Dr. Pamela Maloney Blog

Acupuncture for Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) affects an estimated 2 percent of the population. Conventional therapies are limited in the success of treating this complex and unexplained condition. Current treatment is largely comprised of prescribing different medications for the varying symptoms in a trial and error approach. Research shows that as many as 90 percent of people with fibromyalgia have turned to complimentary and alternative medicine to manage their symptoms. Acupuncture, in particular, has become a popular treatment choice and has shown to be an effective treatment for FMS.

What is Fibromyalgia Syndrome?

Fibromyalgia is a medically unexplained syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain, a heightened and painful response to pressure, insomnia, fatigue, and depression. While not all affected persons experience all associated symptoms, the following symptoms commonly occur together:

• chronic pain
• debilitating fatigue
• difficulty sleeping
• anxiety and depression
• joint stiffness
• chronic headaches and jaw pain
• difficulty swallowing
• dryness in mouth, nose, and eyes
• hypersensitivity to odors, bright lights, and loud noises
• inability to concentrate (called “fibro fog”)
• incontinence
• irritable bowel syndrome
• numbness or tingling in the fingers and feet
• painful menstrual cramps
• poor circulation in hands and feet (called Raynaud’s phenomenon)
• restless legs syndrome

Fibromyalgia is diagnosed when there is a history of widespread pain in all four quadrants of the body for a minimum duration of three months and pain when pressure is applied to at least 11 of 18 designated tender points on the body. This condition does not result in any physical damage to the body or its tissues and there are no laboratory tests which can confirm this diagnosis.

Symptoms often begin after a physical or emotional trauma, but in many cases there appears to be no triggering event. Women are more prone to develop the disorder than are men, and the risk of fibromyalgia increases with age.

From an Eastern Perspective

The Oriental medicine theory of pain is expressed in this famous Chinese saying: “Bu tong ze tong, tong ze bu tong” which means “free flow: no pain, no free flow: pain.”

Pain is seen as a disruption of the flow of Qi within the body. The disruption of Qi that results in fibromyalgia is usually associated with disharmonies of the Liver, Spleen, Kidney and Heart Systems.

The Acupuncture Treatment

Oriental Medicine does not recognize fibromyalgia as one particular disease pattern. Instead, it aims to treat the specific symptoms that are unique to each individual depending on their constitution, emotional state, intensity and location of their pain, digestive health, sleeping patterns and an array of other signs and symptoms. Therefore, if 10 people are treated with Oriental medicine for fibromyalgia, each of these 10 people will receive a unique, customized treatment with different acupuncture points, different herbs and different lifestyle and dietary recommendations.

Because the symptoms of fibromyalgia are highly variable form one person to another, a wide array of traditional and alternative treatments has been shown to be the most effective way of treating this difficult syndrome. A treatment program may include a combination of psychological or behavioral therapies, medications, exercise, acupuncture, herbal medicine and bodywork.

If you have fibromyalgia, acupuncture and Oriental medicine may be what you’ve been looking for to ease your symptoms and reclaim your health and vitality. Please call for a consultation today.

Study on Acupuncture and Fibromyalgia

A recent study from the Mayo Clinic found acupuncture helpful in treating the fatigue and anxiety commonly experienced by fibromyalgia patients. In the trial, patients who received acupuncture to counter their fibromyalgia symptoms reported improvement in fatigue and anxiety, among other symptoms. Acupuncture was well tolerated, with minimal side effects.

In the double-blind study, Mayo Clinic doctors gave 25 fibromyalgia patients acupuncture, and 25 “sham” acupuncture treatments. Patients received six treatments during the two- to three-week study. Those who received acupuncture treatments reported less fatigue and anxiety one month following after treatment than did the “sham” group.

“The results of the study convince me there is something more than the placebo effect to acupuncture,” says David Martin, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the acupuncture article and a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist. “It affirms a lot of clinical impressions that this complementary medical technique is helpful for patients.”

Dr. Martin says the study demonstrates that acupuncture is helpful, and also proves physicians can conduct a rigorous, controlled acupuncture study. Future research could help physicians understand which medical conditions respond best to acupuncture, how to apply it to best relieve symptoms, and how long patients can expect to their symptoms to decrease after each treatment.

Dr. Martin performed the study at Mayo Clinic Rochester with co-authors Ines Berger, M.D.; Christopher Sletten, Ph.D.; and Brent Williams. The study used only two acupuncturists and examined only patients who reported more severe symptoms, offering better experimental control. Still, the Mayo Clinic doctors urged more study to see how acupuncture can best be used in treating fibromyalgia patients.

• Source: Mayo Clinic (2006, June 13). Acupuncture Relieves Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia, Mayo Clinic Study Finds.

You can help cut your risk significantly by incorporating a few simple lifestyle changes into your daily routines and habits, according to Bob Flaws, author of Curing Fibromyalgia Naturally with Chinese Medicine.

1. Eliminate processed foods from your diet, especially white sugar and white flour products. These products give our bodies little nutrition and over time can damage our digestion as well as cause obesity, one of the common problems related to fibromyalgia.

2. Include all unprocessed foods in your diet, such as proteins, complex and unrefined carbohydrates, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.

3. Eat foods that support the functions of the spleen and stomach. In other words, avoid overly greasy foods, ice cold drinks, alcohol, raw and uncooked foods, hot, peppery foods, coffee, and too much fruit. Avoid daily juice drinks since these are the same as eating a candy bar in the amount of sugar introduced into the body.

4. Stop drinking sodas. Sodas are acidic in nature and loaded with sugar and chemicals. Sodas are detrimental to both the spleen and the kidneys.

5. Find some type of exercise that you really enjoy and just do it! Pumping iron is not for everyone. You would probably benefit most from some kind of cardiovascular exercise to keep to blood moving, like swimming, yoga, stretching, and bicycling.

6. Take a walk every day. If you live with a dog or cat, play with them daily. Animals live in the moment and love to play. This is a great way to break stressful daily routines.

7. Practice Chinese self massage every morning by stimulating the acupuncture points on the body and limbs to help promote the flow of Qi and blood in the channels.

8. Buy some relaxation tapes with guided imaging. Learn how to really relax. This means bodily relaxation as well as mental repose. Use these tapes daily for the best results.

9. Take a look at the old habits and patterns of your life and ask yourself what you can do to make your life better. Take up tasks and hobbies that are interesting to you and break the normal routine of your day.

10. If you know that you have too much stress in your life, find a solution. This may be finding a new job or new, more supportive relationships. Understand that stress alone can kill you, and if you smoke and consume alcohol to escape stressful situations, you are only fooling yourself.

Tags: Acupuncture, Fibromialgia, Pain
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Acupuncture for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common job-related injuries and is responsible for the highest number of days lost among all work related injuries. It is the reason for over two million visits to physicians’ offices and approximately 465,000 carpal tunnel release operations each year, making it the most frequent surgery of the hand and wrist.

Acupuncture is extremely effective at treating carpal tunnel syndrome; eliminating the need for surgery or the use of anti-inflammatory drugs or corticosteroids. In fact, one of the most common reasons that people get acupuncture is for repetitive stress injuries, including carpal tunnel syndrome. Recent studies even suggest that acupuncture may be more effective than corticosteroids when it comes to treating CTS.

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway in the wrist made up of ligaments and bones. The median nerve and the tendons that connect the fingers to the muscles of the forearm pass through this tightly spaced tunnel.

Carpal tunnel syndrome, also known as median nerve entrapment, occurs when swelling or irritation of the nerve or tendons in the carpal tunnel results in pressure on the median nerve. The median nerve controls sensations to the palm side of the thumb and fingers, as well as impulses to some small muscles in the hand that allow the fingers and thumb to move.

Symptoms usually start gradually, with frequent burning, tingling, or numbness in the palm of the hand and the fingers, especially the thumb, index and middle fingers. The symptoms often first appear during the night. As symptoms worsen, people might feel pain, weakness, or numbness in the hand and wrist, radiating up the arm during the day. Decreased grip strength may make it difficult to form a fist, grasp small objects, or perform other manual tasks. If not properly treated, CTS can cause irreversible nerve damage and permanent deterioration of muscle tissue.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with Acupuncture

From an Oriental medicine perspective, CTS is seen as a disruption of the flow of Qi and Blood within the area and associated with Cold, Dampness or Wind penetrating the muscles and sinews of the wrist. Acupuncture points, stretching exercises, herbal remedies and nutritional supplements are chosen to treat accordingly.

As well as reducing the swelling, inflammation and pain in the wrist, acupuncture addresses any headaches, neck pain, shoulder stiffness and sleeping problems that often accompany this condition.

Your treatment may also take into account any underlying conditions that contribute to the development of CTS including obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid problems, diabetes, hormonal changes of pregnancy and menopause.

If you or someone you love suffers carpal tunnel syndrome, please call to find out more about how acupuncture and Oriental medicine can help you.

Acupuncture is as effective as the corticosteroid, prednisone, for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), according to a new study.

The randomized, controlled study that was published in the May 2009 issue of The Clinical Journal of Pain, investigated the efficacy of acupuncture compared with steroid treatment in patients with mild-to-moderate carpal tunnel syndrome as measured by both nerve conduction studies and symptom assessment surveys.

Seventy-seven patients were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group received eight acupuncture treatments over four weeks, and the other group received oral doses of prednisone, daily, for four weeks. The results showed that acupuncture was just as effective as the corticosteroid for pain, numbness, tingling and weakness. For the symptoms of night time awakening and motor function, the acupuncture group had better results.

The researchers concluded that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment option for CTS for those who experience side effects to oral steroids or for those who do not opt for early surgery.

Sources:
Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text. By Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1981
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: Volume 105(5) April 2000 pp 1662-1665
The Clinical Journal of Pain. 25(4):327-333, May 2009.
doi: 10.1097/AJP.0b013e318190511c

Tags: Acupuncture, Pain
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PAIN

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

So many patients come to me for pain erasure.  Most wait to seek treatment until the pain is so bad that they are disabled by it.  There are many approaches to take to minimize or eliminate pain depending upon the cause of it.

In Western Medicine pain is defined as: pressure, lack of blood supply, and cell death.  In Eastern Medicine pain is defined as: Qi stagnation (dull aching pain), or blood stagnation(sharp, stabbing pain).  Both definitions speak of the result of some obstacle to the flow of liquids, gases, and electrical energy in the body.  This obstacle or obstruction is what I seek out.  Even if a nerve is pinched, there is the place of obstacle that is pinching it.

I use pressure, friction, heat, blood moving herbs, homeopathic anti-inflammatories and natural topical pain relievers of both herbal and homeopathic origing which are absorbed into the skin combined with acupuncture strategically placed to move the blood and Qi directly thru the area of pain.  90% of the time the pain is relieved significantly.

The only time it may not be significantly relieved  is when a nerve is pinched for an excessively long time and has become inflammed.  This chronic inflammation of the nerve, usually at the root close to the spine, creates a signal to the muscles that the nerve is innervating to maintain contraction.  This then becomes peripheral entrapment of the nerve by the muscles it is innervating.  The muscles then pull on the nerve, causing irritation and continued inflammation at the root.  A cycle of pain must be broken.  The muscles chronically spasmed must be manipulated enough to get them to let go sometimes so the nerve root can heal.  The nerve root must be treated to decrease the inflammation and stop firing the signal to the muscles to contract.  It takes a continuous, frequent treatment to break this cycle.

Pain caused by the physiology, or organs is usually decreased by changing the chemistry of the blood.  Herbal treatment along with acupuncture and some vibration of the organs will move the tissues to create a change in the physiology.

And then there is the final work of changing our minds about the pain.  A patient may have become so used to chronic pain that bearing it has become the new “normal” and the cause of it is removed there is still the sensation of it for the patient.  In some ways it is habit.  This can be worked with in many ways.  Sometimes just repetition of the experience of pain relief will create a new “normal” gradually.  Sometimes some coaching of noticing details of change can reset the mind to the unfamiliar state of pain free.

Freeing ourselves of pain is important, as it drains our energy, demands our attention, and causes a downward turn in our thoughts.  Paying attention to it and treating it appropriately is always the best choice.  In some ways, pain lights the way to discover things about ourselves and the way we are living that will cause an evolution of our lives in order to resolve the pain.  A growth of person and character can often be the result of discovering the cause of pain while removing it.

Whatever the result, it is a worthy endeavor to pursue being pain free.  You will get the best and fastest results if you seek treatment early upon discovery of pain, rather than waiting to see if it will go away.  Of course a few days of watching to see if it decreases and will eliminate on it’s own is OK.  But, noticing an increase of pain each day is a strong signal to seek treatment immediately.  The sooner treatment begins, the faster the practitioner will be able to succeed at relieving it entirely.

Tags: Natural Medicine, Pain
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