Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
Dr.Kut | Jan 23, 2010 | Comments 0
There are many chronic diseases which are very difficult to diagnose because of their symptoms and one of them is Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia affects about 4 percent of people worldwide and it manifests itself as a constant pain all over the body that can easily lead to chronic fatigue. This disease varies from person to person and some may find the pain they experience to be mild but continuous, where in some other cases they have to deal with bursts of severe pain all over the body or on specific areas.
This disease is very painful and although it seems to affect the whole body, it targets the areas of the joints and ligaments, making it very difficult to differentiate it from arthritis. The only difference between the two being that fibromyalgia does not give any signs of swelling of deformation of the ligaments or joints as it happens with arthritis. It is a very silent disease and very difficult to diagnose properly unless you have some understanding of how it actually manifests and the reasons behind the disease.
The symptoms of fibromyalgia may include severe pain all over the body for more than 3 months, sleeping disorders, mood swings, digestive problems like constipation or abdominal pains or bloating, headaches which can turn into migraines as well, numbness or tingling of the limbs, severe fatigue and all the other symptoms related to anxiety and depression. Depression itself can be very dangerous at this stage due to the fact that it can lead to suicidal attempts. A person suffering from fibromyalgia that has not been diagnosed properly may not be getting the right treatment for his or her condition and this in itself is very frustrating.
Lack of proper amounts of calcium in the system may lead to fibromyalgia, and that may be the reason why it affects more women than men. Irregular and painful periods are also a cause for distress in some fibromyalgia patients.
As the pain grows, the sleeping patterns of the patient vary a lot and lack of proper sleep can become the cause for other symptoms to occur in the body at the same time. It is very difficult to actually describe which symptoms do actually belong to the disease and which ones belong to the effects of the pain on the body.
This disease affects people of all ages and it does not have a definite pattern, however, it has been found that people who are inflicted with a traumatic disease or a massive flu may be more susceptible to fibromyalgia than others. The only way of diagnosing the disease is to locate the exact points of tenderness and pain and rule out other problems like Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome and thyroid problems.
The real causes of fibromyalgia are unknown and intensive research is being done to try and pinpoint some of the possibilities to try and contain and alleviate the painful disease. However, up to now this disease remains a mystery and diagnosis of fibromyalgia is not an easy task.
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Filed Under: Bones, Joints and Muscles
