Living and Coping With Fibromyalgia

The Cycle of Pain for this Chronic Ailment May Require Emotional Support

Diagnosis is Difficult

Fibromyalgia is a chronic and painful condition that is extremely hard to diagnose.

The primary symptoms include constant pain and stiffness in the musculoskeletal parts of the body, soft tissue tenderness and sleep disturbances which can lead to extreme tiredness. The pain is mostly felt in the neck, back, pelvic girdle and hands, though other parts of the body may be affected as well. 

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disease that is very hard to diagnose because many of its symptoms mimic other problems such as chronic fatigue, rheumatism and arthritis. For this reason, doctors must rely a great deal on the patient's description of symptoms. 

Standardized Test Help Confirm the Existence of the Conditiion

A manual standardized test can be given to discover if there is pain at specified points of the body. If 11 out of 18 of these specified points are tender, and the patient has had pain in all four quadrants of the body for at least three months, then fibromyalgia is suspected.

A compounding problem is that these symptoms can come and go from week to week. Numbness, tingling and burning may also be present, and the pain can be affected by emotional stress, trauma and even by weather conditions such as humidity and cold. Sometimes too little or too much activity can also play a part in the amount of pain experienced.

Fibromyalgia can be triggered by an illness or injury, but it is also thought to be genetic. New research has shown that it might be caused by an interpretive defect of the central nervous system that causes abnormal pain perception.

Relieving the Symptoms

Once the condition has been diagnosed, there are things the patient can do to relieve the symptoms. Certainly the advice of a medical health-care provider should be sought and followed, but there are many alternative treatments that offer relief from the symptoms, and most doctors agree that sufferers of fibromyalgia should put into place a multi-faceted treatment regimen that includes nutrition, exercise, dietary supplements, acupuncture, aroma-therapy, relaxation techniques and even the use of hot-cold therapies and humor to aid in pain relief.

Over the counter pain relief medication such as ibuprofen can be used, while low doses of anti-depressants from the doctor can help the sufferer to get better sleep. Lidocaine injections into tender pain points may also be needed for relief. Gentle exercise and stretching will prevent the muscles from wasting away and is also beneficial in reducing pain and stiffness

Seeking Emotional Support

Because living with a chronic illness such as fibromyalgia can be so debilitating, sufferers need emotional support as well as physical remedies. Joining an FM support group can provide helpful insights into the disease, while counseling sessions with a trained professional can open communication with friends and family who often cannot understand the extensive disabilities caused by this syndrome.

If you are an FM sufferer, it is important to keep a hopeful attitude even in the face of debilitating pain, because the good news is that this disease does tend to improve over time, with new and different treatments being discovered. So try to keep the faith.