Fibromyalgia

Determined to help not only herself, but others who suffer from fibromyalgia, Dr. Jean Gibson has developed a combination of therapies to treat Fibromyalgia. Many of her patients see results in a matter of weeks and others have turned their symptoms around entirely.  

She treats the disease "naturally," using chiropractic, acupuncture, trigger point therapy, massage, dry infrared sauna therapy, colon hydrotherapy, nutrition and body work, and 95% respond very well.

Gibson was told by her doctor that she had fibrositis, one of the early names given to fibromyalgia in 1990, the same year she entered Chiropractic school.  She asked the questions that everyone asks "What is it?  What causes it?  What is the treatment?"

 What is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia, which means pain in the tendons, ligaments, and muscles, is a grouping of symptoms, not a disease.  Although cases have been documented for at least the past 100 years, it was only in 1990 that specific criteria for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia were developed.  In 1992, the World Health Organization added fibromyalgia to its classification of diseases.

Patients are generally Caucasian, middle class women between the ages of 20-55, although men and women of other races, ages, and economic levels are not immune to fibromyalgia.


Symptoms
Seldom will two patients have exactly the same symptoms, which include:

* Aches and pains in muscles, tendons, and ligaments, with more pain in the morning, often with increased muscle   stiffness
* Chronic fatigue
* Restless sleep
* Headaches
* Menstrual disturbance
* Cardiovascular problems(dizziness, palpitations)
* Excessive urination
* Anxiety and depression

"There are 18 specific points of tenderness seen in patients with fibromyalgia.  Pain in at least 11 of these areas during examination is a sign of fibromyalgia."

Causes
New research points to low thyroid function.  Some patients report having been in an auto accident or suffering some other trauma before their symptoms began.  Others report an illness - viral, bacterial, or parasitic infection - preceding their symptoms.  But no one knows for sure what causes fibromyalgia, and so there is no known cure.

What Can Help?
Fibromyalgia is not life threatening, but it certainly can keep you from leading a normal life.  So can some of the current treatments.

In many cases, by the time Dr. Gibson see patients, they have been to several specialists, sometimes over a number of years.  They may have received physical therapy and taken Tylenol, antidepressants, or steroids, but they report none of that has helped.  And the steroids can have unpleasant effects.

Dr. Gibson uses natural non-invasive methods to control fibromyalgia symptoms. She specializes in a technique called trigger point therapy.  Trigger points are extremely sore points in muscles that refer pain to other parts of the body - sometimes giving rise to headaches, arm pain and leg pain.She uses her hands to work on these trigger points breaking up scar tissue and flushing out trapped chemicals, and reducing the pain.

In order to individualize treatment for each patient, she chooses from: