Neurofeedback Therapy For Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are notorious for destroying lives, but not in the way that some might think. True, the symptoms alone can push even the strongest person to the brink of despair, but what many sufferers find to be the most difficult part to deal with is the doubt and skepticism, even by their healthcare providers, that anything is wrong.

If you have fibromyalgia, you well know the agony of waking up each day with your muscles painfully tight and knotted after yet another night of never having dipped into the stages of sleep where healing takes place.

Chronic fatigue sufferers don't fare much better, often waking up too exhausted to even consider doing anything other than what is absolutely essential for survival, only to have a doctor say it's all in your head.

The muscular pain of fibromyalgia is often so severe that only powerful drugs like vicodin and morphine can bring any relief. The sad paradox is that the dosage required to reduce your pain to a level where you can function normally and remain employed can render you just as unfit for everyday tasks like driving or operating equipment at work.

Neurofeedback, on the other hand, has been a godsend for many with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. In one recent study, seven out of every ten people who were treated with neurofeedback in conjunction with EMG and myofascial/cranioscral therapy experienced total remission of their symptoms.

Many patients who are diagnosed with fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue have a history of some kind of head injury. When the brain has been injured, one of the many challenges that will often surface is that of transitioning smoothly from one brain wave frequency to the next.

A brain that is "stuck" in a frequency associated with fear and stress, for example, will eventually exhaust an otherwise healthy body to the point of being susceptible to a whole host of other problems. Both fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue can spiral downward, seemingly out of control without the proper treatment and intervention.

Neurofeedback therapy can end this spiral by training your brain to function differently.

How Does Neurofeedback Therapy Work?

While you relax, your therapist will attach very thin leads that transmit electrical energy from your brain into an EEG device. A special gel is used to comfortably hold the leads in place. You will then use brain waves to alter what is happening to a visual display on a computer screen. You will use your brain waves to play a "Pac-Man" game, for example, or to play a DVD. Your brain perceives these activities as a reward, and with this positive reinforcement, will increasingly choose to use the desired waves, until eventually the changes in brain function become permanent. Neurofeedback treatment is noninvasive, comfortable, and considered by many patients to be quite relaxing.

Hope may be on the horizon for sufferers of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, because neurofeedback therapy appears to be more promising than many other treatments currently available for these conditions.