A Case Of Fibromyalgia Treated Successfully With The Bowen Technique

Fibromyalgia ….. I could hardly comprehend the affect that would have on my future as the rheumatologist gave his diagnosis. To me this was a life sentence. I had been diagnosed with polymyalgia only 6 months earlier and had been on high doses of prednisone and painkillers to combat the stiffness and pain that I had constantly experienced for more than a year.

For the past 5 years at least, I had experienced various “injuries” and constant pain, all over my body – feet, knees, hips, back, wrists, elbows shoulders and neck. I had given up wilderness canoe tripping and snowmobiling, activities I loved to participate in with my family and instead, had been visiting the physio therapist on and off during this time, receiving treatments with ultra sound, the TENS machine and even acupuncture. I had been given other therapies and exercises as well but after a few months the symptoms would return. It was like trying to put out little fires as almost every other month I would return with yet another ‘injury’ or complaint.

At the time of the polymyalgia diagnosis, I was a physical mess. I was in constant pain, aching all over I awoke stiff every morning and had very little sleep during the night and all the stresses of feeling bad and ‘being tired of being tired and in pain’, were beginning to affect me emotionally. The high dosage of prednisone and my body’s positive response to it, had confirmed the polymyalgia diagnosis but the positive affect it had to relieve the symptoms lasted only a few weeks and the side affects from the steroid began to take its toll on my body as well. I gained weight, my blood pressure went up and I developed diabetes. Of course, each side affect required a new medication of its own and we were soon treating the cures with more and more medication. As soon as the attempt to decrease the dosage of prednisone was started, all the symptoms of polymyalgia returned with a vengeance. The only consolation I had was that this disease would ‘burn itself out’ over a number of years. I had decided to work only part time but that lasted only a short time when one afternoon my right lower back went into spasm. I was unable to walk or hardly breathe. Talking was difficult as well. My husband took me to the hospital and there I remained for 4 days, on morphine and muscle relaxants. When I left the hospital, my lower back still ached and the knot left in my back felt as if it were just about to go into spasm again at any wrong movement. This went on for another 4 months until I could no longer work at all. I returned to the rheumatologist who then confirmed that I had also developed fibromyalgia – meaning more medication to help me sleep and yet another muscle relaxant.

It was in this condition - fatigued, having difficulties carrying on a conversation, painful walking, stiff and in constant pain, and taking more medications than I cared to list, that a friend recommended that I see Dr. Bolliger for her treatments. The Bowen Treatment was something I had never heard of before let alone understand, but in my condition, I was willing to try anything. I desperately wanted my old life back. I was only 51 and didn’t want to spend the next 20 years or more, in this condition. The challenge for me was that Dr. Bolliger’s office was a 2 hour drive from where we lived, but if the treatments worked, it would be worth the long drive. I had no idea what I was in for as I walked into her office and she directed me to lay down on the bed on my stomach, with my arms to my side. The very gentle movements she made on the muscles in my back seemed so insignificant that I left her office very sceptical. I can’t say that I experienced any improvement after my first visit but I had committed myself to 3 visits so I returned a week later. My husband dropped me off and waited in the car. I literally hobbled like a little old lady, into her office that day, feeling wretched - my lower back aching, the knot in my back was so very tight and the bottoms of my feet were aching and burning. When I left her office that day, I left with tears in my eyes. My feet didn’t hurt any longer! I hadn’t been able to do our grocery shopping for 4 months because my feet and back hurt so badly but that day we stopped off at the nearest mall and wandered around doing Christmas shopping for over an hour. That was just the beginning of the journey of healing for me. After the next visit, I began to get some relief from the lower back pain, pain in my knees, elbow and finally that knot in my back that had plagued me for so long. I was finally getting better sleep at night and I was able to reduce the prednisone with no return of the polymyalgia symptoms. I no longer required painkillers and by the 5th treatment, I could say that I was returning to my old self. Pain was no longer part of my life and I had more energy than I’d had for a long time. Dr. Bolliger recommended a diet that would help detoxify my system. This diet also helped me to begin to shed the weight that I had gained while on the prednisone and also aided in getting my blood sugars under control. By the time my 7th treatment had taken place, I had experienced 4 weeks of the best health I’d had in over a year.

I am returning to my job of teaching, after being off work for almost 5 months. I am returning with none of the symptoms of fibromyalgia or polymyalgia. I continue to decrease the prednisone gradually as well as other medications that I had once taken to relax muscles, and reduce inflammation.

Although I went into Dr. Bolliger’s office 2 months ago, a sceptic, and not understanding at all what I was embarking upon, today I am able to say that polymyalgia, the short term disease and fibromyalgia, the life sentence are no longer a part of my life. Thanks to the gentle hands of Dr. Bolliger as she treated my symptoms and her quiet and confident explanation of what she was doing and how it should help me, I am able to confidently say that the Bowen Treatment has proven itself a complete success for me.

By Donna Woods

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