(ARA) - At a time when most women are enjoying active lives, Patti Eglington could not get out of bed. Stricken by unbearable pain, her body seemed to betray her. Eglington’s condition made her a prisoner in her own home, preventing her from being a hands-on mom to her young daughter. “I felt like an 80-year-old woman trapped in a 40-year- old’s body,” she says.
Desperate for relief, Eglington sought help from everyone from arthritis specialists to psychiatrists. No one seemed to understand her “mystery illness”. She was prescribed a cocktail of medications and advised to exercise, but nothing eased her suffering.
Eglington finally went to see Dr. Kent Holtorf, medical director of the Holtorf Medical Group Center for Endocrine, Neurological and Infection Related Illness in Torrance, Calif. There, she was entered in a multi-symptom treatment study and her pain was mitigated.
Eglington’s story is unfortunately all too-common for the three to six million Americans who suffer from fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that causes severe muscle and bone aches, joint stiffness, tissue tenderness, fatigue and sleep disturbances. Symptoms can also include impaired memory and coordination, depression, and headaches. Fibromyalgia primarily affects women in their 30s and 40s, but can also strike men and children. The cause of fibromyalgia is not known and there is no cure for the condition. Because of the many unknowns, fibromyalgia is often misdiagnosed.
“Patients see an average of seven doctors, without a diagnosis or any relief from their symptoms,” says Holtorf.
Despite this, fibromyalgia does not have to equal a lifetime of untreated pain. Recently published in The Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Holtorf’s new approach targets the physiological causes of fibromyalgia with low doses of adrenal and thyroid hormones.
The study, combined with an observational study of 500 patients from his clinic, showed:
* Improvement by 94 percent of all patients by their fourth visit;
* Significant improvement noted by 75 percent of patients;
* Substantial improvement reported by 62 percent of patients; and
* Patients described doubled energy levels and greater sense of well-being by their fourth visit.
“Fibromyalgia is a real disease and should be treated as such,” says Holtorf. “My research proves that treating fibromyalgia’s known causes can improve patients’ symptoms and quality-of-life.”
Eglington agrees, “Thanks to Dr. Holtorf, I am virtually pain-free and no longer take any arthritis or pain medication.”
Could you have fibromyalgia? The primary symptom is diffuse muscle pain, which can range from mild to severely limiting. Other symptoms often associated are:
* Sleep disturbances/insomnia
* Depression
* Daytime tiredness or fatigue
* Headaches
* Alternating diarrhea and constipation
* Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet
* Feelings of weakness
* Brain fog
* Dizziness
* Worsening fatigue and pain with mental or physical exertion
For more information on fibromyalgia, please visit www.HoltorfMed.com.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
