What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a common and disabling disorder affecting about 5 % of the population. the majority of suffers are women. Despite the condition's frequency, the diagnosis is often missed. Patients with fibromyalgia usually ache all over, sleep poorly, are stiff on waking, and are tired all day. They are prone to headaches, memory and concentration problems, dizziness, numbness and tingling, itching, fluid retention, crampy abdominal or pelvic pain and diarrhea, and several other symptoms.

There are no specific lab or x-ray abnormalities, but a doctor can make the diagnosis by finding tender points in characteristic locations.

Fibromyalgia often runs in families, suggesting an inherited predisposition. It may lie dormant until triggered by an infection, injury, stress, or sleep disturbance. It is closely related to the chronic fatigue and irritable bowel syndromes and to migraines. Some have suggested that these are all just different facets of the same underlying disorder.

What causes it?

Fibromyalgia was once thought to be an inflammatory condition and later a psychiatric one, but neither of these causes now appears likely. There isn't any reliable evidence to support fibromyalgia as having inflammation or arthritis at it's core. When depression and anxiety occur they are more often the result than the cause of fibromyalgia. Patients with fibromyalgia are no more likely to be depressed than patients with other chronic painful disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. Spinal fluid levels four times normal of the main pain neurotransmitter substance P suggest that the pain is not imaginary.

We still do not know exactly what causes fibromyalgia, but we know much more than we did a few years ago. Several good theories have been proposed and much scientific data gathered. One leading theory links fibromyalgia with an abnormality of deep sleep. Fibromyalgia patients often note that not getting enough sleep or even just staying up an hour late makes their fibromyalgia symptoms worse the next day. Abnormal brain waveforms have been found in deep sleep in many patients with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia-like symptoms and tender points can be produced in normal volunteers by depriving them of deep sleep for a few days. Low levels of growth hormone, important in maintaining good muscle and other soft tissue health, have been found in patients with fibromyalgia. This hormone is produced almost exclusively in deep sleep, and its production is increased by exercise. Daily exercise has been found to be an important part of treatment of fibromyalgia along with steps taken to improve sleep.

Fibromyalgia is also associated with certain immune system changes. These do not appear to be of the auto immune kind seen in some unrelated disorders like multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, but rather the immune system appears as if fighting a virus. No virus has been convincingly demonstrated, and the fact that fibromyalgia does not appear to be contagious (for example, it is no more common in spouses of affected patients than in the general population) argues against an infectious cause.

What can you do about fibromyalgia?

1. Medication to improve deep sleep.
2. Regular sleep hours and an adequate amount of sleep.
3. Daily gentle aerobic exercise and stretching.
4. Avoidance of over exertion and stress.
5. Treatment of any coexisting sleep disorders.
6. Patient education.

Medication by itself is of little value in treating fibromyalgia.
Successful treatment demands the patient's active involvement in treatment as well as lifestyle changes. Each of the six parts of treatment above is important. If any one is omitted, the chance of significant improvement is considerably reduced.

Comments

From: Dee Skoland
Thanks so much for the info on Fibromyalgia.  A very dear friend of mine has  been battling this for years.  5 unsuccessful back surgeries and countless  treatments for chronic back pain.  She switched psychiatrists and she was  diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  Can't tell you what the label itself did for  her.  At last everyone would know it was not imagined, her pain and other  symptoms, including severe depression had a name and it is real! Her best  results so far have been with lidacaine(phonetic sp) injections.  She also  has started a local support group.  With the support group came a perk of  being able to use our new health club facilities.

Your article brought out many of these treatments as being successful and I  will share the article with her in order to encourage her to stay on track. Thanks so much:-) I hope other women and family members of fibromyalgia patients will gather  engouragement as well! Dee

Fibromyalgia Support

Meet the Author
"The Tao of Meow"
by Deb Wood
hosted by Eva Spataro, creator of Pet Corner
donating a kidney triggered Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia
As author Deb Wood says, "Cats are perhaps the ultimate Taoists, and they teach us many of the philosophy's lessons....My lessons about qi (universal life energy) and Taoism (a philosophy that believes there is a universal energy that flows through all living things that encompasses, permeates and governs the universe) actually started when I faced a serious illness. When I donated a kidney to one of my brothers, I unfortunately became very ill after the surgery. Somehow, donating the kidney triggered Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia, a very painful illness in which I experienced a lot of muscle pain.

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia: The Revolutionary Treatment That Can Reverse The Disease
Fibromyalgia: A comprehensive Approach
FREE Fibromyalgia info
FREE Tender Point Chart

Meet the author
Miryam Williamson
"Fibromyalgia: A comprehensive Approach"
hosted by Sue Spataro, RN, BSN

interview & FREE Tender Point Chart

Fibromyalgia has long been a mystery to its victims and the medical community.    Because it mimics other diseases and conditions it  is usually very hard to diagnosis.  But the people who have it know something is wrong with their bodies and can spend both years and money trying to find out what is wrong with them. Thanks to medical pioneers, like author Miryam Williamson who wrote Fibromyalgia: A Comprehensive Approach, there is both hope and treatment in the area of FM. In this interview, she shares with us her thoughts on: What is Fibromyalgia; Fibromyalgia & Sleep disorders; The diagnosis of FM; Miryam's Personal Story; Trigger Points in FM; FM & Perimenopause and a FREE Book Excerpt: "What you can do about chronic pain and fatigue" with FREE tender point chart.

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia:
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The author, R. Paul St. Amand, M.D says, ". This book is specific for treating fibromyalgia. We are specific about actual reversal of the illness, not merely applying chemical bandaids that mask symptoms. We cannot change the genetic abnormalities of the disease but we attack the proximal results of the defect with an old and safe medicine: guaifenesin."

The Arthritis Bible:
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The Fibromyalgia Handbook

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Fibromyalgia, with its constant, severe muscular pain, relentless fatigue, disturbed sleep, and feelings of depression, affects more than 10 million Americans, mostly women ages forty to fifty or older. This commonly misdiagnosed and misunderstood syndrome is the most common arthritis-related disease next to osteoarthritis.