Even today, there are few chronic diseases across the globe whose complete cure is unknown to medical science, and unfortunately, Fibromyalgia is one such disease. It is a chronic health issue related to the muscles and bones, which cannot be cured completely, but with proper medicinal treatment, the symptoms of Fibromyalgia can be controlled.
Fibromyalgia causes pain throughout the body muscles and bones. Often the patient feels tired or sleepy, experience mood swings and even face issues with his or her memory. Doctors and researchers refer to this situation as a mental condition as this disease forces our brain to magnify the effect of the pain in the body. This is why the patient becomes more sensitive to body aches and the disease become chronic.
The symptoms of Fibromyalgia might trigger right after having a physical or mental trauma or post a medical or surgical treatment or after an acute infection of any body part. However, in most cases, there is a gradual increase of insignificant symptoms without the knowledge of the patient. This worsens the case as the patient is not aware of the symptoms growing in his or her body. Thus, you need to know the various symptoms of this uncertain illness that can attack your body while you’re unaware.
There is a higher probability of women having Fibromyalgia than men. Most of the time, it is observed that people with this disease have headaches out of tension. Some of them even go into depression and anxiety. A physical problem like bowel issue or constipation and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome can also be there in these patients.
Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
The major symptoms of Fibromyalgia are listed below:
- Tightness in the muscles and unbearable pain in the muscles and bones
- Muscle spasms
- Fatigue even without any work or any physical activity. Mild to an extreme level of fatigue has been observed in affected patients.
- Sleeping disorders, which can even lead to insomnia. Though you feel sleepy and tired, you may not be able to sleep properly.
- Stiffness while changing your position after sitting for extended hours at a stretch. You can also feel the same sensation while walking
- Forgetfulness, mood swings, and issues with concentrating and focusing on a single thing
- Pain in the abdomen, nausea and bloating syndromes
- Frequent diarrhea, indigestion and constipation problem for quite long
- A migraine and tension followed by headaches
- Tenderness in the jaws and the facial parts
- Sensitive or allergic to certain food items, noise, high focus lights or bright lights, medicines, fragrance and even cough and cold.
- Depression can follow a migraine with mental instability in the patient making things worse.
- Numbness or tingling sensation in the arms, feet, legs and even in your face.
- Prone to urinating frequently and unable to hold the urge for urination
- Unable to exercise for long due to unbearable pain
- Swollen feeling even when your hands or your feet have no swelling at all
Causes of Fibromyalgia
There are a variety of reasons which come together to develop this situation in a person. The most important factors influencing this disease are:
- Trauma
It can be a physical injury from some accident or surgery or mental trauma, which can lead to this deadly disease in a person. - Illness or infections
Chronic infection or illness can lead to this disease as the body becomes weak and patients lose mental stability. - Hereditary
Genetic factors play a major role in the onset of this disease.
Diagnosis
Since there is no physical test to detect this uncertain disease, doctors check for tender points on your body and then go for blood tests to chuck out other possible causes of pain.
- Complete blood count (CBC)
- Rheumatoid agents
- Thyroid-stimulating hormones (TSH)
- Sedimentation rate of erythrocyte
Treatment
Medical treatment to control the symptoms of fibromyalgia includes the use of painkillers, antidepressant, and anti-seizure drugs. The mental health which is affected by this disease can be monitored by counseling, occupational as well as physical therapies. Yoga, as well as massage or physiotherapy, can help a lot in this situation and make your body stronger from within. About 80% -90% of the five million American who are affected by fibromyalgia are women. It is mostly observed in people falling in the age group of 18 to 40 years. It is highly advisable to have a medical checkup if you experience prolonged muscle pains as this disease needs to be treated from an early stage.
