Fibromyalgia:

They call it the “Invisible Disease.”  Millions of Americans supposedly have it. Doctors are baffled by it.  Fibromyalgia is a mysterious, debilitating condition which renders the victim helpless to fight off constant pain, fatigue, and depression.  Victims are given few options beyond indefinite consumption of medications, and being advised to “learn to live with it.”  Many patients say their doctors don’t believe anything is physically wrong with them, because their tests all show up negative.    

Their conclusion: “It’s all in your head.”  

But this could dramatically change thanks to a stunning breakthrough: a small, but growing number of physicians and researchers say they’ve isolated one of the fundamental causes of many of the symptoms of fibromyalgia. They’ve pinpointed a tiny structural imbalance between the skull and the UPPER NECK. It can be caused by physical trauma 20 or more years prior to onset of the symptoms.  It is a nearly imperceptible narrowing of the spinal canal, which can silently choke the spinal cord—leading to pain throughout the body. Unfortunately, few doctors seem to know to even consider it, let alone diagnose it — a nearly imperceptible narrowing of the spinal canal which can literally choke the spinal cord area.    

It’s called Upper Cervical Stenosis (UCS).       

It may be present as early as childhood, but various painful symptoms may take years, or even decades to develop before nerve compression becomes severe enough, due to age-related spinal degeneration or specifically, spinal trauma.  A recent medical study published in the Journal of Whiplash and Related Disorders suggests that neck injuries commonly cause significant problems, long-term complications, and disabilities.  They are largely unresponsive to treatment from many different medical specialties.   

According to one of the researchers, John Carleton, M.D., “Many of these patients do not return to their normal level of productivity for many years and a number of them later become permanently disabled.”  The pieces of this upper neck injury/Fibromyalgia puzzle seem to be fitting together.  If you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, or think you have symptoms of it; your neck may be a major cause factor.  

The greatest concentration of nerve connections in the human body is at the upper neck.  

Misalignment of the bones (Atlas and Axis vertebrae) can result in nerve compression, which can affect your entire nervous system, and therefore, your whole body.  Research has focused attention on neurological conditions involving compression of the brain stem or upper portion of the spinal cord.    

The University of Kansas School of Medicine and Arthritis Research Center studied the relationship between neck injury and Fibromyalgia. The conclusion of this study of 161 cases revealed...  Fibromyalgia was 13 times more frequent following NECK INJURY, compared to other areas of the body!  

I am among the few doctors who specialize in structural-neurological dysfunction of the upper neck. The majority of patients consulting me (diagnosed with fibromyalgia by another physician) reported a history of neck injury, with no prior problems. Many of these accident victims had no “fibromyalgia” symptoms prior to the neck injury. Yet because they did not recover from their injuries in a timely manner, and developed more symptoms (and never received effective treatment); they were told “fibromyalgia” was the cause!  In many cases the trauma took place several decades prior to the onset of the mysterious symptoms labeled fibromyalgia.       

Many researchers are embracing the Central Sensitization Theory.  This suggests that fibromyalgia victims have a lower pain tolerance because their brains have an increased sensitivity to pain signals. Normal electrochemical signals must transmit through your nerves, like electricity through wires.  However, not all fibromyalgia patients remember having a neck injury. Nevertheless imbalances are routinely found. In my clinical experience, this is the most common and significant aspect of fibromyalgia to consider.      

Still, the major obstacle fibromyalgia sufferers face is TREATMENT.   

The mere diagnosis is already enough of a controversial subject within medical circles. There are needless to say, widely varying views on the treatment of the neck. Sadly, despite this critical new focus on the upper neck, it seems the majority of doctors are STILL focused on the American medical tradition of drugs, surgery, and exercises.    

Fortunately, a revolutionary non-surgical treatment option is available. Overjoyed patients have been raving about it, nationwide. It’s an extremely safe, painless, non-invasive procedure that reduces the “choking” effect on the spinal cord. With the Atlas Orthogonal procedure (AO), minuscule physical imbalances between the skull and the upper neck vertebrae can be detected and corrected. 

Atlas Orthogonal is a sophisticated, mathematically-based, rehabilitative treatment performed with a safe and delicate sound wave instrument.  Atlas Orthogonal re-aligns the bones of the upper neck with the skull. This reduces the Stenosis (narrowing) of the spinal canal. This in turn, reduces the pressure on the spinal cord/brain stem region, the meninges, as well as blood vessels, to restore normal function.     

Treating structural problems of the upper neck with Atlas Orthogonal improves nerve function.  This can directly result in elimination of pain.  It is not a quick fix, but rather a rehabilitative process.  Nevertheless, results are often rapid and dramatic.  This completely painless procedure has unparalleled safety. This has been medically published in the Journal of Whiplash and Related Disorders. In this research study, Atlas Orthogonal was revealed effective for chronic pain sufferers for whom multiple medical treatments had failed.   

Your neck is examined immediately before Atlas Orthogonal treatment, and seconds after.  You can feel that the pain from nerve pressure is reduced when your neck is re-examined. This means that healing messages can be better transmitted from your brain to your body, reducing a significant blockage to healing.  Elimination of nerve pressure and improved spinal mechanics helps enabling healing from within.    

Since 1993, I have seen many dramatic recoveries from people diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  Some level of improvement is usually seen inside of 4-6 weeks. This is possible, even though we are treating a chronically dysfunctional neck, in many cases riddled with degenerative calcification and inflammation. Bear in mind this is all being done non-surgically. This is no small feat. Atlas Orthogonal is a marvel of science and technology, skill and experience.    

One must wonder, in the light of this knowledge of the connection between the upper neck and fibromyalgia... why aren't doctors telling people?  

Do they even know about it themselves? Have they read the medical journals, or investigated Atlas Orthogonal in person? Do you think Lyrica, Cymbalta, or Savella can improve the mechanics of the joints of the upper neck?  Perhaps it's a rhetorical question, but why do you think these heavy-duty pharmaceutical drugs getting all the attention?  It is up to the public to decide who the most qualified doctors are, and what the most effective treatments are for fibromyalgia.    

My patients and I can attest to the effectiveness of Atlas Orthogonal (and other drugless and non-surgical techniques I utilize).  

Long before the term, fibromyalgia was ever used, doctors in this field of expertise were helping people with the symptoms of this so-called invisible disease. Frankly, when both patient and doctor can measure and see distortion of the neck on x-ray... can we accurately call it invisible?      ​   

Is it possible doctors are taking the easy way out by furnishing this bizarre sounding diagnosis, instead of making the crucial effort to delve into the cause of your symptoms?  Could it be they can’t handle the truth of what they might find?  If you have been searching for answers for your Fibromyalgia misery… this could be the most important article you’ve ever read.  

All diseases and symptoms have causes—whether they are known or not… whether the medical establishment accepts them or not, or admits their existence. Droves of unfortunate souls have been disastrously doomed with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia… when the tick-spread bacterial infection known as Lyme disease was lurking silently below the surface—the cause of their grisly torment. 

If all your medical tests have been normal—and you were told it's fibromyalgia... Lyme disease MUST be seriously reconsidered. Perhaps you think Lyme was long ruled out with blood tests. Unfortunately the medically accepted standard Lyme blood tests are extremely faulty, controversial, and often ill-fated. In the end, diagnosis of Lyme or fibromyalgia is largely a matter of opinion, which may be based on only a minuscule fragment of actual medical evidence. It is actually ILLEGAL in Virginia for a doctor to tell a patient that Lyme disease has been ruled out exclusively by blood tests!   

No actual laboratory test or measurable medical finding exists for Fibromyalgia. 

And unless you remember being bitten by a tick, and saw a red circular rash develop around the site of the bite… you may never be able to get a 100% accurate diagnosis of Lyme.   Without this vital evidence, many people are given up on—the true cause of their condition never medically investigated… the cookie-cutter diagnosis of fibromyalgia the result.     

Of course the wrong diagnosis results in the wrong treatment!  

Drugs such as Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Savella have been rampantly prescribed to treat fibromyalgia symptoms—without a shred of evidence (or apparent concern) of their CAUSES. Our medical establishment has clearly demonstrated that this is an acceptable treatment approach.   

Do you think it is?  

Do you think indefinitely taking prescription drugs to mask the symptoms plaguing you is a logical way to restore your health? If your “fibromyalgia” is indeed the consequence of infectious disease transmitted by a tick bite… how could the fibromyalgia medicine you’re taking be appropriate treatment? In my practice, I routinely encounter patients who tell me that long ago, their doctor “ruled out Lyme” with blood tests.   Even more people tell me Lyme was never mentioned or even considered! Could it be that it is simply more convenient (and financially beneficial) to diagnose fibromyalgia than chronic Lyme disease?  Lyme is extremely problematic to medical professionals—to such a high degree that many simply do not acknowledge its existence altogether! Search the Internet for symptoms of fibromyalgia. Do the same for Lyme disease.   

Go ahead… do it.  

You’ll be shocked to discover that the symptoms are stunningly similar… dare I say identical? I dare.  

Now search with the terms, "fibromyalgia and Lyme disease" and see what comes up!

But it seems the majority of doctors don’t “believe in” chronic Lyme disease.  Once upon a time, the diagnosis of fibromyalgia wasn’t medically accepted either.  Many doctors still think it’s a sham.  They tell you, you’re a hypochondriac or that “It’s all in your head!”  The irony is that some of these doctors are unwittingly semi-correct.  

According to Dr. Paul Fink, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, Lyme disease can contribute to EVERY psychiatric disorder in the “Diagnostic Symptoms Manual IV.”   

So if your family doctor or rheumatologist has pawned you off to the psychiatrist as a nut case, maybe you should ask if they’ve read about Lyme in their medical journals:  

A study published in 2002 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, revealed that 33% of the psychiatric patients had signs of Lyme infection!  

Nevertheless, the prescriptions for fibromyalgia drugs keep flowing.  The acceptance of fibromyalgia as a legitimate medical condition seems to have catapulted a progressively growing, multi-billion dollar niche within the pharmaceutical industry. The same cannot be said for chronic Lyme disease. The mere thought of it is a medical nuisance. It seems like it’s just plain easier for doctors to put on blinders to Lyme. Unlike for fibromyalgia, there are no FDA-approved prescription drugs to treat its symptoms. There are no designer drugs to kill the various microbes that can invade your brain, rob you of your memory, and detonate destructive neurological consequences. The only “approved” treatment offered by traditional Western medicine is a few weeks of oral antibiotics.     

That’s it… case closed… done deal.   

Unfortunately this approach was intended for acute infections, immediately following an observed tick bite with the sometimes appearing characteristic bull’s eye rash (or the somewhat rare positive blood test).  But what about the severe neurological, joint, and muscular consequences of a progressive chronic infection?  One of the failures of the traditional Western medical system is the misguided notion that chronic illness can be treated in the same fashion as acute.   

The chronic effects triggered by tick-borne infection are extremely complex; they do not respond well to medication. There are very few doctors who are capable of helping people who have it. Prior to seeking treatment from me, some desperate Lyme victims have turned to a small handful of physicians who have appointed themselves “Lyme Literate Medical Doctors.” They are willing to make the diagnosis of Lyme, rather than fibromyalgia. 

Unfortunately, their treatment approach consisted of long-term, high-dosage antibiotic therapy for months or even years! Medical scientists have warned that this approach, while it may bring relief to some; is dangerous, and suppresses immune system function (the opposite of what your body needs to truly get well). Several of these doctors have lost their licenses for such over-prescription of antibiotics and other drugs in treating chronic Lyme.  

Perhaps pharmaceutically-minded physicians may not have the vision to consider treatment methods beyond antibiotics. My suspicion is that this pharmaceutical approach is the only thing that makes sense to them. Nevertheless, I do feel they deserve credit for being savvy enough to acknowledge chronic Lyme… rather than joining the fibromyalgia-pushing majority.      

Can you see why it would simply be easier for the average physician to go the fibromyalgia route? With good reasons, very few physicians are willing to risk their licenses by prescribing such. In addition, the complex condition of Lyme/Fibromyalgia is much more than a mere bacterial infection. It has implications for the brain and entire nervous system, immune system, joints, digestive system, and many other areas the entire body.  

"What about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?" Maybe you’ve been told somewhere along the line that you had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This was once a very popular diagnosis, for the symptoms likely triggered by the Epstein Barr virus, which is associated with infectious mononucleosis (“mono”).  But there’s no prescription medication for something caused by a virus.  (For more, read my article about chronic fatigue)  

Could it be that fibromyalgia was a convenient (and highly profitable) replacement diagnosis for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? It is my experience that chronic Epstein Barr virus infection is quite common for people with chronic Lyme disease AND fibromyalgia. The Centers for Disease Control say Epstein Barr is incredibly common period! In addition, bacteria called Mycoplasma are commonly associated with this virus, as a nasty one-two punch. 

Dr. Sam Donta has served as consultant to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Director of the Lyme Disease Unit at Boston Medical Center and a Professor of Medicine at BU Medical School. He too, has noted that chronic Lyme, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Fibromyalgia have very similar symptom patterns. As a bacteriologist, he views fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue from an infectious disease viewpoint. The notion of a SINGLE cause for fibromyalgia/Lyme and many other diseases or syndromes is pitifully simplistic. The human body is complex, and so is illness. Diagnostic tests for Lyme and other infectious diseases have been historically flawed and inconsistent. People have a wide variety of symptoms that can be triggered or complicated by several causes. Diagnosis and treatment is not remotely as easy and accurate as it appears on television!    

So the beat goes on… more fibromyalgia diagnosis, and indefinite pharmaceutical management—with little investigation into chronic Lyme (and even less awareness of effective drug-free treatments).  The mantra is fibromyalgia has no cure… but it can be managed with prescription drugs.   

With all the science and technology available in the world… is this really the best advice doctors can come up with?  This is precisely why a total-body wellness approach is necessary. My wife, Sheila suffered from the chronic effects Lyme disease. My daughter and I had Lyme too. My research led me to find an extraordinarily effective, drug-free approach to recovery from chronic Lyme/fibromyalgia. A body-strengthening, wellness support approach, rather than a disease treating approach was the answer. The Liebell Clinic's approach is called bio-energetic wellness support. You can Click HERE to read about it in a separate article.