The National Fibromyalgia Association says that as many as ten million people worldwide suffer from the condition of fibromyalgia. It is estimated that seventy-five to ninety percent of them are women.
This leads to the question of whether sex hormones, such as progesterone and estrogen are the cause. However, several studies have been done and have failed to uncover any consistent abnormalities in these hormones in relation to fibromyalgia.
On the other hand, there have been several studies that have actually revealed that low estrogen levels could possibly contribute to the development of fibromyalgia. The most common symptoms of women suffering from fibromyalgia include difficulty sleeping, pain, morning stiffness, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, depression, fatigue, and much more. Once the pain and other symptoms of fibromyalgia set in, they’re likely to last a lifetime in most people.
Research shows that the condition of fibromyalgia is present in around 0.5 to 10 of the world’s population and occurs at a rate of seven times more in women than it does in men. Out of the entire fibromyalgia population, about eighty-five to ninety percent of them are women.
Symptoms of Fibromyalgia and Menstruation
Many women who suffer from fibromyalgia report that they experience extremely painful periods. This condition is known as dysmenorrhea. Many of them also report that their fibromyalgia flare-ups seem to occur around the same time as their periods, or pre-menstrual syndrome (called PMS).
When it comes to this topic, the research is mixed. Some research supports that at least a portion of women do have worsened pain levels at various points in their menstrual cycle. In fact, one small study revealed that women who suffer from fibromyalgia do have more tender points right after their periods than were present in the days leading up to their periods.
You should note that fibromyalgia does cause the normal pain signals in a healthy person to become amplified. This is referred to as hyperalgesia. Whether there is something else going on or not during the menstrual cycle, it is pretty safe to say that the typical discomfort associated with menstruation and pre-menstrual syndrome is much worse for someone suffering from fibromyalgia than it would be with a healthy person.
Fibromyalgia and Menopause
If you do some searching online, you can easily find some women who claim that their symptoms of fibromyalgia became much worse after menopause than they were before. While it true that it does happen with some people, there are currently no studies that prove that these people are in the majority. Some experts state that for about 1/3 of fibromyalgia sufferers- their condition becomes worse over the long term; 1/3 of fibromyalgia sufferers find that their condition stays about the same and the final 1/3 of fibromyalgia suffers actually find their symptoms improving over time.
One study revealed that women suffering from fibromyalgia were likely to have experienced early menopause or had a hysterectomy. The conclusions of this study were such that those could be factors contributing to worsening fibromyalgia.
There is still a lot that is not really known about the way menopause and fibromyalgia relate to one another and how the experience of post-menopausal women with the condition differ from the experience of pre-menopausal women with the condition.
Pregnancy and Fibromyalgia
There has been very little research on the effects of fibromyalgia on pregnancy. The good news is that if the mother is suffering from fibromyalgia, there doesn’t seem to be any negative impacts on the health of the baby.
One study claims that women who suffer from fibromyalgia could possibly be much more likely than healthy women to have smaller babies. The study also revealed that women suffering from fibromyalgia also have:
- A much higher risk of experiencing a miscarriage
- A much higher risk of developing gestational diabetes
- A much higher risk of having too much amniotic fluid
- A much greater risk of having a premature birth
There have been no differences in the rate of Cesarean versus natural births or in the Apgar scores of babies belonging to mothers with fibromyalgia versus mothers without fibromyalgia. The Apgar scores is the measurements that are taken immediately after birth.
One small study looked at the effects of pregnancy on women suffering from fibromyalgia and all but one of the participants reported that her pain- as well as other symptoms of fibromyalgia- were worse during her pregnancy than before she became pregnant or after she gave birth. Thirty- three out of forty women said that their fibromyalgia got worse after they gave birth. Two of the most common post-partum issues were anxiety and depression.
Conclusion
Fibromyalgia does occur much more often in women than in men. As previously stated, nearly 90 percent of the fibromyalgia population is women. Though it is possible that hormonal changes can cause some changes in the symptoms of fibromyalgia, there have been no studies that have proven this to be true.
Women suffering from fibromyalgia may notice that their symptoms get worse after menopause. On the other hand, some women report that their symptoms become better.
Women who are suffering from fibromyalgia may or may not experience difficulties during pregnancy. It is known that moms with fibromyalgia do not pass it on to their babies. Some women say that their pain and other symptoms flare up. Others say that their pain and other symptoms do not flare up.
Further reading
The Menstrual Cycle and Fibromyalgia: http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/fibromyalgia_pms.html
The variation in chronic widespread pain and other symptoms in fibromyalgia patients. The effects of menses and menopause: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16396694
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