Experience Lasting Relief From Fibromyalgia Pain

How did pop diva Lady Gaga deal with Fibromyalgia pain?

I honestly thought fibromyalgia would kill me… until I finally came across a lasting solution.

It all started during a period of mild stress.

I was assigned this massive project at work.

Sure, it was difficult at times, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. I’ve practically spent my whole career in corporate tax, after all.

I’ve worked long and hard for an opportunity like this, and I wasn’t about to squander it.

About a couple weeks into the project, just when things were really picking up, I noticed a subtle ache in my upper right arm.

It was the kind of pain that you knew was there, but didn’t really bother you much. Probably a 3 out of 10 on the scale, max.

I figured I might’ve just tweaked it during a workout somehow, so I didn’t think much of it.

A week went by, and that ache had radiated to my right shoulder. I even skipped going to the gym to play it safe.

It was odd, but I wasn’t too worried.

“It’s nothing. Maybe I just need a good massage.”

Famous last words, as they say.

Spoiler alert: it was fibromyalgia.

Over the next eight months, the pain became more intense and widespread.

On bad days, my arms and shoulders felt like they had bruises all over, my hands could barely grip onto anything (if I could feel them at all), and I needed a cane just to get around.

On worse days, my entire body just felt sore and tired. Yet, try as I might, I couldn’t get any kind of meaningful sleep.

And on the absolute worst days, the fibro-fog is so thick I couldn’t even read a clock.

There were still some good days, though. On those days, I could do the things I loved. Sadly, they were few and far between.

Needless to say, I had to drop the project and leave my job.

I’ve worked long and hard for an opportunity like that, and I squandered it.

Don’t get me wrong, I fought tooth and nail.

I visited doctor after doctor and went through test after test.

I was chugging down meds and dipping into my reserves just so I could function.

Until I couldn’t anymore.

Just sitting in front of my laptop for 20 minutes made me extremely nauseous and gave me excruciating back pain.

I worked exclusively from home, I took a lot of breaks, I called in sick when I had flare-ups. But I still couldn’t get anything done.

At that point, I wouldn’t even trust myself to do my own taxes. I had to quit.

It was heartbreaking.

On the personal front, things weren’t any better.

I’ve pretty much thrown all of my social life out the window.

I was fed up with the “you’re too young to have fibro” and “it’s all in your head” remarks from some of my friends.

While my family has been supportive, I knew it was rough for them too.

I used to love cooking for my wife, but since I can no longer be on my feet for more than a few minutes, that too had to go.

I can’t even hold a sponge long enough without my hand cramping… a sponge!

To say that I felt useless is an understatement. And even though they’d never admit it, I knew I was a burden and a bother to my loved ones.

The thought of taking the permanent way out crossed my mind more than once.

But still, I carried on.

I’ve popped just about every painkiller known to man. I’ve been on pregabalin, duloxetine, milnacipran, oxy, codeine… you name it.

I’ve tried CBD and various IV drips.

Some made my fog worse, others messed with my body temperature, and each one cost a lot. But none of them worked for more than a month.

I’ve even given the more holistic options like CBT, meditation, yoga, and exercise a fair shake.

They helped… but only when I could bring myself to do them.

“This is how it is now.”

It was during a routine visit, roughly a year after that first tinge of arm pain, when my GP dropped this on me.

My heart sank.

“There’s nothing else we can do.”

He was giving up. Since there is currently no way to determine what’s causing my fibro and no way to cure it, it seemed like he wanted me to just resign myself to my fate.

And I couldn’t blame him.

At 33, my life had been reduced to this.

The drive home was so quiet, you could’ve heard a pin drop.

And for the first time, I broke down in front of my wife.

She could probably tell in that moment that I was on the edge of giving up too, because she stepped up for me big time.

And a few weeks later, she found me a way out of my nightmare.

“Honey, I found something online.”

She’d apparently been scouring subreddits and online communities on fibromyalgia.

And as luck would have it, she’d struck up a conversation with this lady named Cheryl.

Cheryl was in her mid-50s, and was also from northern Ontario like we were.

She had a thriving career in microbiology research, but was also forced to quit in her prime when fibro hit her like a truck.

And though our cases weren’t very similar, our experiences and the ways we responded to medicine were.

Cheryl had been dealing with FM much longer than me, and the list of treatments she’d gone through was way more extensive than mine.

That’s what amazes me with academic types, they’re nothing if not tenacious.

See, Cheryl didn’t allow anyone to tell her what she should and should not accept.

After exhausting all the options her doctor laid out for her, she took it upon herself to keep digging.

She went deep down the rabbit hole of complementary and alternative FM treatments—buying and trying whatever she can get her hands on.

That’s how she came across infrared heat therapy.

It was the first I’d heard of it, but it’s apparently been around for years.

In fact, there have been published studies on its effects on FM patients dating all the way back to 2007!

Being the scientist she is, Cheryl even sent my wife links to these journals for us to go over.

Now I’m not unintelligent, but it was A LOT to take in. Thank god Cheryl made herself available for a discussion over Zoom.

Basically, our bodies really respond well to regulated heat.

Heat therapy has been shown to boost circulation and blood flow, which leads to muscle relaxation, reduced anxiety, and increased physical comfort.

For the FM patients involved in the study, this translated to lower levels of pain, better sleep patterns, and an overall better quality of life.

Some of the most common heat therapy techniques include saunas, hot-water immersion, heat pads, and heated wax.

Far-infrared therapy, meanwhile, has some really interesting mechanisms in how it impacts our body.

I won’t pretend to be an expert on it, so let me just share a few things I’ve picked up:

IR affects the body from the molecular level all the way up to the organ level.
When IR penetrates the skin, it alters the way the molecules inside our body move around.
This sets off a chain reaction in our cells, which involves:
- generating some heat,
- releasing antioxidants,
- and allowing oxygen and nutrients to flow more freely through the bloodstream.

This boost in the body’s natural defense and recovery systems helps it heal faster, reduce muscle spasms, and amps up its production of endorphins, which means less pain.

Learn more about the HeatPod

Curious if these have been scientifically proven?

Numerous studies and clinical trials have long backed the efficacy of both heat therapy and infrared therapy for the treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms. Below are links to published research works which you can read in their entirety.

"Thermal therapy has a positive effect on fibromyalgia-induced pain, tender point, and FIQ. Thermal therapy is a more effective physical-agent modality for fibromyalgia patient treatment."

"A simple yet highly effective and non-invasive technique that improves pain, symptoms, and [Quality of Life] in FMS patients without any adverse effects."

"IR appears as a safe and effective complementary therapy for a number of musculoskeletal conditions, including knee OA, FM, and chronic myofascial pain."

“That sounds great, but where do I even find a place that offers this?”

It piqued my interest, but I knew deep down that there was no way I could go out and regularly attend, let alone afford, these treatments.

I can still remember the way Cheryl smiled.

With her iPad in hand, she walked across her living room, went up the stairs, and stepped into her bedroom.

She pointed her camera down.

On the carpeted floor was what looked like a thick, black sleeping pad.

She called it her HeatPod.

Turns out, it wasn’t a sleeping pad at all. It was a sauna blanket.

Learn more about the HeatPod

“This here is my lifeline,” Cheryl added.

She said its heat and infrared therapy worked wonders for her fibro symptoms.

And if you were paying attention earlier, these are two of the most effective fibromyalgia solutions out there.

And the HeatPod combines both of them.

I was intrigued. I asked her where she got it.

“On Amazon,” she said, “from a company called Hydragun.” I checked them out on my phone right away.

Cheryl probably figured out what I was up to, because she offered to let me borrow her HeatPod for a couple of days.

I wanted to. She was only an hour’s drive away anyway. But I couldn’t possibly take her “lifeline” away.

So when I saw on the Hydragun website that they were offering free shipping and a money-back guarantee… I didn’t think twice.

A few days later and it’s at my doorstep.

It couldn’t have come soon enough.

That day was particularly brutal. I was in the middle of a flare-up that had been going on for hours.

Thankfully, my wife was there. She received the package, figured out how it worked, and set it up for me.

I slid in and fired the HeatPod up.

Five minutes in—I kid you not, the relief I felt was unbelievable.

By the end of the 30-minute session, my flare-up had subsided.

The benefits of using the HeatPod, according to a physical therapist

Dr. Will Harlow is a leading physiotherapist from the UK who specializes in cases involving patients over 50 years old. In this video, he tests the HeatPod to see how its benefits stack up against traditional saunas.

The HeatPod garnered a satisfaction rate of 92% among users

When asked "How likely is it that you would recommend this product to a friend?" 46 out of 50 surveyed users gave the HeatPod a score of 7 and above.

Getting the HeatPod became a huge turning point in my life.

I’ve been using my HeatPod literally every day for a little over a month now, and my fibro is about 75% better.

Most of my arm and shoulder pain is gone. I’m not feeling exhausted all day. I’m finally getting restful sleep.

On most days, I can even leave the house without the cane.

And when the flare-ups do rear their ugly head—and they do, from time to time—I just zip myself up inside my sauna blanket and ride it out.

This has turned my world right side up again. It truly is life-saving stuff.

Now, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I can see myself dipping my toes back into the job market in a few weeks’ time.

Learn more about the HeatPod

It’s been a godsend for me. And I hope it will be for you, too.

If you’re grappling with fibromyalgia, and you’re looking for an effective, lasting way to reduce your pain—the HeatPod is the only thing I can wholeheartedly recommend.

And it’s not just me and Cheryl. There are dozens of fibro patients (and hundreds of other users) who swear by how the HeatPod has helped them.

And you shouldn’t even have to think twice.

With Hydragun’s 30-day risk-free guarantee, you’ll have plenty of time to see if the HeatPod works for you.

If it doesn’t, then just get in touch with the team and you’ll get 100% of your money back.

No questions, no hassle, no guilt trips, and no hidden fees.

That’s how confident they are in how good it is. And in my experience, they have every reason to be.

You’re already hurting—but it won’t hurt to give the HeatPod a shot.

Learn more about the HeatPod

The HeatPod was featured by these media publications

Infrared Heat Therapy for Fibromyalgia

with the HeatPod Sauna Blanket

Learn more about the HeatPod

A Lady Gaga-approved Fibromyalgia Treatment!

Fibromyalgia is a condition that causes pain all over the body.

There is no known cure for fibromyalgia.

However, there is growing evidence that infrared heat therapy may help.

With the HeatPod sauna blanket, infrared heat therapy has never been cheaper or easier!

Learn more about the HeatPod

What is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a condition that causes pain all over the body and heightened pain sensitivity (abnormal pain perception processing).

It affects about 4 million US adults, around 2% of the adult population [1]. .

The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, and there is no known cure.

Fibromyalgia can severely impact one's quality of life.

Symptoms often include:

How is Fibromyalgia Treated?

While there is no cure for fibromyalgia, it can be treated and managed with medication and self-management strategies. This may include the following

Medications

Stress management

Aerobic exercises & strengthening

Good sleep habits

Patient education classes

Cognitive behavioural therapy

However, such treatments may have limited effectiveness, especially in more severe cases of fibromyalgia.

In addition, long-term use of painkillers, sedatives and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) lead to side effects and the aggravation of the patients’ condition [2].

Here's the good news.

There is growing evidence that infrared heat therapy is effective in treating fibromyalgia-induced pain and symptoms.

How does Infrared Heat Therapy help?

Heat Therapy

Infrared Therapy

Heat therapy has been found to reduce pain intensity, number of tender points, and overall fibromyalgia impact on various aspects of life*.

*Physical functioning, work status, depression, anxiety, sleep, pain, stiffness, fatigue and wellbeing

Heat therapy is effective because it treats a wider body surface and therefore targets multiple pain locations at once.

This makes it suitable for treating widespread pain in fibromyalgia patients [3].

The benefits of heat therapy are amplified further by infrared therapy.

Infrared radiation is a type of radiant energy that's invisible to human eyes but that we can feel as heat.

This heat penetrates as deep as 4cm into the skin [4], augmenting the effects of heat therapy.

For decades, people have been frequenting infrared saunas to enjoy the healing benefits of infrared heat therapy.

There is now growing scientific evidence that infrared saunas are effective for fibromyalgia as well.

Waon therapy (soothing warmth therapy), which uses infrared saunas, was found to significantly reduce pain and other symptoms in fibromyalgia patients [5].

Studies have also shown that infrared heat therapy reduces pain and stiffness in patients with conditions similar to fibromyalgia (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis) [7].

Combining infrared sauna therapy with underwater exercise greatly reduced pain & symptoms, and improved the quality of life in fibromyalgia patients, in both the short and long term [6].

In patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, repeated sauna sessions reduced fatigue, pain, appetite loss, and subjective complaints, as well as had a relaxation effect [8].

There is thus strong reason to believe that infrared heat therapy is effective in reducing pain and symptoms, and improving the overall quality of life of fibromyalgia patients.