08/28/2022
I have suffered from Fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome, (now called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) since I was thirteen. There has been a lot of medical gaslighting along my personal journey to healing as these chronic multisystem illnesses manifest with widespread pain, chronic fatigue, impaired function, unrefreshing sleep, cognitive complaints, autonomic dysregulation, and chronic inflammation in the absence of well-established and clinically accessible objective markers. I’ve been told it’s a ‘waste basket diagnosis’ ‘it’s a psychosomatic disease’ ‘it’s not a real disease’ and so on.
It’s validating to see researchers looking at the changes in brain microstructures and neuroinflammation in FM patients. The brain structure and functional connections are altered in fibromyalgia (FM) patients, but the mechanisms behind these alterations were previously unknown. Imaging in this study was employed to visualize microstructural abnormalities associated with neuroinflammation in specific brain areas such as the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala.
Link to study https://lnkd.in/gZ5iWHcV
With supportive care and integrative remedies that have addressed my mind, body and spirit, I have overcome FM and CFS in the last 10 years. The findings of this research shed important light on brain neuroinflammation and pathophysiological alterations in patients with these debilitating diseases and paves the way for an integrative psychiatric approach to care.
Here is a good article on an integrative approach to treatment from Dr Andrew Weil, M.D. https://lnkd.in/g8dt8vUt
