Can Tanning Beds Really Ease Fibromyalgia Pain? Find Out the Truth!

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disease that affects as much as two percent of all adults in the United States of America, and the overwhelming majority of those two percent are women. Fibromyalgia is also more likely to develop in older individuals as well.

Fibromyalgia symptoms include pain in the muscles and ligaments throughout the body, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and more pain in the eleven different pressure points throughout the body.

These pressure points are located specifically in the back of the head, the shoulders, the chest, the neck, the elbows, the hips, and the knees.

There is usually no noticeable ‘starting point’ for when fibromyalgia begins, but in some individuals, it begins after a physical or emotional accident has occurred.

While there is no known cure for fibromyalgia, there are many different kinds of treatments available to relieve the symptoms as much as possible. Tanning treatments may be one that fibromyalgia patients should explore.

First of all, tanning treatments for fibromyalgia are not universally accepted by all medical researchers and scientists. But because fibromyalgia patients from all over the country are seeking whatever relief they can get for their pain, fatigue, and stress, tanning treatments are a viable option.

Keep in mind that fibromyalgia patients find it very difficult to perform everyday, basic tasks. With that in mind, it would make sense that a fibromyalgia sufferer would seek whatever possible treatment is available.

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Relief from Pain in Tanning Treatments

By way and large, the most common form of pain relief that fibromyalgia patients seek out is basic medication, with exercise being a close second.

Unfortunately, due to our limited knowledge of fibromyalgia, medication and exercise are not providing all of the pain relief that fibromyalgia patients need. But how well can tanning treatments provide that critical pain relief?

Fibromyalgia patients feel pain relief from tanning because of the ultraviolet rays produced by the tanning bed. This relief from pain is not instant but instead occurs over time.

Patients who use tanning services for one to two months should begin to see results. Ultraviolet rays can provide pain relief because they set off a reaction in the human skin.

After consistent exposure to ultraviolet rays, the skin releases molecules called endorphins. When the endorphins are released, they help to relax the human body and thus reduce pain levels.

Besides feeling relief from pain, a patient will also feel a greater sense of health and happiness. Therefore, the effect of the tanning treatment can be just as emotional as it is physical, a major plus to fibromyalgia patients who suffer from stress equally as much as pain.

Longer exposure to tanning treatments can help a fibromyalgia patient’s physical and emotional well-being. Does that still mean it is the right course of action for a fibromyalgia patient to take?

Unfortunately, medical researchers are divided over this issue. It’s no secret that being exposed to the ultraviolet rays on a tanning bed dramatically increases a person’s chance of developing melanoma, which, in turn, basically increases the patient’s chance of developing skin cancer.

So, just as one problem is being eliminated, an entirely new and even more dangerous one can potentially be created in the process. Is it really worth using tanning beds as a solution for fibromyalgia pain relief, therefore?

Finding the Right Pain Relief

For fibromyalgia patients, every day is a battle with pain, fatigue, and stress. However, an equally big battle those same patients have to fight daily is finding the right source of pain relief and management.

The right solution for pain relief is really dependent on the individual patient. The idea of a tanning bed serving as a valuable relief from pain is only the latest development in the individual patient’s search for relief.

As a result, many services provide tanning treatments and market them as the right solution for fibromyalgia patients.

While there is no denying that some patients who use this tanning treatment method see unexpected results in a month to two months, that doesn’t mean that it’s the right solution.

As we have seen, several critical risks should come into conflict with a patient’s decision to use tanning treatments as the right method for treating pain.

Do you really want to see your chances of developing melanoma increase by nearly seventy-five percent, and thus, your risk of developing cancer increases little by little as well? Probably not.

A fibromyalgia sufferer’s search for true pain relief may never end until medical researchers and scientists can find a cure, which could be years to come.

Until then, supposedly ‘new’ and ‘innovative’ techniques for relieving fibromyalgia pain should be looked at with caution.

This can be hard for fibromyalgia sufferers since new and cool-sounding treatments for treating fibromyalgia rarely come.

When looking for the right pain relief, a fibromyalgia patient should thoroughly research each and every treatment option that pops up into view.

Weigh the risks vs. rewards, and if you decide that the potential rewards of treatment outweigh the risks, try out the treatment on your own (giving it time) and see how well the pain and stress leave your body.

There is a very big and impending need for the right fibromyalgia treatment. Still, a tanning treatment using ultraviolet rays, no matter how cool and innovative it sounds, is, unfortunately, a treatment that comes with too many risks.

Yes, you may feel better physically after prolonged treatment, and yes, you may feel better emotionally as well.

But look at everything with caution, and know that there are other less risky treatments that can give you the same kind of temporary physical and emotional pain relief as well. All you have to do is keep searching.