Are Brain Waves the Key to Treating Fibromyalgia?
By Dr. Horst H. Mueller, CPsych, CRHSPP, BCIAC
Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is a common chronic pain disorder that effects approximately one million Canadians - mostly women. Common symptoms of FMS are: chronic wide-spread or all-over-body pain with numerous painful tender points in specific locations on the body, disturbed and nonrestorative sleep, morning stiffness, persistent fatigue and exercise intolerance, and reduced ability to think clearly (mental clouding or "fibro-fog"). Other health problems frequently associated with FMS include: depressed and irritable mood, irritable bowel and bladder, headaches, premenstrual syndrome, multiple allergies and chemical sensitivities, and cold hands and feet.
Fibromyalgia is especially confusing and often misunderstood because almost all its symptoms are also common to other conditions. There is no single test or laboratory finding that is uniquely diagnostic for FMS. In addition, FMS probably has more than one cause. It can develop over a few months as a result of a traumatic muscle injury from a fall or minor motor vehicle accident, or it can start with a viral illness like the flu or mononucleosis. In some women it appears to develop after sudden hormonal change such as occurs after a hysterectomy, child birth or menopause. While FMS can be associated with irritable and depressed mood and is frequently made worse by psychological stress, most research does not support the notion that FMS is psychologically caused.
Moreover, FMS and chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome (CFIDS) are closely related conditions confused in diagnosis. It has been estimated that approximately 65% of persons with FMS also meet all diagnostic criteria for CFIDS and, similarly, nearly 85% of those with CFIDS also have FMS.
Common medical and physical therapy treatments for chronic body pain have not proven very successful in alleviating FMS. Commonly prescribed low dose antidepressant drugs, painkillers, and aerobic exercise generally help only a minority of FMS sufferers to obtain minimal to moderate remission.
"What we believe happens in FMS is that the continued bombardment of the brain by the pain stimulus in the periphery causes the brain to shift patterns."
(Dr. Stuart Donaldson, Director of Myosymmetries in Calgary, 1997)
Recent research increasingly points to the brain as key to understanding FMS and CFIDS. Physiological arousal is under the management of the brain, which also regulates the sleep-wake cycle and modulates the pain response. When the brain and central nervous system are presented with a constant barrage of pain signals, over the course of time a number of physical and chemical changes occur within the brain centres that process bodily sensations to increase their sensitivity to stimulation and decrease their sensitivity to location.
More and more, the brain interprets previously nonpainful stimulation as painful and loses its ability to pinpoint exactly where stimulation is coming from. There is growing consensus among neurological researchers that FMS and CFIDS patients show abnormalities in brain blood flow and electrical activity (EEG) that appear to be associated with a number of core symptoms. These changes include evidence of reduced blood circulation (hypoperfusion) in various areas of the brain and excessive amounts of low frequency electrical activity from primarily central and frontal areas of the cortex.
A promising new therapy for FMS and CFIDS uses EEG neurotherapy to train the brain to reduce low frequency EEG activity and increase the amount of higher frequency activity. This training appears to normalize the brain's functioning and results in increased mental clarity and energy, improved mood, deeper and more restful sleep, decreased physical fatigue, and a reduction in "all-over-body" pain. Once these changes begin, FMS patients are able to benefit from specific physical therapy treatments that focus on decreasing activity of painful myofascial trigger points and obtaining myofascial release, reinstating muscle balance, gentle muscle stretching, correcting poor posture and movement patterns, and increasing physical stamina.
Only a small number of pioneering clinicians in the United States and Canada are currently using EEG neurotherapy with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue patients. However, as their positive clinical outcomes become more broadly reported and research on the connection between brain wave patterns and various physical disorders continues, EEG neurotherapy will become a relatively common treatment.
Myosymmetries clinics in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta are the Canadian pioneers in the use of combined EEG Neurotherapy and sEMG Neuromuscular Retraining and specialized myofascial physical therapies to treat persons with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and other forms of generalized chronic pain.
