Imagine living life feeling pain all over. Seems unimaginable, isn’t it? Well, that’s exactly what happens to people suffering from fibromyalgia. It’s a health condition in which the individual experiences pain in different parts of their body. Usually, it comes with other symptoms like extreme sleeping or tiredness and memory or mood problems. They negatively impact your ability to engage in daily activities. What we have observed while diagnosing and treating this condition for years is that patients exhibit a hyper-vigilance to pain. They are extremely sensitive and highly aware of it. Our Fibromyalgia treatment helps relieve pain and prevent its symptoms from worsening.
Most people in the age group of 35 to 45 years are diagnosed with this condition. Women more than men are at risk of developing fibromyalgia. Apart from them, obese people, smokers, and those who have other conditions related to joints are vulnerable to it. The chances of fibromyalgia are also greater for those who have a close relative experiencing this condition. People who have had or have brain or spinal cord and emotional trauma also have an enhanced risk of developing this chronic condition.
The most prevalent signs of fibromyalgia include the following:
- Tiredness and fatigue
- Stiffness and pain in every part of the body.
- Anxiety and depression.
- Problems in sleeping
- Problems with memory, concentration, and thinking.
- Migraines and headaches.
- Numbness or tingling sensation in feet or hands
- Pain in jaw or face. Patients might develop a jaw disorder called a temporomandibular joint syndrome.
- Digestive issues like bloating, abdominal pain, and constipation.
Risk Associated by Fibromyalgia Attack
Over 10 million Americans live with Fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, these people are also at a higher risk of having various other conditions. Below are some of the common complications associated with this illness.
- Disorders like Spondylitis, Osteoarthritis
A majority of people (one-quarter) with Rheumatoid arthritis, spondylitis, and other such inflammatory auto-immune diseases feel fibromyalgia symptoms. You cannot call Fibromyalgia an inflammatory condition. However, disorders like arthritis, spondylitis and other such diseases may raise the possibility of fibromyalgia. We are still trying to understand the nature of this connection.
- Emotional trauma
The symptoms of fibromyalgia range from mild to severe. What we cannot deny, though, is that these symptoms affect the patient’s life, particularly their personal and work life immensely. Thus, we notice most patients experience emotional distress. Our mind and body are intimately connected. They affect each other in not one but a couple of ways. Naturally, the higher pain you feel in your body, the more stressed your state of mind will become. In fibromyalgia, the continuous feeling of physical discomfort adversely affects the psyche of the patient.
- Infections like hepatitis C, Lyme disease, and Parvovirus
Researchers have spent most of their lives trying to understand the possible links between fibromyalgia and the hepatitis virus. The condition is more than simple pain. It is also connected with several viruses like hepatitis C and Hepatitis B, which result in cirrhosis of the liver, a serious disease with the potential to cause significant pain.
- Genetic and family predisposition
It’s well-known that pain conditions run in families. That’s why many people ask us if fibromyalgia is hereditary. The cause for concern is understandable. Nobody would want to pass this painful condition to their children.
Currently, we know that many people are genetically susceptible to fibromyalgia. However, apart from genetics, other causal factors also trigger this condition. Environmental exposure and a history of traumatic events are some crucial factors that lead to fibromyalgia.
Another risk associated with fibromyalgia is that of Lyme disease, both of whose symptoms are quite similar. In Lyme disease, too, you will feel fatigued, have extreme arthritis pain, sleep issues, and problems concentrating. The association of fibromyalgia with Parvovirus B19 infection is also suggested. Yet, we are still trying to uncover the precise relation between the two. In many cases, fibromyalgia develops after Parvovirus. However, we still need more evidence to validate the results.
Treatment Options for Fibromyalgia at Advanced Pain Care
We highly recommend you connect with a specialist at Advanced Pain Care the moment you start experiencing the symptoms. We have a multidisciplinary team for fibromyalgia pain management that determines the diagnosis according to what they see, what the patient reports to them, and what they identify after a thorough examination. We ask patients exactly where they feel the pain. It’s an effective method of finding whether the patient really suffers from fibromyalgia or any other condition like arthritis.
As fibromyalgia is essentially a nerve-induced process, specialists use medicines to alleviate nerve hypersensitivity. They also use medicines approved by the FDA, like Cymbalta, Savella, and Lyrica. These medicines minimize nerve-ending pain.
In most cases, we don’t feel the need to use surgery to treat fibromyalgia. However, when a patient’s pain turns unbearable and constant, we recommend neuromodulation or neurostimulation. It is a set of therapies in which medical devices are used to enable the patients to get relief from symptoms.
Our physicians use a multi-faceted approach for fibromyalgia management. It includes medication, self-care strategies, and lifestyle modifications. This approach works significantly in helping patients attain the desired relief from pain and sleeplessness related to this condition. Thus, Fibromyalgia fails to exert an extreme influence over the quality of your life.