The pain, fatigue, and poor sleep quality associated with fibromyalgia can interfere with your ability to function at home or on the job. The frustration of dealing with an often-misunderstood condition also can result in depression and health-related anxiety.
Extreme sensitivity. Fibromyalgia can make you extremely sensitive to pain all over your body, and you may find that even the slightest touch is painful. If you hurt yourself, such as stubbing your toe, the pain may continue for much longer than it normally would.
Fibromyalgia is often debilitating due to pain that can interfere with a patient's life. For example, many individuals report trouble sleeping, which can lead to exhaustion and fatigue. Feeling tired and in pain on a routine basis also can negatively impact mental health, leading to issues such as depression.
Nature of the pain: Words commonly used to describe fibromyalgia pain include aching, dull, numbing, burning, tingling, pins-and-needles, throbbing, pounding, shooting, sharp, stabbing, blinding, knife-like, needle-like, and others.
The main symptoms of fibromyalgia are: Chronic, widespread pain throughout the body or at multiple sites. Pain is often felt in the arms, legs, head, chest, abdomen, back, and buttocks. People often describe it as aching, burning, or throbbing.
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; ...
Symptom Severity Scale
The symptom severity (SS) scale evaluates four symptoms considered defining in a fibromyalgia diagnosis. 4 Each symptom is scored on a scale of 0 to 3, with 0 meaning no symptoms; 1 meaning mild symptoms; 2 meaning moderate symptoms; and 3 meaning serious symptoms.
Our results indicated that both gait and balance were severely impaired in FM, and that several parameters of motor performance were linked to clinical symptoms associated with FM.
Symptoms include extreme exhaustion, muscle pain, headaches and poor concentration. Many sufferers can be bedridden for years. Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition where you suffer widespread pain and fatigue.
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), research has shown that people with fibromyalgia have reduced blood flow to parts of the brain that normally help the body deal with pain.
The drugs amitriptyline, duloxetine, milnacipran and pregabalin can relieve fibromyalgia pain in some people. They may cause side effects such as a dry mouth or nausea. Normal painkillers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen (paracetamol) aren't recommended for the treatment of fibromyalgia.
More hospitalizations. If you have fibromyalgia you are twice as likely to be hospitalized as someone without fibromyalgia. Lower quality of life. Women with fibromyalgia may experience a lower quality of life.
The most helpful treatment approach for fibromyalgia is a combination of self-care, physical activity and cognitive-behavioral therapy. But medication may also be needed.
Pain is a given for nearly everyone with fibromyalgia. So are fatigue and brain fog. While those symptoms can be challenging, you don't have to put your life on hold because of them. Living with fibromyalgia means making adjustments, from work to parenting responsibilities to household chores to having fun.
If you don't spend enough time in deep sleep, your body lessens the production of important hormones. Decreased production of such hormones may increase pain in people with fibromyalgia.
The pain associated with fibromyalgia often is described as a constant dull ache that has lasted for at least three months. To be considered widespread, the pain must occur on both sides of your body and above and below your waist.
Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Mobility Aids. Some people with fibromyalgia and myalgic encephalomyelitis /chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) use mobility aids such as canes, wheelchairs, scooters, and motorized grocery carts.
Is Fibromyalgia considered a disability in Australia? As a standalone condition, Fibromyalgia may not qualify as a disability in Australia. It would help if you lived with a substantial and permanent disability diagnosed by a medical professional.
People with fibromyalgia are more likely to be hospitalized because of pain, fatigue or mental health symptoms. You're also more likely to experience memory problems and have trouble concentrating.
The pain from fibromyalgia is more widespread, while rheumatoid arthritis is concentrated initially to hands, wrists, knees and balls of the feet.
Fibromyalgia affects as many as 4 million Americans 18 and older. The average age range at which fibromyalgia is diagnosed is 35 to 45 years old, but most people have had symptoms, including chronic pain, that started much earlier in life.
Because fibromyalgia is a chronic, complex condition with various comorbidities, treatment is difficult and should include both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic options. There is no gold standard for treatment, and most patients use various medications from a number of classes to relieve their pain.
Not all neurologists are embracing fibromyalgia, however. "It's a difficult condition to take care of. The patients have chronic pain, they call a lot, and they tend to have a lot of comorbidities," says Dr. Kissel.