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Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disease that affects about 2% of the world’s population, with most of the patients being women. The primary symptoms are painful pressure points around the body, headaches, difficulty sleeping, increased sensitivity to light and sound, and unexplained fatigue.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for this mysterious disease. Scientists still have no idea why some people develop it while others don’t.
Many people who suffer from fibromyalgia also report experiencing a difference in pain levels as the weather changes.
According to a study by Ercolie Bossema, Ph.D. from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, “Many fibromyalgia patients report that certain weather conditions seem to aggravate their symptoms.” These changing weather conditions include precipitation, sunshine, and temperature.
And not just a few sufferers claim that the weather exacerbates their symptoms—nearly 92% cite the phenomenon
Unfortunately, according to Dr. Bossema’s study, their sense of pain might be inflated.
To explain this information further, the team gathered 333 female patients to participate in a study on how weather affects the symptoms of fibromyalgia. The study participants, who had a average age of 47 and had been diagnosed around 2 years prior, answered a detail survey for a 28-day period.
Questions on the survey asked about the women’s pain and fatigue each day, while researchers gathered data on atmospheric pressure, sunshine duration, precipitation, air temperature, and relative humidity from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
The results were interesting: in only 10% of analyses, weather variables showed a significant (but small) effect on pain or fatigue symptoms.
This gave researchers the information they needed to make such claims that the weather doesn’t really affect fibromyalgia much at all.
Dr. Bossema states, “This study is the first to investigate the impact of weather on fibromyalgia symptoms in a large cohort, and our findings show no association between specific fibromyalgia patient characteristics and weather sensitivity.”
Do you agree that the weather doesn’t bother your fatigue and pain symptoms much? It’s important to remember that each case of fibromyalgia is different, so what one line of research says might not have anything to do with your illness.
If you are suffering from fibromyalgia, it’s always best to consult your doctor if you experience any changes in pain levels at any time.
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