New therapy for fibromyalgia sufferers

New findings increase the chances of effective treatment for fibromyalgia

09/04/2013

Fibromyalgia often leads to agonizing years of pain and frustration. Even though sufferers - most of them women - usually can pinpoint their pain points in muscles, tendons, joints, arms or legs, the disease has so far been detected neither by medical examinations nor by laboratory tests. Many dismissed them as imagination. For the first time, a research team found an organic explanation for chronic pain, often associated with lead body fatigue, sleep disorders and depression. After that, the cause lies in damage to the small nerve fibers. For fibromyalgia patients, this new finding has a similar bright spot to the well-known positive effects of alternative therapies such as radon and heat.

„The result of the examination finally gives physicians a measurable criterion for an objective diagnosis“, commented Univ.-Doz. Dr. Bertram Hölzl, radon expert and medical director of the Gasteiner Heilstollen. „In addition, hopefully it will now save the doctor-to-physician odyssey, which used to be common in the past, as well as the grueling sense of not being taken seriously.“ Last but not least, this opens up new starting points for the research of useful therapies. Until now, fibromyalgia is considered incurable and medication only very conditionally and in the short term improvement. Significant pain relief over many months, however, causes a so-called radon heat therapy. Many patients no longer need pills after a two-week course of treatment and feel noticeably fitter. Studies have also shown that the natural healing factors of radon therapy have a positive effect on the need for medication and fatigue in fibromyalgia. „A lesser amount of medication is a double benefit, especially against the background of severe side effects“, emphasizes hölzl.

As a result, more and more sufferers regularly undergo radon heating therapy 1-2 times a year and have the effective combination of radon, heat and high humidity act on their bodies. Radon has been shown to affect painkiller activity and endorphin production - both factors relevant to pain. High temperatures and humidity even increase these positive effects, because the body core temperature increases under these conditions. „Most fibromyalgia patients rate the results of radon heat therapy as good“, knows Dr. Hölzl from the accompanying scientific studies. Every year around 14,000 patients with a wide variety of diseases - including rheumatism, osteoporosis, asthma and atopic dermatitis - rely on the therapeutically effective climate. Health insurance companies usually pay 90 percent of the therapy costs. (Pm)