
Prolonged Emotional Stress – whether it’s work stress of domestic stress, if it has been constant for a while it can play a large role in an individual developing fibromyalgia. Stress affects a part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala is responsible for controlling our stress response. If it becomes overloaded by repeated daily stresses then it can often start to malfunction and lead to conditions such as fibromyalgia and its sister condition chronic fatigue syndrome.