Fibromyalgia is an energy crisis in the body. The mitochondria are the power plants within every cell in the body.  When those mitochondria are damaged, they make less fuel for the body, a molecule called ATP.  When ATP production decreases past a certain threshold, widespread body pain, fatigue, and brain fog may result.

There is rarely a single cause for fibromyalgia. Often patients can identify a trigger—an accident, surgery or stressful situation after which their symptoms started.  However, these triggers initiate a cascade of problems, all of which decrease the ability of the mitochondria to make fuel, ATP.  We often see gut dysfunction and candida overgrowth, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances in thyroid, adrenal hormones, as well as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, chronic underlying infections, immune system dysfunction, toxins such as heavy metals, and poor sleep all contributing to the problem and often needing to be addressed simultaneously to experience improvement.

The most common symptoms of fibromyalgia include widespread muscle pain, fatigue that is not relieved by rest, intolerance to exertion, brain fog, and unrefreshing sleep. Many patients also experience symptoms of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), migraines, and heightened sensitivity to pain. 

The most common treatment for fibromyalgia depends upon the approach you take. In traditional, mainstream medicine, the treatment focuses on the pain.  Therefore, the most common treatments are medications like pregabalin, gabapentin, duloxetine, and sleeping pills.  Although this type of treatment may help ease the pain, it often does not address the other abnormalities such as fatigue, brain fog, and intolerance to exertion.

A more integrative approach seeks to identify and correct gut dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, immune system dysfunction, chronic underlying infections, sleep disturbances, and potential toxin exposure while supporting energy production in the mitochondria through supplementation. As this is a whole-body syndrome, it requires the help of a skilled provider to navigate and support all of these areas. 

Traditional medicine medications include pregabalin, gabapentin, duloxetine and other antidepressants, and sleep medications. A more integrative approach may include low dose naltrexone, which enhances the body’s own endorphin production and can help alleviate the pain and fatigue with minimal side effects.

Fibromyalgia is a clinical diagnosis which involves the presence of widespread body pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and exertional intolerance.

We don’t know if fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disease. It shares features with many autoimmune diseases, however, as yet, no one has identified a test that links it to autoimmunity or that can be used to diagnose it.  However, many of the integrative treatments used to treat autoimmune diseases often help the symptoms of fibromyalgia as well.