There is definitely a growing number of people, mostly women, with Fibro (or, perhaps, they were always there, but misdignosed or not diagnosed at all). My thought is that it is a growing issue because of the way the modern world is and how we as humans handle the modern world. Everyone channels their stress differently, albeit not by choice... some get migranes, others get ulcers or, like me, get muscle spasms in their back when under great amounts of pressure. Is it fair to say that Fibro is just a reflexion of how one carries their stress? Cortisol has a free pass to every cell in the body. Is it reasonable to suggest that Fibro is actually cortisol 'metastasized' through the neuro fascial web?
This is just my thought based on the short amount of time I have been studying connective tissue, but it seems it would help to ease the battle between the mental and medical health professionals. Is it a mental health issue? Sure... thoughts are powerful and as we know the mind-body connection very real. Is it a medical condition? Of course...the pain is very real, and why wouldn't it with stress hormones surrounding every joint, muscle and organ in your body. The very system designed to support, protect and stabilize the body has been 'poisoned' with cortisol run rampant.
As hands-on and hands-off bodyworkers, this is a tricky animal. I asked anatomist and structural integrator Tom Myers (http://www.anatomytrains.com/) his thoughts on the subject and his response is that when approached with Fibro, many times he will step away from the table and tell the client to get their nutrition and mental/emotional state dealt with first before manipulating their tissue. Tom's work is quite invasive as a structural integration practicioner, so such aggressive manipulation is not wise for someone with stress in every inch of the very connective tissue that would be manipulated. The adaptive manual therapy techniques used in MELT do not go as deep as Tom's hands do, and Sue Hitzmann, MELT creator, continually emphasizes the need to quiet the nervous system and focus on the neuro core to bring balance and communication back in the body. Making stress 'angry' and further imbalancing the body's auto pilot system is a road to disaster. Without caution, any body treatment could make someone with Fibro (or an auto-immune disease) much sicker.
I am sure this is all written about in an article somewhere that I never read and thus my thoughts are not so original, but I am so tired of hearing the phrase 'dcotors are not certain what causes this condition' and 'there is no known cure'. I believe with all my heart that the body can heal from just about anything (but not everything, I add...the body can reach the point of no return). I believe someone can get the cortisol out of their tissues and be 'in remission' from Fibro... it is a major job involving life changes and decisions and continual maintenance, but definitely do-able.
Moral of the story: Get out of pain. Get MELT'ed!
