Fibromyalgia pain relief is best handled by your doctor. The different available medicines are by far the most effective ways to handle this disease. Most natural supplements just aren’t going to be fast acting enough or reliable enough for the quick pain relief that is needed when you are in a flare or having a bad day.
Even with the medication now there are a few different home treatments that you might find effective. You can try to alleviate some of the remaining pain. You will need to discuss these options with your doctor to make sure that they don’t conflict with your treatment plan.
A big downside to natural or home remedies is that your insurance doesn’t cover then. Throughout my years with fibromyalgia I’ve always tried to find something that helps but also make sure that it’s affordable enough that I can consistently keep up with it.
Massage Away Fibromyalgia Pain
I would only go to a massage therapist if they are trained specifically in dealing with people with fibromyalgia. There are a lot of painful points in the back that should be considered when looking for fibromyalgia relief. These are tender points that are even used for diagnosis. I’ve been to a few massages that were much more painful than helpful. The same rule applies to a chiropractor. I haven’t found a chiropractor to be as helpful just because it isn’t necessarily a skeletal issue. For me this is an area where I did spend a lot of money without much benefit.
I did eventually find a massage therapist that could deal with fibromyalgia. I found that the effects lasted for about a day or so. It probably reduced my pain by half. Unfortunately it’s just too expensive for me to do this on a consistent basis. Now that I have a knowledgeable practitioner though it’s something that I would consider if I had a special event where I needed to feel really good. I never tried it when I was in lots of pain because these things usually need to be scheduled in advance and fibromyalgia isn’t that nice about giving advance notice.
The tricky thing about massage is that massage almost always starts off quite painful. I first noticed this with massage chairs that were just sitting in the mall. It almost brought me to tears. However, when I stood up I had a renewed sense of energy. This is one of the few things that has really helped to boost my energy. Granted again, since it is so painful you will need to discuss this option with your doctor. I couldn’t afford to buy one of these massage chairs because they were several thousands of dollars and again aren’t covered by insurance.
Fibromyalgia Friendly Furniture
I tried a lot of different massage pads to put on top of chairs. They usually had a vibrator effect. Eventually, I was given a gift of a massage pillow with shiatsu massage. It is from Homedics and around 40 to 60 dollars. What made this different and more effective for me was that this had shiatsu massage. It was more of a kneading motion instead of just vibrations. Plus, I could use this in a very comfortable chair so it was less expensive and less painful than the versions at the mall. Also it’s easy to move around to certain parts of my back, neck, or shoulders whichever one was bothering me that day. Most massage pads didn’t have anything that could work my shoulders.
While this next tip doesn’t help to alleviate pain immediately during the day I found it to have very long lasting effects. With this syndrome you need a nice bed. Every expert is going to tell you differently about what that entails. When I went shopping for a mattress when people found out that I was sick they immediately tried to sell me memory foam mattresses or latex mattresses that were thousands of dollars. Again, this wasn’t an affordable option. I didn’t even find it to be comfortable either.
A Better Mattress for Fibromyalgia
One mattress salesman who was versed in fibromyalgia was able to tell me why this was. With these type of mattresses you sink into them. A lot of people with this disease have problems with restless leg syndrome. They tend to move a lot throughout the night. You don’t necessarily want to be held captive by your mattress because this can interrupt your sleep too.
Instead, he suggested a pocketed coil system. For me, at least, springs work the best. They support movement throughout the night, but the pocketed system does make it much gentler and also doesn’t necessarily wake me up every time I move. Your fibromyalgia pain might be different since sleep disorders are so common and there may still be some residual effects even if you have the best mattress. However, giving yourself the best chance of a good night’s sleep is important.
I also found a pocketed coil system with a very light layer of memory foam to make it softer. I also have a down mattress pad on top of this. Luckily, with all of the mattress options this was probably the cheapest. It really wasn’t more expensive than a typical pillow top mattress. While it probably can’t eliminate your symptoms completely there are a few products out there that can greatly help to alleviate your pain.