Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia means pain in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons – the soft fibrous tissues in the body. The primary symptoms of fibromyalgia are chronic widespread muscular pain, severe fatigue and sleep disturbances.  People with fibromyalgia will feel severe tenderness and pressure in the neck, spine, shoulders and hips and will have difficulty wearing heavy clothing or carrying shoulder bags.

Many people with fibromyalgia also experience additional symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome (or alternating diarrhea and constipation), irritable bladder, numbness or tingling in the feet and hands, cognitive and memory problems (often called “fibro fog”), pelvic pain, restless leg syndrome, sensitivity to noise and temperature, anxiety, and depression.

Some people feel more pain when they try to relax and less when they are active, busy or exercising. Most patients with fibromyalgia say that they ache all over. Their muscles may feel like they were pulled or overworked. Sometimes fibromyalgia symptoms include muscle twitches and burning sensations. More women than men are afflicted with fibromyalgia, and it shows up in people of all ages.

To better understand what it is like, think back to the last time you had a bad flu. Every muscle in your body shouted out in pain. In addition, you felt devoid of energy as though someone had unplugged your power supply.

While the severity of symptoms fluctuates from person to person, fibromyalgia may resemble a post-viral state. This similarity is the reason experts believe that fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may actually be the same condition. Gulf War syndrome also overlaps with FMS/CFS.

Common symptoms of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome:

• Pain - The pain of fibromyalgia has no boundaries. People describe the pain as deep muscular aching, throbbing, shooting, and stabbing. Intense burning may also be present. Quite often, the pain and stiffness are worse in the morning and you may hurt more in muscle groups that are used repetitively.
• Fatigue - This symptom can be mild in some fibromyalgia patients and yet incapacitating in others. The fatigue has been described as "brain fatigue" in which patients feel totally drained of energy. Many patients depict this situation by saying that they feel as though their arms and legs are tied to concrete blocks, and they have difficulty concentrating, e.g., brain fog.
• Sleep disorder - Most fibromyalgia patients have an associated sleep disorder called the alpha-EEG anomaly.

Pain and tenderness in the so-called "tender points" are the defining characteristics of fibromyalgia, so medical care providers focus on the features of the pain to distinguish it from other rheumatic disorders.

What Causes Fibromyalgia?

No one knows what causes fibromyalgia. However, we do know that people with fibromyalgia can have abnormal levels of Substance P in their spinal fluid, a chemical that helps transmit and amplify pain signals to and from the brain. For the person with fibromyalgia, it is as though the “volume control” is turned up too high in the brain's pain processing areas. Current studies are underway to examine how the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system) process pain and the role Substance P and other nerve transmitters play.

For more information about fibromyalgia, visit the following web sites:

National Fibromyalgia Association

Association of Rheumatology Health Physicians

For tips for serving customers who have fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, please visit:

http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/fibr.htm

Updated September, 2009 by Cassy Polen, Disability Program Navigator.