an overwhelming urge to move your legs (restless legs syndrome) tingling, numbness, prickling or burning sensations in your hands and feet (pins and needles, also known as paraesthesia) in women, unusually painful periods.
So, problems with blood vessels in the hands also interfere with blood flow throughout the body, Rice said, perhaps explaining why fibromyalgia patients feel pain in various muscle groups. A decrease in blood flow from the hands may also trigger fatigue.
The symptoms of chronic fibromyalgia include:
Stiffness in extremities, particularly the hands and fingers. Muscle and joint pain or throbbing joints in the fingers, knuckles and wrist. A feeling of “tightness”, tenderness or weakness in hand muscles.
Fibromyalgia causes bodywide pain and extreme tiredness. It can be confused with arthritis because it may cause pain in joints, muscles and soft tissues.
Rheumatoid arthritis causes visible damage to joints. Fibromyalgia does not. Rheumatoid arthritis also gets progressively worse, causing swelling and sometimes deformities. The pain from fibromyalgia is more widespread, while rheumatoid arthritis is concentrated initially to hands, wrists, knees and balls of the feet.
Fibromyalgia was formerly classified as an inflammatory musculoskeletal disease but is now considered to be an illness that primarily affects the central nervous system.
Fibromyalgia can cause widespread pain, fatigue, and stiffness. Symptoms tend to occur in periods of flares. Physical and emotional stress are the most common triggers of fibromyalgia flares. Other triggers include lack of sleep, weather changes, and hormone imbalances.
Fibromyalgia doesn't cause damage to the wrist joint like arthritis does; however, it can worsen your arthritis pain. Wrist pain due to fibromyalgia is difficult to diagnose due to the absence of specific tests and procedures.
Fibromyalgia is diagnosed based primarily on having pain all over the body, along with other symptoms. Currently, there are no specific laboratory or imaging tests for fibromyalgia.
Several rheumatic diseases can mimic fibromyalgia. These include sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Lyme disease, polymyalgia rheumatica and lupus. They have symptoms of widespread pain along with joint involvement.
Results: There were four parent stages of FM identified and labeled: 1) regional FM with classic symptoms; 2) generalized FM with increasing widespread pain and some additional symptoms; 3) FM with advanced and associated conditions, increasing widespread pain, increased sleep disturbances, and chemical sensitivity; ...
First-choice treatments for fibromyalgia are exercise and lifestyle changes. Studies prove these are very effective. Medications might help reduce fibromyalgia pain by 30% in some people. They work best in combination with non-medication therapies.
Magnesium
Women with fibromyalgia may be deficient in magnesium, studies suggest. And magnesium may help relieve fibro pain and other symptoms.
Chronic (long-term), widespread pain is the most common symptom of fibromyalgia. You may feel the pain all over your body. Or, you may feel it more in the muscles you use most often, like in your back or legs. The pain may feel like a deep muscle ache, or it may throb or burn.
Fibromyalgia occurs most often in women older than age 40, especially in people who have a family history of the condition.
Because fibromyalgia is complex in nature and difficult to diagnose, a rheumatologist will perform a complete medical history and a full physical exam. A physical exam can help reveal signs of inflammation throughout the body's joints and musculoskeletal system.
While MS and fibro may have some symptoms in common, they are ultimately distinct conditions with very different causes and treatments. Fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis are both chronic diseases with no cure. Fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis can both cause some of the same symptoms.
A major risk of leaving fibromyalgia untreated is that symptoms such as chronic pain, fatigue, headaches, and depression can become excruciatingly worse over time. Fibromyalgia also has a huge impact on mental health and anxiety and mood disorders can also worsen if you don't treat fibromyalgia.
There's no cure for fibromyalgia, but your healthcare provider will help you find a combination of treatments that relieve your symptoms. Even though experts don't know what causes fibromyalgia, it's real — and so are your symptoms. They might come and go or be hard to describe, but how you feel is valid and important.