What Are Mitochondria And Why Are They Important For Getting Your Fibromyalgia Symptoms Under Control?
- Flourishing With Fibromyalgia
- Aug 26, 2024
- 5 min read
Look, I know you're not new to the world of managing fibromyalgia, but sometimes when you delve deeply into something, you lose track of the finer details of what health changes you’re working on and why they’re relevant to your goals.
Next thing you know, you're too embarrassed to admit you don’t know what that word everyone is throwing around is and it feels too late to ask for advice on how to fix it.
Don't worry, that's what this article and myself are for.
I will explain what mitochondria are, how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to fibromyalgia symptoms, and why you need to know all about it to succeed in finally getting your fibro pain, fatigue, and brain fog under control.
What Are Mitochondria?
Mitochondria are the parts of your cells that produce energy, which is how the got the name “Energy Powerhouses Of The Cell”.
Let’s take a step back for a minute. If you’re not a total nerd like me, you may not even know what a cell is. Cells are the smallest living thing. They are the smallest organism that can survive on its own and carry out basic life functions. They are microscopic, so you can’t see individual cells.
The human body is made up of trillions of cells. Cells make up all of your organs, muscles, and every other part of your body. Cells make up all living things, including plants and other animals. We have different types of cells for different purposes. For example, the cells in your heart are very different from the cells in your brain; however, they all have some similarities.
Now that we got that sorted, back to the mitochondria. Mitochondria are present in every cell in the human body. It is estimated that there are 37.2 trillion mitochondria in the human body. I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine what 37.2 trillion of anything looks like!
The job of the mitochondria is to take the nutrients you eat from food, such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and convert those foods into energy your cells can use to live and do their jobs.
Research into the physiology of fibromyalgia has shown that people with fibromyalgia have mitochondrial dysfunction. Let’s cover that next.
What Is Mitochondrial Dysfunction?
At its most basic, mitochondrial dysfunction means that your mitochondria don’t function well to produce energy. The mitochondria don’t produce enough energy and don’t produce it fast enough for cells to function normally.
Let's add a little more depth to that— think of a car running on gasoline. You need gasoline in the tank for your car to start and drive, right? You can think of cells and mitochondria the same way. Mitochondria make the fuel that your cells need. If there isn’t enough fuel around, your cells either can’t do their jobs or they do their jobs for a little while but can’t continue once they run out of fuel.
And finally, for those subject matter experts among you (or super nerds like me), research into fibromyalgia has shown that when mitochondria aren’t functioning well, the body destroys them and creates new ones, in hopes that the new ones will function better. This process of breaking down parts that aren’t working well in the body is called autophagy and it’s a normal process.
The issue with this mitochondrial destruction in fibromyalgia is that the new mitochondria still don’t function well. So once again, the body destroys the mitochondria and creates new ones. And the cycle repeats. This destruction and re-building uses a lot of energy to complete, and it’s happening more often than normal in fibromyalgia.
Can you see how it’s easy to get stuck in that exhaustion, achy all over, foggy cycle when you have fibromyalgia? Your body is trying to hard to fix the problem, but the causes of the problem have not been addressed, so round and round your body goes trying to correct the problem unsuccessfully.
If you're only at the first level of understanding, rest assured, you will become a mitochondria expert in no time.
Do you want to learn more from me? Join my monthly membership: The Flourishing with Fibromyalgia Academy. It includes a while course dedicated to healing your mitochondria and information on how to fix the other causes of your fibromyalgia symptoms!
Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Fibromyalgia
I'm all about making up your own mind, and I can't make you care about mitochondrial dysfunction, but let me give you some compelling reasons to make mitochondrial support part of your fibromyalgia health routine.
Symptoms of dysfunctional mitochondria include:
Fatigue
Longer periods of recover after exercise and any form of physical activity (including just having a busy day)
Brain fog and poor memory, since your brain accounts for about 20% of your total daily energy used
Achy, sore, and tense muscles or feeling like you’ve worked out, even if you haven’t
Poor digestive function and nutrient absorption, leading to nutrient deficiencies
Hormonal imbalances (reproductive hormones, thyroid hormones, and your stress and sleep hormones) and struggles with fertility
Poor immune function and frequent infections
The energy produced by mitochondria are used for all of the things listed above. When you use more energy than you have or you use it faster than your mitochondria can produce it, you experience the typical symptoms of fibromyalgia (pain, fatigue, brain fog, digestive issues, etc).
Important: Don't think that mitochondrial dysfunction is the only contributing factor to fibromyalgia symptoms. The truth is, there are a number of issues that contribute to fibromyalgia and mitochondrial dysfunction is a major one.
3 Tips for Supporting Your Mitochondria With Fibromyalgia
Raise your hand if you are unsure how to support your mitochondria to reduce your fibromyalgia symptoms. Be honest! 🙋♀️
That's no problem; here are some extra hints and tips to get you on your way:
Tip # 1: Hydrotherapy is very effective for encouraging your body to produce healthy mitochondria. Start by showering in hot water for 1 minute and 30 seconds, then turning the tap to cold water for 30 seconds. Repeat this cycle 3 to 5 times, always finishing your shower on cold.
Tip # 2: Remember to practicing grounding. Grounding involves touching your bare skin to grass, leaves, bark, or soil. This can be bare hands, feet, or any other part of your body.
Tip # 3: Check out the Mighty Mitochondria course in the Flourishing With Fibromyalgia Academy. This course is packed with simple, easy to implement strategies to ensure your mitochondria are functioning well and your body has lots of them.
Key Takeaways
Let's wrap this up, shall we? The key takeaways to remember from this post are:
Mitochondria produce energy for your cells to function.
Fibromyalgia comes with mitochondrial dysfunction, which means mitochondria don’t function well to produce enough energy fast enough.
Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to feelings of fatigue, longer periods of recovery after physical activity, muscle tension and pain, brain fog and poor memory, poor immune function, poor digestion and nutrient absorption.
There are lots of ways to support your mitochondria, including hydrotherapy, grounding, and many more.
At Flourishing With Fibromyalgia, I make it my mission to help people suffering from fibromyalgia overcome their pain, exhaustion, and fibrofog so they feel in control of their health and body, empowered to pursue their goals, and confident when they make plans they’ll be able to keep them.
If you would like to learn more about how I help fibro warriors live a life free of fibro symptoms, please send me an email at team@flourishingwithfibromyalgia.com. I love hearing from my readers!
Pssst, you can also check out my masterclass, called The 3 Secrets To Beating Pain, Exhaustion, & Fibrofog. It includes even more in-depth info on what is going wrong in the body when you have fibromyalgia, why nothing you’ve tried so far has worked, and how to get your fibromyalgia symptoms under control.