What are the symptoms of fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is characterized by a number of symptoms. The biggest symptom of fibromyalgia is widespread and chronic body pain. This is caused by the over-sensitization of the central nervous system to pain signals from various parts of the body. This chronic pain can also lead to depression and mood swings in addition to affecting a person’s ability to interact properly in social situations.

Fibromyalgia also affects the cognitive ability of a person. Patients suffering from this disease reported difficulty in the ability to concentrate on their tasks. They also find it difficult to perform more than a single task at one time.

In addition to these problems, fibromyalgia also causes irregularities in the sleep patterns of a patient. People suffering from fibromyalgia report feeling tired even after long periods of continuous sleep.

The reason for this is that they are not actually getting a long period of continuous sleep. Rather, the sleep of a patient suffering from fibromyalgia is interrupted several times during the night.

This can be due to many reasons. The first of these is sleep apnea which is caused by irregularity in the breathing patterns while a person is sleeping. In sleep apnea, a person’s breathing is very irregular and may even stop for a number of seconds causing them to awaken. This period of wakefulness is too small to be remembered and a person cannot recall it once they are fully awake.

However, as sleep has been interrupted several times the body and brain continue to feel fatigued and all the regular problems that are associated with sleep deprivation can be seen clearly. Other problems that cause interrupted sleep are the chronic pain associated with fibromyalgia and other conditions like restless leg syndrome, muscle spasms, and tremors.

What can cause fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a very complicated disease. This is because it is a disease of the central nervous system. The main cause of fibromyalgia is thought to be an over sensitization or abnormal sensitization of the central nervous system in response to certain stimuli that are received from the sensory centers of the body.

This causes patients with fibromyalgia to have a central nervous system that overreacts to even the slightest impulses of pain giving rise to chronicle widespread body pain that cannot be pinpointed to a single cause.

Fibromyalgia is also thought to be genetically linked and may be hereditary. This disease and seem to be more common in people whose relatives have it than those who do not. There are also several triggers that are thought to begin the problems associated with fibromyalgia.

Among these are physiological and psychological stresses that are endured during physical injury or mental stresses. A lot of the patients suffering from fibromyalgia also have some kind of posttraumatic stress disorder or others psychological problem.  It is also thought that injuries to the head and neck can cause a patient to develop this disease.

Food additives & fibromyalgia

In order to properly combat any disease, it is important to ensure that the diet is right.  You are what you eat is a maxim that can be applied not only to the gyms but also to hospitals.  One of the most common problems that is seen in people suffering from fibromyalgia is the disruption of the gastric system. Irritable bowel syndrome is very common among patients with fibromyalgia.

The best way to control and minimize the symptoms of fibromyalgia is to take a diet that is rich in fiber and completely balanced. This will greatly help in reducing any gastric distress and digestive problems which can go a long way in mitigating the other symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Food additives are constantly put in our food in order to enhance the flavor or the color or other superficial characteristics. These food additives such as MSG among others, cause severe problems that are very difficult to detect in their initial stages.

The harmful effects of food additives tend to accumulate over time and then present themselves when it is much too late and the problem has grown too much. It is important to avoid food additives as much as possible in order to minimize the risk of developing fibromyalgia later in life.

In case a person is already suffering from fibromyalgia, it is important to make significant lifestyle changes, one of the most important of which is diet.  A healthy and balanced diet has very little if any room for food additives.