Many of us have faced bodily pain for a long time. Not caused due to any injuries. You may not be able to focus on carrying out your daily activities. Some might even get affected with mental distress. These chronic conditions have become common among 2-4% of people worldwide. This condition is hard to diagnose, it takes a lot of time to understand the cause. It takes several test procedures to identify the disease. It is fibromyalgia. As per the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), adults aged over 18 years have experienced fibromyalgia in their lifetime. Fibromyalgia is very common in women than in men. Read on to know more about the symptoms, causes, and treatment methods for fibromyalgia.
What are the symptoms?
Widespread bodily pain and fatigue are the commonly found symptoms among fibromyalgia patients. Irregular sleep patterns, joint pains, and muscle pains in the morning can also include in the symptoms. That’s why fibromyalgia and rheumatoid are always confused.
People aged over 45 years have got the symptoms including:
- Headaches
- Morning stiffness
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Painful menstrual periods
- Difficulty in focusing and memory problems
- Fatigue
As this chronic pain condition leads to mental distress, some patients have also shown the symptoms like depression and anxiety.
Other rare symptoms are
- Skin problems
- Dizziness
- Weight gain
- Chest pain
- Breathing problems
- Pelvic pain
Nobody can come up with a conclusion until they follow proper diagnostic methods recommended by the physician. So don’t confuse or overthink about “do I have fibromyalgia?” Such mental pressures often create room for other illnesses.
What causes fibromyalgia?
The exact cause of fibromyalgia is still unknown. However, based on some patients conditions, the following are the possible risk factors identified so far:
- Those who have suffered from rheumatoid arthritis are more likely to suffer from fibromyalgia.
- Repetitive injuries are the causes for chronic pain condition in few.
- It can be hereditary too. Many women have a higher risk of developing fibromyalgia because of the way their gene reacts to the pain.
How to diagnose?
There are no proper diagnostic procedures to identify this disease. But still, a self-diagnosis can help minimize the risks involved. Consult your doctor if you suffer from pain in any body part for at least 3 months.
If you don’t meet with an accident but if you’ve got the pain for 3 months or more, then a thorough diagnosis is necessary.
Unsatisfactory sleep, cognitive disorders, and levels of fatigue help confirm fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia often has symptoms that are similar to other conditions like hyperthyroidism, so diagnostic methods related to this can be followed by your doctor.
Is fibromyalgia treatment effective?
It may be confusing to choose the effective treatment method available. But as every patient showed a different set of symptoms, an individual treatment plan is necessary to get effective results. In my humble opinion, only treatments can help manage fibromyalgia otherwise it is difficult to live with.
Some common treatments include:
- Acupuncture
- Psychotherapy to overcome mental stress
- Body massage
- Active and simple exercises
- Low-dose drugs to treat depression, still not the first choice for many doctors
Can dietary measures help?
Significant changes in the lifestyle help improve the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Follow these diet tips to manage fibromyalgia.
Foods that have gluten can increase pain and inflammation, so try to take gluten-free foods.
Tiredness is often an unmanageable thing; it will make it difficult to carry out day-to-day activities. Therefore, to increase the energy levels safely, adding foods such as oatmeal, avocado, almonds, etc. to your daily diet can help (remember to avoid sugar). These foods contain plenty of fiber and can help boost energy throughout the day.
If you have obesity and fibromyalgia, then it is a must to lose weight healthily. This is because; patients who have lost weight have shown great improvements in pain symptoms.
Final thoughts
There is no proper cure for fibromyalgia, yet there are more effective treatment methods available. Most of you have come across the term called “tender points”, but these are no longer used in the diagnosis. I have not talked about this in my article here, but if you’re interested in learning more about “tender points” then visit here.
