What Is Fibromyalgia? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

Alternative and Complementary Therapies

Exercise According to the American College of Rheumatology, physical exercise is the most effective treatment for fibromyalgia. Gentle stretching and aerobic exercise can relieve pain and prevent deconditioning or getting weaker from lack of exercise. It can also improve sleep. (2)

Engaging in exercise may be the last thing on your mind when you hurt all over from fibromyalgia, but in fact, not exercising can make your pain worse. The best approach to being physically active when you have fibromyalgia is to start low and go slow. In other words, start with a few minutes of activity, and gradually increase the amount of time you’re active over several weeks or months to build your strength and endurance.

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It’s better to do a little less than you’re capable of than to push too hard and trigger a fibromyalgia flare. Additionally, if you’re having a flare, reduce the time and intensity of your exercise sessions, but don’t be completely inactive.

Generally, working with a physical or occupational therapist can be helpful in getting started with an exercise regimen.

Specifically, a physical therapist can teach you exercises designed to improve your strength, flexibility, and stamina. Water-based exercises might be particularly beneficial for people with fibromyalgia. (5)

In addition, an occupational therapist may help you make adjustments to your home or workplace that will cause less stress on your body.

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Some patients cannot tolerate these exercise programs, but an alternative form of exercise that incorporates mind-body work is tai chi. One study from 2018 showed that tai chi appeared to be as effective or better than aerobic exercise for managing fibromyalgia. The longer the duration, the greater the benefits.

Stress Reduction Some other lifestyle approaches that may improve fibromyalgia symptoms include stress reduction, not smoking, following a healthy diet, losing weight if you’re overweight, and establishing good sleep habits.

One possible way to reduce stress is to undergo counseling. Talking with a therapist can help strengthen your belief in your abilities and teach you strategies for dealing with stressful situations.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) — types of talk therapy that help individuals reframe their thoughts and change behaviors — can help address brain fog by helping you develop targeted coping strategies and mitigate stress by teaching you to use skills like relaxation, acceptance, mindfulness, and identifying how to best use your energy.

They can reduce fatigue by helping you identify your stressors and your limiting beliefs.

Mindfulness In addition, mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce stress, depression, anxiety, and the impact of symptoms of fibromyalgia. Improvements in sleep, pain, and fatigue have also been observed.

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Mindfulness is a contemplative practice emphasizing moment-to-moment awareness as a means of working through stressful events. You can learn and practice mindfulness in courses offered online or in your local community, and by using any of a variety of apps, such as Calm, Headspace, Buddhify, or 10 Percent Happier.

Healthy Diet Like everyone, people with fibromyalgia should eat foods that support their body. This means a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, healthy oils, legumes, and low-fat protein like fish and chicken (unless you have food sensitivities to any of these).

It also means cutting out foods that you know are bad for you — like junk, processed, fatty, sugary foods, and soda.

For some people, making dietary changes can ease their fibromyalgia symptoms, particularly when their meals contain good sources of vitamin D (such as cold-water fish or fortified milk or orange juice), include foods high in magnesium (such as dried beans and leafy greens), and are rich in antioxidants from deeply colored fruits and vegetables.

In general, you should discuss nutritional approaches with a registered dietitian nutritionist or your doctor. However, research suggests that carbohydrates, and particularly sugars, may contribute to brain fog in fibromyalgia because people with the condition don’t metabolize carbohydrates and sugars normally.

Beyond that, some research suggests that avoiding dietary excitotoxins — chemicals that excite the neurons in the brain — can provide additional symptom improvement. The most common excitotoxins in the Western diet are food additives used to enhance or sweeten the flavor of foods. Monosodium glutamate is an example of such an additive. (8)

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