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Fibromyalgia - symptoms


 
So what is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome, meaning that it is a collection of symptoms that occur together, and not all patients have all of the symptoms.
Women are affected more than men, and it also occurs in children.
Fibromyalgia means "pain in muscles and fibres”. 
Diagnosis is made by the presence of tender swollen areas that hurt when a small amount of pressure is applied.
However, not all patients have significant pain, for some fatigue is the primary complaint. Other symptoms include headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bladder, vulvar pain, pain during intercourse, chronic infections, poor quality or brittle nails, poor hair growth or loss, and excessive tartar on their teeth, problems with memory and concentration, feeling ‘hung over’ most of the time, nervousness, depression, sensitivity to sound, light and odours, lack of co-ordination, balance problems. A subset suffers from hypoglycemia and weight gain. As the problem progresses, they become increasingly immobilised and depressed; in later years, they often develop osteoarthritis, diabetes, memory loss and other conditions.

There is a huge range of symptoms in this syndrome.  Browse through this list – you may recognise some, or most of them – you may recognise things you had not linked to your illness (like poor hair / nails).
 
Central Nervous System: Fatigue, irritability, nervousness, depression, apathy, listlessness, impaired memory and concentration, anxieties and suicidal thoughts. Insomnia and frequent awakening due to pain result in non restorative sleep.

Musculoskeletal: Pain and generalised morning stiffness could arise from muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia of the shoulders, neck, entire back, hips, thighs, knees, ankles, feet, inner and outer elbows, wrists, fingers, and chest. Injured or old operative sites are commonly affected. Though fibromyalgia is described as a “non-articular” disease many know better: Joint pains with or without swelling, redness and heat are frequent. The litany includes foot or calf cramps, numbness and tingling of the face or extremities.
Irritable Bowel: (Often called leaky gut, spastic colon or mucous colitis). Symptoms include nausea (often brief, repetitive waves), indigestion, gas, bloating, pain, cramps, constipation alternating with diarrhoea and sometimes mucous stools.

Genitourinary: Common are pungent urine, frequent urination, bladder spasms, burning urination (dysuria) with or without repeated bladder infections and interstitial cystitis. Vulvodynia (vulvar pain syndrome) includes vaginal spasms, irritation of the vaginal lips (vulvitis) or opening (vestibulitis) and painful intercourse (dyspareunia). It typically mimics a yeast infection but without the cottage-cheese discharge. Intense PMS and uterine cramping are common. Symptoms of fibromyalgia are worse premenstrually.

Dermatological: Various rashes may appear with or without itching: Hives, red blotches, itchy bumps or blisters, eczema, seborrheic or neurodermatitis, and rosacea. Nails are often brittle and of poor quality and hair falls out prematurely. Strange sensations are common such as cold, heat (especially palms, soles and thighs), crawling, electric vibrations, prickling, super-sensitivity to touch, and flushing that is sometimes accompanied by sweating.

Head, Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat: Headaches (migraines), dizziness, vertigo (spinning) or imbalance; dry eyes as well as itching and burning with or without sticky or crusty discharge upon awakening; blurred vision; nasal congestion and post-nasal drip; painful, burning tongue, mouth and abnormal tastes (scalded, bad or metallic); ringing in the ears (tinnitus) or lower-pitched sounds; ear and eyeball pain; sensitivity to light, sounds and odours.

Miscellaneous Symptoms: Weight gain; low grade fever; lowered immunity to infections; morning eyelid and hand swelling from fluid retention that gravitates to the lower extremities by evening where it stretches tissues causing the restless leg syndrome.

 

What causes Fibromyalgia?
Dr St Armand (yes he is a proper doctor – working in America) believes that it is an inherited condition.
 He thinks that the condition is caused by the gradual build up of phosphates in your tissues. The build up might completely stop at some times and you seem well.  Usually there is some sort of ‘trigger’ (an illness, an accident, some sort of trauma) that causes the excess build up and the muscles to stop working and you get sick.  
 
What is the difference between Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
Chronic Fatigue is a symptom of Fibromyalgia.
All pain is diagnosed by a subjective scale - "Does this hurt?" If a person has a high pain threshold, "this" wouldn't necessarily hurt. Yet CFS patients have all the cognitive symptoms and many others of classic fibromyalgia. They don't fit the usual FM classification because pain is a minor rather than major complaint. It doesn't however make their illness different than ours.
 
 
 


 
This site is maintained by Princesskitten - always available for tips, commissions and advise.  Don't be shy - just contact me.
 
 
 


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