Atlanta Georgia Fibromyalgia Treatment
The staff of Pain Relief Clinic, MD has been dedicated to the alleviation of pain in the Atlanta area for over 25 years. We strive to make available the latest technology for pain management, yet maintain a patient-centered approach based on healing relationships responsive to individual patient needs and values.
Pain Relief Clinic, MD appreciates that until now there has been no effective medical treatment for fibromyalgia. Medications are prescribed for the symptoms associated with fibromyalgia. They are nonspecific and of limited help. Some are addicting and further complicate the underlying condition. Some have down right dangerous side effects!
Patients are unsatisfied with the current treatments and most have consulted a number of specialists and tried numerous therapies. The popular literature abounds with new breakthroughs, discoveries and protocols for fibromyalgia: nutritional supplements, guafenasin, herbs, acupuncture, group therapy, cognitive therapy, exercise, chiropractic, educational courses -just to name some of the alternative approaches, have all been equally disappointing. Studies show that individually and in combination these forms of therapy reduce the symptoms of fibromyalgia no better than placebos.
Patients are frustrated by the fact that those without fibromyalgia are unable to appreciate the debilitating nature of the illness. “They don’t understand how much I hurt.” “They think it’s all in my head.” “I just don’t have the energy.” It seems that fibromyalgia is just something you have to learn to live with.
Electroceutical stimulation therapy has been used in the United States for 35 years to relieve pain and to hasten healing. We have incorporated the latest computer-driven electroceutical medicine systems into pain management plans, significantly accelerating recovery and decreasing pain without the use of needles and, in many cases, with reduced need for oral medications. When we initially applied electroceutical stimulation to a patient with fibromyalgia, we were very skeptical, expecting limited benefit; however, the response was incredible. We thought it was a fluke. Pain decreased, energy levels improved, tenderness lessened and the duration and quality of sleep improved. These results were repeated again and again. Since then we have developed, and continue to develop more effective treatment programs and protocols. In general, we have found 12 treatments over 6 weeks to significantly reduce or eliminate the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Most patients feel better during the first treatment. With subsequent treatments, the amount of relief and the duration of relief increase progressively. By the third treatment, it is blatantly obvious to the patient that there is significant and prolonged improvement. Having any experience at all with the fibromyalgia syndrome, it seems impossible that over 80% of the fibromyalgia patients should respond to our electroceutical wave therapy treatment protocols. Treatment after the sixth week is on an as needed schedule. Maintenance therapy has not been found to be routinely necessary.
The initial evaluation is felt to be important not only to obtain a thorough history and perform a physical examination, but also to establish a basis for understanding of the fibromyalgia syndrome, the past and present treatments, the use of medications, effects of electroceutical medical therapy and treatment goals. We are very interested in what the patient has to say. It is this first-hand description of the disease and its individual manifestations that has provided the foundations of our understanding and appreciation of fibromyalgia. It is the patient’s feedback that determines our course of treatment, and it is the patient’s satisfaction that provides our referrals.
We do not routinely discontinue medications previously prescribed to patients for treatment of fibromyalgia. Although our goal is to eliminate all medications, we discontinue medications when they are no longer necessary. We prescribe medications when appropriate, but always with the intention that these are for a circumscribed period of time. Our patients consistently express the desire to be rid of the need for medications and we certainly make every attempt to accomplish this.
The success that we have achieved with computer-driven electroceutical medical therapy for the treatment of fibromyalgia has resulted in the development of the Pain Relief Clinic, MD, a unique part of our pain management center. It is our privilege to offer effective treatment for a condition heretofore untreatable.
