Living With Fibromyalgia

by Elizabeth Connick,
staff writer for www.tailoredcontent.com

Fibromyalgia, once considered controversial, is now accepted by the medical community as a very real and serious neuromuscular illness, affecting an estimated 2-5% of the population. There is no specific lab or machine test to definitively diagnose fibromyalgia, and as a result many sufferers go undiagnosed for years.

Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain and fatigue; most sufferers also exhibit chronic insomnia. Other problems often found in conjunction with fibromyalgia are:

Fibromyalgia sufferers are often told to describe the effects of the disease to friends and family as feeling like a really bad case of the flu, with all the exhaustion and achiness that entails, and it's a fairly accurate description.

Fibromyalgia is usually diagnosed by a two-step process. First, other ailments which could be causing the symptoms are ruled out via diagnostic tests. Once alternate causes are eliminated, the disease can be definitively diagnosed by a physician experienced in fibromyalgia through a five-minute test. Eighteen points on the body have been identified as "fibro-points", places which, when pressed firmly, cause significant pain for people with fibromyalgia. If at least eleven of these points are painful, and widespread pain has continued for at least three months, fibromyalgia is indicated.

While fibromyalgia is a chronic illness, the good news is that it is not progressive or life-threatening. The challenge in dealing with the disease is to find a combination of medications, self-care options and coping skills that will make living with fibromyalgia manageable.

Pain and fatigue are usually the most debilitating factors of fibromyalgia. The majority of people with the illness have been demonstrated to have a sleep disorder called alpha-EEG anomaly, Researchers have found that most fibromyalgia patients fall asleep fairly easily but their stage 4 sleep (deep sleep) is continually interrupted by brain activity normally only demonstrated by an awake brain. That's why so many fibromyalgia sufferers wake up in the morning feeling that they have had no rest at all.

Associated with this fatigue is a condition known among those with fibromyalgia as "fibro-fog" - a feeling of "brain fuzziness" that slows down cognitive thinking, interferes with multi-processing and impairs memory. "Fibro-fog" can significantly impair day-to-day activities.

The chronic pain of fibromyalgia can be very debilitating, although the severity of the pain varies from patient to patient, and often from day to day. Most fibromyalgia patients periodically suffer from what they term a "fibro-flare", an occurrence of severe pain which can last for hours or days. When in the grip of a fibro-flare, the ability to function with the pain is seriously impaired.

No one group of drugs or life-style activities is effective for all fibromyalgia patients. Antidepressants can help some sufferers by neutralizing the pain-generating centers of the brain, although they are not always effective. Pain medications can also help in the short term, but are not recommended by most experts for regular, long-term use. Over-the-counter analgesics are sometimes helpful, as is limited exercise, such as walking and gentle water aerobics. Vigorous exercise is generally not recommended, as it can exacerbate fibromyalgia symptoms. Recently the FDA has approved the first drug specifically designated as a treatment for fibromyalgia, and pharmaceutical companies are working on several more.

If you think you may have fibromyalgia, the first step is to speak with your doctor. He or she will probably refer you to a rheumatologist for diagnosis and initial treatment. Fortunately, the ever-growing number of studies and drug research targeting fibromyalgia make the future possibilities far brighter.