Traditional Medicine Fails Those With Fibromyalgia The American College of Rheumatology reports that drugs used to treat fibromyalgia are no better than a sugar pill (worthless) within 3 months. And surveys show that fibromyalgia patients are no better (symptoms the same or worse) after 15 years of taking doctor recommended prescription drug therapies.
If you suffer with fibromyalgia you already know drug therapy alone is a dead end, doomed for to go know where. You’ve probably gone from one doctor to the next, taken drug after drug and still you don’t feel any better. Or if you do, it’s fleeting, the symptoms return and now you’re another life draining drug. The drugs used to treat fibromyalgia have side effects that are often worse than the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Doctors don’t tell you this- they should.
Ambien and Lunesta may cause short-term memory loss, brain fog (can’t think straight), poor memory, anxiety, depression, flu-like pain, fatigue, poor immune function (susceptible to more infections), headaches, and more.
The tricyclic antidepressant drugs, often recommended for poor sleep, Trazadone, Elavil, Doxepin, Despramine, Imipramine, Pamelor, and Nortriptyline may cause next day hang over, weight gain, muscle pains, and fatigue. They deplete the natural sleep drug melatonin, thus creating a dependence on them for sleep. Unfortunately they tend to lose their effectiveness after a period of time.
These drugs deplete the all-important enzyme known as CoQ10. CoQ10 is responsible for 95% of the body’s energy. Symptoms of low CoQ10 include fatigue, muscle aches, poor memory, brain fog, tingling in the hands and feet, anxiety, depression, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and headaches.
Benzodiazepine drugs- Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Restoril, Busbar, Tranxene, Serax, Librium, Tegretol, Valium, Trileptal, Seraquel, Risperdal, and Symbax are usually used as anti-anxiety medication. They’re addictive, and patients build up a tolerance so that the drug eventually loses it effectiveness as a sleep aid.
Benzodiazepines have numerous side effects, including poor sleep, seizures, mania, depression, suicide, ringing in the ears, amnesia, dizziness, anxiety, disorientation, low blood pressure, nausea, fluid retention, sexual dysfunction (decreased desire and performance), weakness, somnolence (prolonged drowsiness or a trance-like condition that may continue for a number of days), headaches and tardive dyskinesia (tremors or shakes). Why would anyone want to take this stuff? There is a better way to treat (and beat) the symptoms of fibromyalgia. You don’t have to take dangerous life draining drugs that mask the symptoms yet slowly take away your soul.
Gabitril (tiagabine) Lyrica, and Neurontin (gabapentin) are anticonvulsant medications originally used to control seizures. They are now being used to block nerve-related pain (neuralgia) including pain caused by herpes zoster. These medications are also being prescribed for chronic headaches (with some success) and fibromyalgia (little success).
Side Effects: There are several side effects associated with their use, including somnolence (prolonged drowsiness or a trance-like condition that may continue for a number of days), dizziness, weakness, fatigue, double vision, edema (fluid retention), ataxia (muscular in-coordination), thought disorder (suicidal or inappropriate thoughts), possible long-term ophthalmic problems (abnormal eyeball movements and disorders), tremors (uncontrollable tics or muscle twitches), weight gain, back pain, constipation, muscle aches, memory loss, asthenia (all over weakness), depression, abnormal thinking, itching, involuntary muscle twitching, serious rash, and runny nose. This stuff is poison.
Don’t these side effects sound like the very same symptoms associated with fibromyalgia and CFS?
And each drug (to cover up yet another side-effect from another drug) adds another life draining, potentially disabling side effect; hundreds of thousands of patients taking benzodiazepines (Ativan, Klonopin, Xanax, etc.) go on to develop drug induced Parkinson’s Disease.
The side effects to legally prescribed drugs (as recommended by doctors) kills one person every 5 minutes.
The FDA estimates that 27,000 people died from the common pain drug Vioxx (now off the market). Death from prescription drugs is now the number 3 cause of death in the U.S. Only heart attacks and cancer take more lives each year. Could The Drug Be The Problem? Taking Ativan for sleep or anxiety (over time) caused a CoQ10 deficiency which then causes chronic muscle pain, tingling in the hands and feet, fatigue, high blood pressure, and depression. So the patient was then prescribed a drug for the leg pain (muscle relaxant), an amphetamine for fatigue (Ritalin, Concerta, etc.), an antidepressant, and Neurotin or Lyrica for the tingling in the hands and feet. The Ritalin caused high blood pressure so a beta-blocker was prescribed. Inderal (propanol), Lorpressor (metoprlol), Tenormin (atenolol), and Toprol (metoprolol) have side effects that include congestive heart failure (CHF), reduced cardiac output, fatigue, heart block, dizziness, depression, bradycardia (decreased heart beat and function), cold extremities, parathesia (a feeling of -pins and needles-), dyspnea (shortness of breath), drowsiness, lethargy, insomnia, headaches, poor memory, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, colitis, wheezing, bronchospasm, Raynaud’s Syndrome (burning, tingling, pain, numbness, or poor circulation in the hands and feet), claudication, hyperkalemia (muscle cramps), muscle fatigue, lowered libido, impotence, postural hypotension, raised triglycerides, lowered HDL, raised LDL, and hyperglycemia.
Fortunately for those with fibromyalgia who want to get off the drug merry-go-round, there are several safe, effective, tried and true natural therapies that do reverse the symptoms of fibromyalgia. For more information on how you can beat fibromyalgia naturally please see this free informative essay- http://www.TreatingandBeating.com/currentdefs.html
About Dr. Murphree
Dr. Murphree is a board certified nutritional specialist and chiropractic physician who has been in private practice since 1990. He is the founder and past clinic director for a large integrated medical practice located on the campus of Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham Alabama. The clinic was staffed with medical doctors, chiropractors, acupuncturists, nutritionists, and massage therapists. The clinic combined prescription and natural medicines for acute and chronic illnesses. He is the author of 5 books for patients and doctors, including “Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” “”Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You’- and “Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression with Orthomolecular Medicine.”
In 2002 Dr. Murphree sold his medical practice and now maintains a busy solo practice specializing in fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, heart disease, mood disorders, and other chronic illnesses. He can be reached toll free 1-888-884-9577 or at 205-879-2383 His website is at www.treatingandbeating.com