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If several medications have failed, ask whether anyone else in the family had the same experience. A pattern of non response runs in some families.
It is a question that rarely gets asked and can save a year. If a parent or sibling went through the same list without success and then responded to something different, that is worth more than another guess at a ninth prescription. Ask it plainly: has anyone in your family been treated for this, and what happened. Then take the answer to whoever is prescribing.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Of Zachariah, who had waited a very long time, the Qur'an says 'They called upon Us out of longing and awe' (Quran 21:90). Long non response is not treated as the end of the story.
فَٱسۡتَجَبۡنَا لَهُۥ وَوَهَبۡنَا لَهُۥ يَحۡيَىٰ وَأَصۡلَحۡنَا لَهُۥ زَوۡجَهُۥٓۚ إِنَّهُمۡ كَانُواْ يُسَٰرِعُونَ فِي ٱلۡخَيۡرَٰتِ وَيَدۡعُونَنَا رَغَبࣰ ا وَرَهَبࣰ اۖ وَكَانُواْ لَنَا خَٰشِعِينَ
We answered him––We gave him John, and cured his wife of barrenness- they were always keen to do good deeds. They called upon Us out of longing and awe, and humbled themselves before Us
Qur’an 21:90read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A meta analysis of randomised trials of non drug approaches in fibromyalgia found different symptoms improving to different degrees, with no single approach helping every feature. Variation between people is the rule rather than the exception in this kind of research. Those were trials of body based treatments, not of medication response in families, so this is an argument by resemblance and not evidence.
Kundakci B, Kaur J, Goh SL, Hall M, Doherty M, Zhang W, Abhishek A. (2022). Efficacy of nonpharmacological interventions for individual features of fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.. Pain doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
What happened to close relatives is one of the few clues available about what is likely to work for you.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Most people are already doing something for themselves outside your room: herbs, a chiropractor, breathing videos, a weekly massage. Ask, plainly and without a raised eyebrow.
Talking is not the only door in. Exercise, massage, acupressure, yoga, tai chi and the rest go at the body first and let the mind follow, which is the opposite direction from most therapy.
You rarely need the whole tour. Pick the one place the tension actually lives for this person today, and work there.