Treatment for Fibromyalgia

Stop the Pain

Facts About Fibromyalgia

Published by on November 19, 2011

Fibromyalgia is often referred to as a mysterious . There is not much understanding about fibromyalgia which makes it a difficult to be diagnosed. Up to date, it is still defined to be a syndrome instead of a . Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that carries a lot of symptoms. Some of the symptoms, such as restless legs syndrome, are also separate disorders that can occur but not be associated with fibromyalgia. The various symptoms may not always cause fibromyalgia. In most cases, they are often diagnose as other illness.

There is no way to test and confirm on symptoms to make a conclusion that this syndrome is suffered by a particular patient. However, the most common symptom is widespread pain throughout the entire body accompanied by pain at the tender points of the body. For this reason, the American College of Rheumatology has established two criteria for diagnosing fibromyalgia. These are widespread pain all over the body that has lasted three months or more, and pain at eleven of the eighteen tender points in the body. Tender point pains are strong indicators to show that fibromyalgia is present in the patient\’s body.

Symptoms that almost always accompany the pain are fatigue, problems with memory, and sleep disorders. The patient is consistently tired and the smallest task seems impossible. If you give them new information, they will have trouble remembering them. If they get distracted, they will have a big problem. This condition is called \”fibro fog.\” Patients have difficulty gong to sleep as well as staying asleep. There are also other symptoms which includes dizziness, numbness and tingling in various areas of their body, difficulty to find balance as well as weak muscles. There are also other symptoms that come along with fibromyalgia and they are depression, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid, lupus as well as osteoarthritis.

The levels of the symptoms are uncertain as they may be serious some days and light on other days. The length of the pain will also vary from a few hours and sometime lasting the entire day. Because of this, it is difficult for patients to lead a normal life like going to school or work. Even if they plan out their schedule well, they will not have a guarantee that they can complete the task. The pain can sometimes be so excruciating that the person is unable to engage in any activity. This pain affects all the parts of the body. It can be felt in every muscle and joints and tendons in your body. The pain may be caused by the simplest things like the change of temperature, tiredness or use of excessive strength.

In America, studies have shown that 3-5% of Americans are fibromyalgia sufferers. People are more likely to suffer fibromyalgia even when they are just entering adulthood. However, studies have shown that this syndrome can happen to any age group. Fibromyalgia does not have any preferences towards a specific gender but more women are said to be having this syndrome. There are also cases that have influence from genetic factors. Parents with fibromyalgia may pass it on to their children. You are more likely to get fibromyalgia if you are already suffering from rheumatic disease which includes arthritis, lupus and rheumatoid. Based on statistics, out of the fibromyalgia patients, 25% are unable to hold their job. The treatment approach is also very difficult. It wasn\’t until 2007 that the FDA approved the first drug, Lyrica, for treatment of the syndrome. There are no other yet on the market except Lyrica. However, drugs like Neurotin and Vioxx was able to reduce the pain for fibromyalgia sufferers. Prozac and Elavil have also been effective at relieving the symptoms.

You can get the best information and articles on fibromyalgia at EHealthGuild.com which has everything from fibromyalgia therapy and E Health Guild.

Other fibromyalgia articles you might like;

Posted under treatment for fibromyalgia
Comments (0)

Add A Comment