Are you just tired or do you have fibromyalgia, a complex pain condition that affects millions of people around the world? It’s generally challenging to diagnose this debilitating disease, but it may be a reason for your chronic fatigue
Fibromyalgia is a complex pain condition that affects millions of people around the world. It is the most common cause of pervasive musculoskeletal pain, especially in women aged 25 to 55, and it becomes more common with increasing age. Besides being difficult to diagnose, it also negatively impacts a patient’s quality of life and often makes simple physical tasks more difficult.
Fibromyalgia may also be called the rheumatologic disorder of muscles and fibrous connective tissue. It is generally accompanied by chronic widespread pain with an elevated painful response to pressure. Recently, it has also been called fibromyalgia syndrome because its symptoms are not restricted to pain, even though “-algia” at the end of its name indicates pain in medical language. Fibromyalgia syndrome’s symptoms include devastating fatigue, sleep disturbance and joint stiffness. Some people that are affected by the disease say that they cannot get out of bed in the morning due to fatigue and stiffness throughout their body. It is frequently associated with other neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Depression or anxiety can be found in up to half of all patients. Moreover, it may be associated with trouble in attention and mood. It has been reported that some people who are affected by the disease also shown symptoms such as difficulty with swallowing, bladder problems and abnormal bowel functions, i.e., irritable bowel syndrome. Although fibromyalgia seems to affect all of the body’s muscular components, we should note that all affected people do not experience all of the symptoms noted above and this is why it makes its diagnosis very challenging for your physician.
It is unclear as to why in today’s knowledge, but women are affected up to six times more than men by this disease. In general, patients do not go to their doctor with initial symptoms involving only shoulder or neck pain. Soon after, the initial painful symptoms begin traveling to other parts of the body and create pain elsewhere. Patients often complain about muscle pain, but sometimes it may affect joints as well. This is why we also call it the rheumatism of the muscles. In addition to pain, patients may also experience an overwhelming feeling of fatigue or extreme tiredness that they cannot get rid of even though they have seemingly tried everything.
Since the mid-1800s, scientists have considered the description of fibromyalgia controversial. It is a hard disease to research and thus a hard disease to diagnose. There are no concrete signs that can be found during a physical examination besides tenderness and pain in specific parts of the body. These are called fibromyalgia tender points and are scaled with a widespread pain index. In nine regions of your body, there are 18 points that are in this index. If you press these points with your thumb and forefinger until your nail is whitened and you feel pain. You get one point. If you score higher than 11, this might mean that you have fibromyalgia. Additionally, there is the symptom severity scale using criteria from 1990 for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. The symptom severity scale rates the severity of the patients fatigue, unrepressed waking, cognitive symptoms and general somatic symptoms on a scale from 0 to 3, for a composite score ranging from 0 to 12. Symptoms should have been present at a similar level for at least three months in order to be scored. In the revised criteria, you should score from each scale in order to get diagnosed with this disease. It should not be forgotten that blood tests or diagnostic imaging generally do not give any clues nor are any abnormalities created that could explain the symptoms.
Besides diagnosis being challenging, treatment can be frustrating since there is no cure for this disease. However, there are many things that have been found to help patients cope with the symptoms. A person’s first goal with fibromyalgia should be to take good care of themself and maintain high self-esteem and an elevated mood. They should start by managing stress, maintain a regular and healthy sleep pattern and engage in regular aerobic exercise.
For those who suffer from fibromyalgia, their doctor may come up with a treatment plan involving antidepressants and pain relievers. Yet, just like all other chronic pain diseases, such as chronic migraines, for those with fibromyalgia, it is important to be on a healthy diet plan as well. Food sensitivity
is another major cause of this inflammatory disease and this may be due to leaky gut syndrome where partially digested food enters into your bloodstream. Therefore, in order to treat fibromyalgia, most patients need to eat a healthy diet that has restrictions to certain foods while treating this condition. Some examples to these inflammation-causing foods that should be eliminated from your diet include processed foods, gluten, dairy and eggs. I would advise that you eliminate these foods from your diet for three weeks, and incorporate them back into your diet one-by-one in four-week intervals. If you have a reaction with a particular one after reincorporating it, which will generally include bloating at first, you should avoid that food for six months.
You can also increase your vitamin D and B12 intake to increase your energy and elevate your mood. You can try willow bark tea, which has been shown to be as effective or even more effective than aspirin and other pain relievers. Since it’s from the same root as aspirin, you should avoid it if you have any problems. You can also get a massage with menthol, wintergreen or peppermint extract enriched natural body creams. Thai massage is particularly found to be effective for back pain, because it stretches your body at the same time as you are massaged. Other options include meditation, tai chi, yoga, Pilates, deep breathing exercises and hypnosis.