My favorite natural fibromyalgia treatment started when I was in a fibromyalgia flare. This was a part of my fibromyalgia relief but isn’t a total cure. Over the years I’ve tried to think of accurate ways to describe the pain. It feels like being run over by a truck and then the truck went in reverse. It feels like a flu that multiplied. As always, before implementing any of these suggestions discuss it with a doctor first.

Paying more attention to my body taught me that there are actually layers of pain. I have all over muscle pain. I have joint pain. I also have an all over painful sensation on my skin. This particular type of pain is why there are so many forum posts about being sensitive to touch, clothing, or even being hugged.

On more than one occasion when someone tried to hug me it was so painful that I wondered why they would do that before remembering they didn’t have fibromyalgia. This is the only pain that comes and goes depending on whether I’m in a flare or not while the others are more constant with differing degrees of intensity.

Finding the Proper Balance

On this day maybe it was fate or maybe it was luck but I just blurted out that the burning pain was akin to being constantly soaked in acid. My dad is a scientist; not a doctor, he works with plants. He said “Well maybe you are”. He went to the basement and picked up pH litmus test strips that I could just put in my mouth. It wasn’t a blood test. I wasn’t even on the chart I was so acidic.

I always believe in working with a doctor whenever using natural treatments. This helps to avoid a lot of the scams that are associated with the disease but also ensures proper medical treatment. In the five years it took me to get a proper diagnosis; I never had a pH test. I can understand how some natural treatments don’t add up in the medical world; but this is just basic science that we all learned in middle school. I still don’t have an answer for why doctors don’t test pH levels more. It’s considered more of an alternative test. When asking at the pharmacy for pH test strips my dad was told that they were sold at the health food store.

My body felt acidic because it was. It seemed like a big problem to me at the time. I was used to every problem being expensive to both diagnosis and fix. With my dad’s help I found that my pH level can be balanced in the following ways:

Tums. This was the first thing I tried and it was pretty effective. The downside is that it is full of sugar and has some ingredients that I just didn’t need. I still keep a few in my purse for when I’m on the move.

Dissolving a small amount of baking soda in water. I laughed because both of these solutions were so cheap and I already had them in my house. Of course being high in sodium and not very tasty it was just something I did once a week.

A combination of these solutions worked quite well for about six months. Whenever I felt my skin burning I would test my pH level; and it was always very acidic. Then when this particular pain disappeared I would test it again and it was balanced.

Finally a Natural Pain Relief that Worked for Me

In recent years I’ve given up on a lot of natural treatments. I get discouraged about all of the inspiring stories that never seem to pan out for me. I also don’t like the idea that with a lot of things you’re told that it takes several weeks or months to make a change. This is common in many of the scams out there although it does make sense that your body takes longer to adjust to a milder natural remedy. With balancing my pH level though I noticed an almost instant reduction in pain. Also, it was so affordable that for me it was worth a try.

At about the six month mark I noticed that it would only stay balanced for a short period of time. Both the baking soda and the tums just weren’t holding anymore. After talking to my dad again it was decided that I needed to balance it through my diet. I learned that a lot of the foods that are considered healthy for fibromyalgia such as spinach and unsalted almonds are also foods that balance these levels.

I haven’t tracked down the fibro and pH connection anywhere else in research though. It has helped me with one specific type of pain. It still comes back especially if I eat a lot of refined sugar. I am still sick. It isn’t a cure or even a treatment. It’s more of an explanation or at least a partial one for why there is a connection to eating healthy with fibromyalgia.

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.