Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain & Rehabilitation
Real pain, a real diagnosis - and a plan that treats the person, not just the label
People with fibromyalgia usually arrive after a long journey: years of pain, normal test results, skeptical looks, and treatments that never quite worked. Many have heard, in one form or another, that "it's in your head."
Let us say it plainly: fibromyalgia is a recognized medical condition. The pain is real. It has a mechanism - a nervous system that processes pain signals with the volume turned up - and it has treatments that work, especially when they are combined correctly.
At Team Clinic 360° in Herzliya, fibromyalgia care brings together pain medicine, rehabilitation and emotional support - because this condition touches every one of those areas at once.
What is fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a disorder of pain processing: the central nervous system amplifies signals, so stimuli that should feel minor register as pain, and pain that should fade persists. The result is widespread pain lasting more than three months, typically with profound fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, and difficulties with focus and memory ("fibro fog").
Blood tests and imaging are usually normal - which is exactly why so many patients go years without a diagnosis. The diagnosis is clinical, based on established criteria, and an important part of the evaluation is ruling out or identifying conditions that mimic or accompany it - thyroid disease, inflammatory conditions, vitamin deficiencies, sleep disorders.
The common story we hear
- Pain that moves - back today, shoulders tomorrow, everywhere on the hard days
- Waking up tired regardless of hours slept
- Sensitivity to touch, noise, cold or stress that others find puzzling
- A drawer full of normal test results
- Treatments that each helped a little, briefly, or not at all
- A growing feeling of not being believed
If that reads like your story, the first thing to know is that it is a recognizable, treatable pattern - and you are far from alone: fibromyalgia affects roughly 2-4% of the population, most often women.
How we treat it - the combined model
No single treatment fixes fibromyalgia. What works, per the international guidelines, is a combination built around the patient:
- Accurate diagnosis first - confirming fibromyalgia, identifying what else is in the picture (myofascial pain, joint problems, sleep disorder, mood), and stopping what does not help
- Medication management - medications that target pain processing (not standard painkillers, which typically do little here), chosen and titrated carefully
- Graded, paced physical activity - the most evidence-backed treatment there is; built gradually so it helps rather than flares
- Sleep restoration - because unrefreshing sleep and pain amplification feed each other
- Treating pain generators alongside - trigger points and localized problems that pile on top of the central sensitivity, using tools such as medical dry needling
- Emotional support - not because the pain is imaginary, but because living with chronic pain is hard, and stress physiology feeds the volume knob
- Medical cannabis - in selected cases, within a medically supervised framework
Rehabilitation - the road back to function
The goal of treatment is not only fewer bad days. It is getting your life back: work, movement, family, plans.
That is where the rehabilitative arm of the clinic comes in - building a realistic, paced return to activity, with rehabilitation medicine thinking: measurable goals, graded load, and adjustments when flares happen (because they happen, and a good plan expects them).
Who leads the care
Fibromyalgia care at Team Clinic 360° is led by Dr. Natalie Siegel, specialist in family and pain medicine, who coordinates the full picture - diagnosis, medications, sleep, comorbidities - with Dr. Lior Shem Tov performing targeted procedures when localized pain generators are part of the story. If you have been told your diagnosis is fibromyalgia and something does not fit, see our page on fibromyalgia misdiagnosis.
You are not imagining it - and you do not have to manage it alone
If widespread pain, exhaustion and foggy days have become your normal, a structured evaluation can give you what most patients never received: a clear diagnosis and one coordinated plan.
To schedule a fibromyalgia evaluation - contact us by phone or WhatsApp.
Frequently asked questions
Is fibromyalgia a real disease?
Yes. It is recognized by the WHO and every major medical body, with defined diagnostic criteria and a researched mechanism - amplified pain processing in the central nervous system. Normal blood tests do not mean nothing is wrong; they are part of the typical picture.
Why do regular painkillers barely help me?
Because the problem is in pain processing, not in local tissue damage. Medications that work on the nervous system's pain pathways, combined with graded activity and sleep treatment, are the evidence-based approach.
Will exercise not make it worse?
Unpaced exercise can flare it - which is why the key word is graded. Started gently and built slowly, physical activity is the single most consistently effective treatment for fibromyalgia.
Can fibromyalgia be cured?
There is no switch-off cure, but the condition can be managed to the point where it stops running your life. Many patients achieve substantially fewer bad days, better sleep and restored function with a combined plan.
Could my diagnosis be wrong?
It happens in both directions - fibromyalgia missed for years, and other conditions mislabeled as fibromyalgia. Part of our evaluation is specifically re-examining the diagnosis before building the plan.
Is medical cannabis an option?
In selected cases, yes - within a supervised medical framework, as one component of a plan rather than a stand-alone answer. Suitability is assessed individually.
Medical sources for further reading
The information on this page is intended as general background and does not replace personal medical advice.
The information on this page is general in nature and does not replace a personal medical diagnosis, consultation or treatment. Any treatment is tailored only after a medical evaluation, at the physician's discretion.