The disorder known as fibromyalgia has been defined as a musculoskeletal pain that spreads to all areas of the body and is often paired with several stressful symptoms, including sometime debilitating chronic fatigue, the occasional loss of memory, definite altering of the patient’s mood, affect of sleeping patterns, the creation of various sleeping disorders, and many others.
Fibromyalgia disorder research have showcased that people with fibromyalgia sometimes are affected by heightened pain sensations that may cause the brain to become overly receptive, causing debilitating fatigue in patients. Fibromyalgia is a very odd disorder, with no single cause, and is a serious and difficult disorder to overcome that affects over two percent of the population.
Those that have fibromyalgia oftentimes claim that they experience migraines and severe headaches. These patients will sometimes suffer from a joint disorder known as TMJ, ortemporomandibular joint disorder. There have been documented cases in which patients suffering from fibromyalgia develop irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, which can be paired with the fibromyalgia or possibly even caused by it.
This event has been very rare, however.Constant feelings of anxiety and heavy onset states of depression have been found in those patients with fibromyalgia disorder. While the exact cause of fibromyalgia disorder has not been verifiably identified, it has been noted by many researchers and physicians that case in which the symptoms associated to fibromyalgia have come about oftentimes begin not too long after a patient has gone through some form of a physical trauma or has a recent major surgery.
On some rare occasions patients have reported symptoms of fibromyalgia after they have been dealing with lots of physiological stress for an extended period of time and have had difficulty in coping with it.Additionally, it has been documented in several instances that a patient was suffering from some type of infection before thefibromyalgia symptoms began to take place.
As of right now, there is nocure for fibromyalgia, but there are a few available options to those with the disorder in order to help them better cope with the associated symptoms. The options are quite limited, unfortunately, for those suffering from fibromyalgia but several medications and a few natural or home remedies have proven to be rather successful in treating the symptoms attributed to fibromyalgia, providing temporary relief for a short period of time.
Doctors and physicians often recommend to their patients that they get an adequate amount of exercise during the week, try adopt of a healthy diet, and to use various stress relieving techniques that may help them better cope with their new life with fibromyalgia disorder.
What to Monitor
The similarities between the fibromyalgia disorder and many rheumatic disorders known as autoimmune disorders are uncanny. Rheumatoid arthritis and a disorder that is known as systemic lupus erythematosus are very similar to fibromyalgia. While these ailments are actually diseases, and fibromyalgia does not fit into the category of a disease, the similiarities between them are very hard to deny.
Autoimmune disorders and other diseases like it occur when a person’s immune system is defective and produce the factors, known as autoantibodies, the cells that attack the body’s natural proteins in the tissue. The autoantibodies mistake these proteins as antigens, or unnatural proteins that the body doses not produce itself. Researches have recently identifies a select amount of antibodies found in a large amount of fibromyalgia patients that have affected their hormonal and neurological systems.
While the evidence has amounted to an amount to make an undeniable conclusion, it can be theorized that someone’s defective immune system could be a cause to the development of fibromyalgia.
Post-traumatic stress disorder has long been considered a possible factor of fibromyalgia. A recent study indicated that early incidents in which sexual and physical abuse have been experienced is found in quite a few female patients of fibromyalgia, far greater than those in the general population that have not been subject to such abuses.
This could be an indicator that post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, could be a factor in the development of fibromyalgia for some patients. Post-traumatic stress disorder is described as an anxiety disorder that is severe reaction to some specific traumatizing event in someone’s past. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms are quite numerous and include emotional withdrawal, extreme irritability, constant mood swings, feelings of hopelessness, the inability to concentrate on small tasks, and excessive startled responses to noise.
These symptoms can last for years and are sometimes not able to be treated. Some evidence supports the theory that post-traumatic stress disorder results from significant changes in the brain and could be the result of a long-term overexposure to various stress hormones in the brain and body.
A generalized hypervigilance resulting from several factors, including sleep deprivation, trauma, genetic susceptibility, and biological abnormalities, causes an amplification of sensations felt throughout the body and processed by the brain at a higher rate. Individuals that have been affected by the condition will be overly sensitive to stimulations from outside of the body and will become agitated and constantly preoccupied by the sensations of pain.
One recent study looked to compare three different groups of individuals. The three groups consisted of individuals with fibromyalgia, individuals that had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and individuals that had not been afflicted by either one of the previous disorders. Each of the three groups was given questionnaires in order to assess the individuals’ responses to noise and pain. Out of the three groups, the group that was the least tolerant of the pain and noise and the most attentive to the stimuli was the group of fibromyalgia patients.
Several factors may contribute to the development of fibromyalgia, but none have them have proven to be a primary cause of it. One should be wary of these possible factors and look to stay updated on the information concerning them. Living with fibromyalgia is made even more difficult by the lack of verifiable information concerning the cause and treatment of the disorder, but there is lots of promising research that could soon provide some answers.
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