What Are The Signs Symptoms of Fibromyalgia?
The signs symptoms of fibromyalgia can vary from mild to severe -- severe enough that a significant number of people with fibromyalgia are actually disabled by the condition.
What is Fibromyalgia?
Photo courtesy of Microsoft Clipart
Fibromyalgia is a rheumatic disorder that causes pain and tenderness in the muscles and soft tissues. It affects both sides of the body, above and below the waist.
The bad news... It does not have obvious physical cause.
And the good news... It is not life threatening, does not damage the body, does not destroy the joints, or cause any problems with your internal organs.
One of the main signs symptoms of fibromyalgia is pain -- typically described as shooting, throbbing, burning, nagging, aching, and stabbing. Although the pain can affect any part or parts of the body, it is generally felt in the lower back, the neck, the back of the head, upper chest, elbows, shoulders, and / or thighs.
Does It Affect Everyone The Same?
Some individuals report that their pain and stiffness are often greater when they wake up in the morning, improve during the day, and get worse again at night. But there are those, though, who complain of constant pain all day long.
Anxiety, stress, and physical activity have been reported to intensify the pain level. Other signs symptoms of fibromyalgia include chronic headaches, insomnia, strange sensation in the skin, irritable bowel syndrome, and temporomandibular joint syndrome, (TMJ).
Others experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS), painful menstruation, palpitations, memory impairment, anxiety, dizziness, impaired coordination, sensitive skin, irritable bladder, frequent changes in eyeglass prescription, and dry mouth and eyes.
Individuals with fibromyalgia find routine activities such as lifting or going up the stairs to be painful and difficult.
Depression is a common side effect of this ailment, which often results from lack of sleep and the feeling of hopelessness in dealing with the disorder.
Fibromyalgia sufferers may also become prone to bacterial and viral infections because of their compromised immune system.
The Tender Points
You will find that the pain in fibromyalgia is mostly felt in certain areas of the body that are known as "tender points -- specifically 18 points, which when pressed give an extreme sense of pain sensation. These 18 points tend to cluster around the neck, shoulders, chest, knees, elbows and hips.
In order to be diagnosed, an individual must experience pain in 11 out of 18 tender points. The sensation of pain must be widespread with duration of at least three months.
Unfortunately the course of this disease is unpredictable. It can clear up on its own, can become chronic, and can go through a cycle of alternating periods of remission and flare-up. However, with the right drugs and careful symptomatic treatment and self-help management, the signs symptoms of fibromyalgia and its side effects can be controlled.
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