The Connection Between Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease
Fibromyalgia has long baffled the medical community earning a reputation initially as a psychosomatic condition. In other words, some classified it as a mental condition where pain is present in those with “unhealthy minds.” This is probably due in part to its link to depression where approximately 83% of patients said that their pain gets worse with emotional distress among a long list of other day to day physical strains including weather changes, car travel, physical injuries and more.
None of the previous has made the condition any less common however as fibromyalgia affects some 5 million Americans or 1 in 50. Shockingly most fibromyalgia sufferers are women – that is 90% female, making it 7 times more common in women than in men. But what’s even more concerning is the number of reported secondary causes of Fibromyalgia. There are at least 47 reported “triggers” of Fibromyalgia. These triggers could be influenced by other co-infections of a more pervasive illness, that, due to its elusive nature, is left untreated and left its patient’s suffering with chronic pain. Besides the overlap in symptoms shared by Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease, Lyme disease left untreated is suspect behind numerous other chronic disorders like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Due to the below average record of accuracy in Lyme disease testing, a large percentage of patients have become “chronic” such as those who were either misdiagnosed or never tested positive. This means that the reported cases of Lyme disease is likely well below the amount of people that actually have the disease, and have had it for years.
Below are the Main Symptoms of Fibromyalgia compared with those of Lyme Disease.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia
If you look at the connection between CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and Fibromyalgia, which exists by way of the Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), Lyme and FMS could be related. The HPA acts as a reporting station or network of direct influences and feedback interactions between the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands. In many cases, abnormal levels of certain chemicals that are regulated by the HPA axis have been questioned as a potential cause of CFS. If you consider that Lyme disease can effect the Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and the HPA axis can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome, which is related to fibromyalgia, then the link between the two diseases is clear.
At Sunridge medical we address the body as a whole. By building up your immune system to aid the body in attacking these and many other chronic disorders, we get to the source of the disease. This is shown as the most effective way to treat chronic disorders that will continue to wreak havoc on its patients who, often thru conventional therapy, treat only symptoms. This type of treatment at the onset of the disease has contributed to it later becoming chronic.