Chronic conditions demand consideration of multiple factors contributing to a person’s state of health and the challenges faced to reclaim it. Beyond presenting symptoms, the complexity of co-morbidities, diet, lifestyle, mental, social, and emotional status together inform the naturopathic goal: To treat the person as a whole.
By combining therapeutic interventions with traditional principles, we aim to restore good health by treating the cause.
A core consideration of the naturopathic approach is the gut, long appreciated as a critical driver of health, and disease.
Fibromyalgia is a leading cause of chronic pain, yet it remains idiopathic. While many theories exist as to contributing factors, without biological markers or definitive pathophysiology, clinical approaches (allopathic and naturopathic) tend to focus on alleviating symptoms. This is often reductionist in manner, without consideration of the interconnectedness of multiple body systems.
A mounting body of research supports the tenet that many disorders, affecting numerous body systems are, or may be, linked to the dynamics of the gastrointestinal tract and all that resides within it.
The research question in the FIDGIT Study sought to embrace holism, yet took a gut-centric approach. This was informed by current knowledge, recent scientific discoveries and observations from practice.
The findings provide real-world insights into the complexity of fibromyalgia, and the gut connection, from a cohort of over one hundred New Zealand women living with the condition.