Do you feel like you have the flu all the time, with achiness and pain all over? Is the pain worse in the morning, often with increased muscle stiffness? Do you feel fatigued every day, even after a full night’s sleep, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual syndrome, dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps), chest pain, an intolerance to cold or damp weather, or TMJ syndrome? Do you often feel anxious or depressed? Do you know someone who complains about similar conditions? Have you started to wonder if you are crazy? Don’t! What is described above is a very real but little understood condition that is neither a disfiguring nor life threatening syndrome known as fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a common and disabling disorder affecting 2 to 4 percent of the population, women more often than men. Despite the condition’s frequency, the diagnosis is often missed. There are no diagnostic lab or x-ray abnormalities, but can be confirmed by a fibromyalgia specialist finding multiple tender points in characteristic locations. Fibromyalgia often runs in families, suggesting an inherited predisposition. It may lie dormant until triggered by an injury, stress or sleep disturbance. Some have suggested that these are all just different facets of the same underlying disorder.

Fibromyalgia is difficult to treat, not because treatment isn’t usually successful (it is), but because it will take a lot of work, education and involvement on the individual’s part for it to be successful.

Doctors of chiropractic analyze the spinal column for the vertebral subluxations that can affect nerves, bones, muscles, even blood and lymph vessels. A spinal checkup should be done to see if subluxations are present in your body. If subluxations are found, the chiropractor uses special techniques (without drugs or surgery) to restore the subluxated vertebrae to a more normal position and motion. As an Activator Methods chiropractor, I utilize a very gentle, precise and analytical method to find the subluxations and adjust the vertebrae to help restore the normal position and motion to the spine.

Many patients report that chiropractic adjustments, gentle massage as well as heat and rest help relieve their symptoms. Specific chiropractic adjustments can give considerable relief by getting the nerve-muscle-joint component working properly and to help the body metabolize waste products, thereby decreasing the patient’s pain sensitivity and eliminating tender nodules. It often takes two weeks or more before the beneficial effects of chiropractic adjustments take effect. With all types of treatment, brief relapses are common.

For best results, you need to be actively involved in your treatment. Also, you need to have as clear an understanding of this complicated disorder as possible.

Dr. Angella L. Roberts of Roberts Chiropractic Wellness Center, 43 Exchange St., Rumford, has recently moved to Maine and opened a new practice in Rumford after practicing in Jamaica, West Indies, for seven years. She has been a chiropractor for 10 years. She specializes in Activator Methods, a low-force, gentle technique. She also holds a degree in nutrition and does nutritional counseling in her practice. She can be reached at 369-9138.