Living with fibromyalgia comes with plenty of ups and downs. You may have moments when the symptoms are quite bearable, making it possible to do chores or office work. Then, you have some days when you feel incredibly sluggish and experience intense muscle tingling or numbness.
When the symptoms start showing, it can affect your life’s various aspects, including your relationship with your families and friends. While pain relievers can help you cope with the pain, the effects often wear out quickly. If you are looking for another way to manage your fibromyalgia, it may help if you visit a chiropractor for fibromyalgia in Seneca.
As you read on, we’ll explain how upper cervical care provides relief to fibromyalgia symptoms. We’ll look into the answers to questions like “what is fibromyalgia?” and “how can upper cervical care help?”. This way, you can manage your condition better and get a chance to improve the quality of your life.
What Causes Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia affects roughly 6 to 12 million people in the USA alone. It affects both sexes and occurs in various age groups. Unfortunately, while fibromyalgia affects a lot of people, its causes remain unclear. However, studies and observations from medical professionals provide us with clues about what can trigger the symptoms. Here are some examples of fibromyalgia triggers:
- Emotional, psychological, or physical stress
- Injury, particularly to the neck or head
- Exposure to a damp or cold environment
- Physical or emotional trauma
- Viral or bacterial infection
- Underlying health problems like Lyme disease, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis
Typically, people living with fibromyalgia have highly sensitive pain receptors. This is why they perceive pain worse than a regular person. We refer to this condition as central sensitization, which many refer to as the key mechanism behind fibromyalgia pain. So, what exactly is central sensitization, and what does it mean for you as a patient?
What You Need to Know About Central Sensitization
Every chiropractor for fibromyalgia in Seneca faces plenty of fibromyalgia patients who come in and ask about central sensitization. Essentially, if you have this condition, it means that your nerves are at a heightened state, causing them to overreact to stimuli such as pain and touch. That’s why you have a lower pain threshold compared to most people. Also, because of your nervous system’s over-excited state, the distribution of pain can include a more extensive scope than the affected area.
What Are The Symptoms of Central Sensitization in Fibromyalgia?
Some of the critical symptoms of central sensitization in fibromyalgia include the following:
- Fatigue due to lack of quality sleep
- Abdominal pain
- Poor cognitive function
- Depression or anxiety
- Widespread pain
- Headaches
Similar to fibromyalgia, the medical community has yet to uncover what causes central sensitization. If you have the symptoms above and have fibromyalgia, you may approach your physician to get diagnosed. This way, you can identify the best course of action to take in managing your symptoms.
Steps for Natural and Long-lasting Fibromyalgia Relief
Fibromyalgia is a lifelong chronic condition, which, as of the moment, remains incurable. While you can manage your pain with prescription drugs, it is not the long-term approach advised by doctors. Fortunately, you can cope with fibromyalgia symptoms by making some simple lifestyle adjustments. Some of these include:
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Making changes to your diet
Recently, scientists discovered the link between chronic pain and gut health. Their findings reveal a strong association between fibromyalgia pain and the density of a particular group of bacteria inside your gut. Hence, it will help if you take care of your gastrointestinal health by eating food items rich in probiotics such as sauerkraut, yogurt, and kimchi. It’s also beneficial to include omega-3 and antioxidant-rich food items to reduce inflammation and improve your pain threshold. Additionally, it would be best to minimize alcohol consumption, processed food, and caffeinated products to keep the inflammation at bay.
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Staying active
Try to incorporate movements into your daily routine because it could help reduce your pain levels. It can also potentially improve sleep quality, which may come in handy in decreasing your pain sensitivity. You can use simple physical activities such as brisk walking, cycling, yoga, and swimming.
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Working on your sleeping habit
As we’ve mentioned earlier, getting enough rest can help you improve your pain reception. Make a few adjustments to your sleeping habit to improve your sleep quality. For example, you can avoid drinking and limit exposure to the screen before you go to bed. It may also help you enjoy a good night’s sleep if you keep your room dark and cool and invest in a good mattress.
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Using supplements
Low levels of nutrients like magnesium, 5-HTP, and melatonin may come in handy in improving your symptoms too. A study showed that magnesium intake could help reduce pain among women who have fibromyalgia. Other nutrients such as 5-HTP and melatonin can help with common factors that can affect sleep quality, such as insomnia, anxiety, and pain.
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Ensuring your nervous system functions properly
Your nervous system affects your condition in two ways. The first one is through the transmission of signals to and from your brain and body. If your brainstem, the information highway of the nervous system, fails to relay information from your pain receptors on your skin and muscles, your brain processes the wrong signals. It may result in increased sensitivity to pain. The second way is to regulate and produce hormones that control energy release and sleep quality. Ensuring that your nervous system works properly is key to finding effective relief. This is where a chiropractor for fibromyalgia in Seneca can help.
Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care and Nervous System Health
Fibromyalgia is among the most challenging conditions to deal with because it tends to affect people quite differently. As we’ve mentioned earlier, some folks only experience mild symptoms, while others tend to have a severe and more debilitating form of pain. The only common factor shared by people with fibromyalgia is their pain receptors’ heightened sensitivity.
In upper cervical chiropractic practice, we help patients cope and better manage their condition by addressing potential brainstem problems. A misalignment in your C1 and C2 neck bones likely contributes to your situation. These two bones supposedly protect the brainstem. However, if you suffer from physical trauma or overextend your neck, these bones can be misaligned. As a chiropractor for fibromyalgia in Seneca, our focus is to correct that problem to relieve the pressure on the brainstem, improving the transmission and processing of pain signals.
At Upper Cervical Health and Restoration, we carefully assess our patients to understand how we can help. We focus on gauging the C1 and C2 bones’ degree of misalignment to determine the key areas we need to work on and the amount of adjustment necessary. Using gentle and precise methods, we can help your body relieve fibromyalgia symptoms, and your upper cervical bones can realign properly.
Learn more about upper cervical chiropractic care’s role in fibromyalgia relief by calling us at 864-888-4399. You can also reach us through our online contact form.
To schedule a consultation with Dr. Holliday, call our Seneca office at 864-888-4399. You can also click the button below.
If you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
