Answer Summary
Members came together to clarify that fibromyalgia is not currently curable but is treatable, with most describing it as a chronic disorder... Read more
@MAangelaD, Fibromyalgia is not curable. It is an auto immune disease. It's also a syndrome which means it has many components and the doctors only treat the various components that you complain about any particular time. If you haven't found a Doctor Who will help you with your symptoms. change doctors
Hi @A MyFibroTeam Member. Well you have a very mixed response to your questions!! I think the lack of consensus on this is a direct result of the difference in opinions across the medical community and therefore the information out there often does not line up.
To provide MY answer? Here goes.... :)
Currently it is not curable, but it is manageable, but you have to find a way to stay ahead of it somehow; easier said than done!
Fibro is a disorder. This is because the mechanism driving all of the symptoms is a chronically over sensitised central nervous system, stemming from the hypothalamus or autonomic nervous system. This means that anywhere your nerves can go (so, everywhere) you can have a symptom of Fibro. This is why many of the first line medications for Fibro are antidepressants/anticonvulsants. These target receptors in the brain to modulate or dial down the over the top pain signals we get. Our nervous system is basically a hyper active puppy that won't go to sleep.
It is not considered by any research currently available to be an autoimmune disease as such, as there is no evidence of antibodies attacking the body or any evidence of long term degenerative tissue damage in a Fibro person, however I have seen recently that some countries have introduced a Fibro test (FM/a) to test for a certain blood marker that is found in Fibro. How this relates to the underlying mechanism in the brain I am uncertain but I am trying to find information on this.
In my personal experience with this condition - I have had generally pretty bad reactions from the medications they gave me, and I've tried numerous ones now. So instead I told the doctors to stick their meds and I'm being treated by naturopath instead. We are currently targeting my low melatonin production which stems from low serotonin, I also have high cortisol so I am taking a supplement to lower that, plus chromium to chew through all the extra insulin my pancreas is releasing from the last lot of meds I was on!! Fun fun!
I hope this has been helpful.
They are researching and working on a cure for this disease. At least now people and Drs are starting to acknowledge that it IS real and not just in our head
In my opinion, a complete recovery from fibromyalgia is achievable. I am currently doing a program involving all kinds of non pharmaceutical treatments which I believe will cure me, within the year. I have a super strict diet, up at 6 am, bed by 9, neurolinguistic programming, therapy, 2-4 20 minute meditations per day, and many other things. It's called ans rewired, by Dan Neuffer. He has a book, cfs Unravelled. So, I believe it is possible, just takes an extraordinary amount of discipline, determination and a bit of money(I'm supported by lots of insurance and a decent income).
Tomorrow it might be!