Holistic Medicine to Patients of Fibromyalgia

—Complicated Pain and Inner Problem—

Abstract

Though pain is experienced by everyone, it is not well understood because pain is the most unpleasant feeling for all living creatures. It is not something that is to be sympathized with or shared with others. Thus, there is a lack of understanding about pain because pain is something that nobody desires. It is a natural instinct for all living creatures to fear pain and not want to know about it. However, to explore the reason for the existence of complex pain, it is necessary to elucidate and comprehend each of the mysteries concerning the background of patients with fibromyalgia. If this is not explained, patients will feel as if their complaints are difficult to understand and place a burden on the physician, especially when they hear responses such as ‘This clinic cannot handle your case’, ‘Go to a specialist’, or ‘This is an incurable disease’. It is indeed difficult to understand such complicated cases. However, there are always clues within the words of the patients, because, even when they are confused, patients always express what they intend to communicate. Patients who desperately desire to be understood, but are sometimes unable to express their feelings well, especially when they are overloaded with ‘excessive explanations’, think that their efforts to explain their situation are failing. Patients grow tired of explanations, and it is impossible for the therapist to offer them any treatment. In contrast, some patients remain quiet. In their social life, patients are forced to come to terms with their pain through the processes of ‘normalization’, ‘pacing’, ‘perseverance’, and ‘reshaping of the body’. Moreover, the author’s opines that ‘reshaping of perception and awareness’ may also occur in such patients. However, this makes their disease difficult to understand, even for the person offering treatment. Thus, they become ‘silent patients’. Although it is certainly difficult to instantly cure fibromyalgia, I believe that when any patient understands the background of the pain and obtains a sense of improvement in his condition through the amelioration of each cause, it is possible for the patient to continue treatment and not lose hope. It is reassuring for patients that such attempts have begun. Here, I will introduce some case studies of patients who reported complex pain and other concerns. I hope to work together to attempt to solve such cases.