Fibromyalgia is a disease characterized by chronic diffuse or widespread pain that predominates in the muscles, tendons, serous sacs and spine, which lasts more than three months and generates high levels of fatigue and sleep disturbances (unrefreshing sleep). It can also be associated with other diseases of the locomotor system, such as rheumatoid arthritis, disseminated lupus erythematosus, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, etc. Fibromyalgia is not degenerative and in the long term does not produce any organic damage, although remission or cure is rare.
Symptoms of fibromyalgia
In addition to generalized pain, fatigue and sleep disturbances, there may be different symptoms such as headaches, tingling in the extremities, anxiety, dry eyes and mouth (dry syndrome), digestive disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea alternating with periods of constipation, varying degrees of depressive states, painful periods, jaw pain, discomfort when swallowing, difficulty concentrating and memory loss, among others.
Causes of fibromyalgia
The exact cause is not known, although it is considered to be a multifactorial disease with genetic, environmental, etc. factors that, together at a given moment, produce the disease.
The theoretical causes most accepted by specialists in Rheumatology are:
– Alterations of the autonomic nervous system that regulates pain and its processing.
– A series of alterations of neurotransmitters such as substance P (a pain neuromodulator) in the cerebrospinal fluid. This increase is associated with sleep disturbances and correlates with low levels of tryptophan, a neurotransmitter precursor of serotonin.
– Genetic factors predisposing to the disease.
– Sleep disorders, since this is when there is an increase in certain substances involved in pain regulation.
– Microtraumas to muscles and tendons when they perform their daily function, which can cause an increase in pain sensitivity due to changes in the nervous system.
Patients who may suffer from fibromyalgia
The prevalence of fibromyalgia in Spain is 2.7%, occupying second place after osteoarthritis in rheumatic diseases. It is more frequent in women (4.2%) than in men (0.2%), i.e. 8-9 women for every man. The predominant age is between 40 and 49 years. Although it is not common, cases of fibromyalgia have also been described in children.
Treatment of fibromyalgia with ozone therapy
The treatment of fibromyalgia should always be multidisciplinary, along with a series of actions to be nuanced in each case.
On the one hand we have subcutaneous ozone therapy, which is the application of a mixture of ozone with oxygen at a preset concentration in the paraverbal musculature, using a very fine needle, with a subsequent massage, to diffuse the gas. And, on the other hand, endovenous ozone therapy, which is used in cases of fibromyalgia in which fatigue predominates. The technique is the extraction of about 250 cc of venous blood, as is done to perform an analysis, which goes to a container with a closed circuit to which, subsequently, ozone and oxygen are added, which is mixed with the blood, and reintroduced into the patient by the same route.
Subcutaneous ozone therapy acts on the muscles that are contracted and sore, oxygenating to reduce contracture and pain. They also have a more general effect on the whole body, by the action of the massage. Intravenous ozone therapy has a series of properties such as increasing the flexibility of the blood, increasing oxygenation, stimulating immunity itself, etc., which reduces fatigue and has beneficial effects on sleep, also improving the painful symptomatology.
As an adjuvant treatment to the rest of therapeutic alternatives, ozone therapy has proven to be very useful. Long-term comparative statistics confirm a better evolution and better quality of life in those patients who, in addition to pharmacological, psychological, physiotherapeutic treatments, etc., received the ozone treatments annually.