So I saw my fibromyalgia consultant yesterday. And there were three main points:
1. Fibromyalgia is something which largely affects Type A personalities who stress out over things too much - I hate these personality characterizations for diseases so much, and I call total BS on this too. I'm pretty laid back, really.
2. Fibromyalgia is caused by the brain receiving too much unfiltered information from the nerves through the spine, so it perceives pain where there is none - I realize this is the dominant theory for FM, but I am really doubtful if this is happening in my case. Moreover, I don't think I get the "brain fog" and other mental symptoms usually described for FM. I get mentally fatigued faster than I used too, and I feel a bit more confused, but that's it, and I think those things can easily be chalked up to the brain constantly having to deal with all the bad stuff that is chronic pain.
3. Fibromyalgia is caused by tight muscles - Apparently the rheumy noticed this when he examined me, that all my muscles were tight and clenched. I remember the neurologist last summer saying something of the same, that I had issues relaxing my muscles all the way when he was doing the reflex tests. And apparently, according to the rheumy, this explains my tendinitis in my hands and feet - all my muscles are clenched, so that pulls on the tendons and causes them to be stiff and thus be prone to inflaming with use. The rheumy thinks I have always had a tendency to tight muscles, but getting EBV and Lyme within a year put my problem on hyperdrive, and thus the fibromyalgia.
So, point 3 seems to not be total BS in my case. I noticed the tendinitis long before the myalgia started up, but okay. And I found this explanation. And as I mentioned in another thread, I've been having issues with my blood pressure and tachy, and according to this blog post they all go together - muscles are needed to move blood around your body, and when they don't work right the peripheral areas don't get enough blood flow or nutrients.
But this type (subtype?) of FM seems kinda, idk, not common. I think. Google tells me that other pwFM have random ongoing tendinitis issues, so this "tight muscles" thing seems to happen to others. But most if the medical discussion seems centered on pt. 2 and brain signals.
Myhill seems to go with pt. 3 and ties FM to mitochondrial dysfunction in the muscles. So I guess that's why I'm here at PR.
Wondering of anyone else has this FM-muscle-tightness type, and how others approach it.
I already eat low sugar (LCHF), I get heat (sauna 2x week), do gentle exercise (tai chi), and started with iodine. The rest of Myhill's suggestions I'm still working on. It feels like a lot of stuff, I'm struggling to understand all of it, and I'm not seeing a specific protocol for my case (FM and maybe lingering Lyme and/or EBV). So I'm trying to figure it out.
1. Fibromyalgia is something which largely affects Type A personalities who stress out over things too much - I hate these personality characterizations for diseases so much, and I call total BS on this too. I'm pretty laid back, really.
2. Fibromyalgia is caused by the brain receiving too much unfiltered information from the nerves through the spine, so it perceives pain where there is none - I realize this is the dominant theory for FM, but I am really doubtful if this is happening in my case. Moreover, I don't think I get the "brain fog" and other mental symptoms usually described for FM. I get mentally fatigued faster than I used too, and I feel a bit more confused, but that's it, and I think those things can easily be chalked up to the brain constantly having to deal with all the bad stuff that is chronic pain.
3. Fibromyalgia is caused by tight muscles - Apparently the rheumy noticed this when he examined me, that all my muscles were tight and clenched. I remember the neurologist last summer saying something of the same, that I had issues relaxing my muscles all the way when he was doing the reflex tests. And apparently, according to the rheumy, this explains my tendinitis in my hands and feet - all my muscles are clenched, so that pulls on the tendons and causes them to be stiff and thus be prone to inflaming with use. The rheumy thinks I have always had a tendency to tight muscles, but getting EBV and Lyme within a year put my problem on hyperdrive, and thus the fibromyalgia.
So, point 3 seems to not be total BS in my case. I noticed the tendinitis long before the myalgia started up, but okay. And I found this explanation. And as I mentioned in another thread, I've been having issues with my blood pressure and tachy, and according to this blog post they all go together - muscles are needed to move blood around your body, and when they don't work right the peripheral areas don't get enough blood flow or nutrients.
But this type (subtype?) of FM seems kinda, idk, not common. I think. Google tells me that other pwFM have random ongoing tendinitis issues, so this "tight muscles" thing seems to happen to others. But most if the medical discussion seems centered on pt. 2 and brain signals.
Myhill seems to go with pt. 3 and ties FM to mitochondrial dysfunction in the muscles. So I guess that's why I'm here at PR.
Wondering of anyone else has this FM-muscle-tightness type, and how others approach it.
I already eat low sugar (LCHF), I get heat (sauna 2x week), do gentle exercise (tai chi), and started with iodine. The rest of Myhill's suggestions I'm still working on. It feels like a lot of stuff, I'm struggling to understand all of it, and I'm not seeing a specific protocol for my case (FM and maybe lingering Lyme and/or EBV). So I'm trying to figure it out.