This is part 3 of the fibromyalgia roundtable recap. You also can read parts one, two, and three.

Food choices can play a vital role in improving health for people with fibromyalgia. If your symptoms get worse on a rainy or humid day, you may have a Chinese medicine diagnosis of dampness. Just like the ground becomes soggy after a rainstorm, dampness in the body can cause swelling, puffiness, fatigue, and pain. Dampness can be caused and/or treated by certain food.

Patients with fibromyalgia generally respond best to a whole food, minimally processed diet. Try to avoid greasy or heavy food, sugars and simple carbohydrates. Dairy may also be an issue for some people who have food sensitivities. To find out which foods you are sensitive to and should avoid, you may want to try an elimination diet.

On the other hand, some of the best food for people with fibromyalgia is leafy greens like kale and spinach. Bitter and spicy greens like arugula and mustard greens, are especially good at resolving dampness.

Don’t eat these veggies cold, though. Cold food actually impairs the digestive process, and makes dampness worse. Instead, lightly steam vegetables so that they are more easily digested, while still maintaining their nutritional value.

Do you have any other questions about the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach to fibromyalgia? Please leave a comment below.

This is part 3 of the fibromyalgia roundtable recap. You can read parts one and two. Part four is coming soon.

In addition to acupuncture, anything that gets the body’s Qi (energy) moving again is likely to be beneficial for people with fibromyalgia. Massage can help greatly, as long as the client’s specific needs are taken into account. According to Linda Spring of Healing Hands Massage Therapy, deep tissue massage is generally not recommended for people with fibromyalgia. Instead, she uses light touch, along with trigger point and polarity work.

Exercise is something that every person with fibromyalgia should do, for general health and to keep the Qi flowing (of course, consult your doctor first). Many patients with fibromyalgia find it hard to exercise, because of their pain and fatigue. However, I strongly believe that exercise is an important component to improving their quality of life. Even if you can only do 5 minutes of walking in place in your living room, do it every day and gradually increase the time as you are able.

Tai chi is a great, low-impact form of exercise, which has been shown to reduce stress, improve bone density, and relieve arthritis symptoms. Yoga and stretching are also helpful. It is important only to attempt gentle yoga, not power or heated (Bikram) yoga. Many people also find exercise with light weights to be helpful, but again, go slow (try starting with a can of beans).

In Chinese medicine theory, the breath also helps to move the Qi (it is also one of the main ways that your lymphatic system circulates and blood returns to your lungs to be oxygenated). Practicing deep breathing techniques, in association with tai chi and yoga or on its own, can be beneficial in preventing stuck Qi and also bringing new Qi (think: oxygen) into the body. Meditation, which also includes deep breathing, can be good at reducing the stress associated with having a chronic illness, therefore preventing negative emotions from impeding the Qi flow.

The final post in the series will discuss nutrition recommendations for fibromyalgia.

This is the second part of a four-part recap of a roundtable discussion on fibromyalgia. You can read a background post here and part one here.

As I wrote in part one, treating fibromyalgia requires an individualized approach for each patient. For the purposes of this blog post, I will need to vastly over-simplify and generalize about Chinese medicine, but I still hope that fibromyalgia sufferers will find the information useful. Please feel free to leave a comment or contact us if you want clarification or have any further questions.

In traditional Chinese medical theory, pain is caused by the blockage of energy, or Qi in the body. Everyone has Qi; when you are in health, the Qi flows regularly and smoothly. But many things can cause the Qi to get stuck. In fibromyalgia, the person often has an illness (or sometimes a series of illnesses close together) or a trauma preceding the fibromyalgia symptoms. Chronic stress, emotional upset, and lifestyle issues (diet and exercise) can also play a role in causing stagnant Qi.

Acupuncture needles help to unblock the flow of Qi and, as a result, improve pain levels. Chronic conditions like fibromyalgia usually require a prolonged treatment regimen of one or two times a week for several months; some patients find that they need to come indefinitely to maintain good results.

Again, this timeline varies by the individual. Some people begin to see results from the treatment—reduction in pain, increased energy, better sleep, etc.—almost immediately. Some may see improvement in one symptom, but not another.

Other patients with fibromyalgia may be very slow to see improvements. For example, I have one patient who had four treatments before she got even 20 minutes of relief from her pain (thankfully, she is continuing to improve). A small percentage of people with fibromyalgia respond negatively to acupuncture treatments, temporarily having more pain after acupuncture (in my experience, maybe 10%). Although this response may go away with further treatments, acupuncture may not be right for these people.

The next blog post in this series will be about other therapies for fibromyalgia.

On Tuesday, July 28, 2009 from 3:00pm to 5:30pm, River Valley Acupuncture is having a “Two for Tuesday” special. It is set up to allow two people to benefit at the same time: all new patients get treated for free, and any current patient who brings in a new patient will get a treatment for $10!

If you are a new patient, you don’t need to be referred by a current patient to get the deal. Just give us a call to reserve your space. And if you are a current patient and you don’t have anyone new to bring with you, that’s ok too– you are welcome at the regular sliding scale price.

These special days tend to fill up quickly, so reservations are strongly recommended. Walk-ins will be taken on a space-available basis.

We’d love to see you– call today for an appointment: (508) 890-8899

The fibromyalgia roundtable at Generations was a great event. I found out lots of helpful information from the other presenters, as well as from the attendees who shared their struggles and what has worked for them.

I am using the next few posts to summarize the information that I think could be helpful for people with fibromyalgia. Please share it with anyone who might benefit.

The first thing that all of the practitioners agreed on was how variable of an illness fibromyalgia can be. Chinese medicine, as with most holistic healing, focuses on treating each person as a unique individual. Patients with fibromyalgia especially need individualized treatment plans; although most have some combination of body pain, fatigue, and sleep disorders, the symptoms can vary in location and intensity. Even the same patient may get a different treatment from week to week, depending on his/her primary complaints.

Something else that we recognized is that there is no known cure for fibromyalgia. However, with the right kind of treatment and self-care, people with fibromyalgia may be able to reduce their symptoms to a very manageable level. In my practice, I find that my patients have more “good” days—days when the pain level is lower, energy level is higher, sleep is better, and they feel more like themselves—and “bad” days aren’t as bad as they used to be. As a result, quality of life is better.

I will write more about specific types of treatments and self-help techniques in the next post.