Medicinal Plants, Roots, and Fungi to Treat Fibromyalgia

We are aware that medicinal plants will not cure fibromyalgia, but we are sure that they can treat it. The medicinal plants relief provide about the different symptoms related to the condition of fibromyalgia, medicinal plants do not pose an immediate action on the suffering of fibromyalgia, however these plants taken with certain regime and care, through the days of consumption They will have an effect to reduce certain pain and suffering. The fact that minute amounts of these drugs can produce such potent effects has sparked much interest in using them to understand how the brain works. We now know that these drugs and serotonin all have a tryptamine structure and that the compounds attach to serotonin receptors – particularly the 5HT-2A receptor. In fact, psilocybin attaches more effectively to the body’s 5HT-2A receptor than serotonin does.

We also know psychedelics affect the serotonergic neurons that impact parts of the brain that are involved in pain perception. Some believe that next-generation serotonergic drugs will be helpful in pain disorders like FM where the descending serotonergic inhibitory pain pathways are not working well.

In “Chronic pain and psychedelics: a review and proposed mechanism of action“, Joel Castellanos, a Scripps anesthesiologist, explained how psychedelics might be able to bring relief to pain sufferers, as well. One idea is that small doses of psilocybin might function as potent anti-inflammatories for the brain.

It’s a possible increase in neural plasticity, though, that psilocybin and similar drugs may bring which gets the most attention. Studies that characterize the transition from acute to chronic pain suggest that as neural plasticity declines some brain pathways kind of get stuck in a pain mode. Studies have found, for instance, altered activity in pain-associated networks involving the insula and anterior cingulate cortex in both fibromyalgia and ME/CFS.

The default mode network keeps a clamp on the brain’s activities. Drugs like psilocybin temporarily release that clamp allowing new connections to be made.

The default mode network (DMN) in the brain, though, may be the key. Several studies have suggested that something has gone wrong with the DMN in ME/CFS and fibromyalgia.

Studies have revealed that psychedelics temporarily break the hold the DMN has on the brain. The rumination center of the brain, the DMN lights up when our attention wanes. It also orchestrates and organizes brain functioning, and, perhaps most importantly for people with FM and ME/CFS or any difficult chronic disease, the DMN uses our past experiences to chart out our futures.

The ability of psychedelics to release the hold the DMN has on the brain may be what allows for the extraordinary experience that can occur. At the same time these drugs are reducing blood flows to the DMN they’re increasing blood flows to other regions of the brain. Meditation, interestingly, produces a similar reduction in DMN activity.

Because psychedelics have the potential to, as one researcher rather colorfully put it, ‘disintegrate’ existing brain networks and then open up new, more productive ones, they may be able to help get chronic pain patients’ brains out of their pain ruts. Another researcher proposed that psychedelics may provide the opportunity for brain network “resetting” and another suggested they may be able “lubricate cognition” in ways that enhance well-being.

Psychedelics, then, might be one way of increasing neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity’s core thesis is that neurons that wire together fire together. The more pain neurons fire together, the stronger the connections they produce, and the more pain a person experiences. The process can be visualized as a river carving out deeper and deeper channels that take up more and more of the brain’s resources which become harder and harder to alter over time.

Not only does that process cause one’s pain to intensify, but it can cause pain to spread. Arthritis patients who later come down with fibromyalgia may be suffering from an amplification of their pain-producing brain networks.

What is fibromyalgia?

The Fibromyalgia is a syndrome mainly affecting the locomotor system and involves severe pain in both joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons, especially the joints of the arms, legs and neck, but has many secondary manifestations that may affect other body systems or devices.

It does not produce bone or muscle degeneration, but it prevents having an adequate quality of life and often leads to depressive problems if not treated well.

Fibromyalgia symptoms:

They can be very varied and affect both the bones and other parts of the body:

• Muscle pain.

• Fatigue.

• Inability to fall asleep.

• Concentration problems.

• Feeling of not having slept well in the morning.

• Pain in the head.

• Pain in the neck or jaw.

• Respiration problems.

• Digestive problems with periods of constipation that alternate with other periods of severe diarrhea.

• Skin problems with the appearance of spots or itching.

• Feeling of poor circulation.

• Hypersensitivity to light.

• Pains on penetration.

• Constant urge to urinate, etc.

The fact that many of these symptoms can appear in fibromyalgia does not imply that we should assume that the appearance of several of them implies that we necessarily have this syndrome. It is a disease that is very difficult to diagnose because many of its symptoms may be due to other conditions. A visit to the specialist is necessary to make a proper diagnosis.

The main function of medicinal plants to treat symptoms of fibromyalgia:

• Relax tension.

• Ease the pain.

• Purify the body.

• Promote sleep.

How to treat fibromyalgia with medicinal plants?

Willow:

The white willow has been used to fight fever and pain for thousands of years. Willow bark may be the oldest herb known for treating pain and inflammation. Herbalists use white willow much like aspirin to reduce fever, pain, and inflammation in conditions like painful periods, arthritis, and neuralgia. Boil 2 gr. of dried bark per glass of water. Take two or three cups a day. Do not take in case of allergy to aspirin. Prolonged use can cause stomach irritation. This is an excellent herb for treating fibromyalgia.

St. John’s Wort:

It is a good remedy to combat body pain, especially those caused by rheumatic conditions, gout, arthritis, sciatica, low back pain. The herb extract is often very helpful in fibromyalgia due to its ability to relieve depression and improve sleep quality. Phototoxic plant. Consult contraindications.

Linden:

Very useful to eliminate headaches that have an emotional origin. Take 3 cups a day.

Valerian.

Eliminates the state of anxiety and promotes sleep, which gives the body the ability to recover and this is essential to treat fibromyalgia.

Flower of the Passion:

Passionflower infusions or tinctures are suitable to avoid involuntary spasms produced by a nervous system under stress, accentuating pain such as fibromyalgia.