What is Fibromyalgia

Fibro Active

What causes Fibromyalgia?

Sadly, the cause of Fibro is still unknown which means there is no cure. However, it is estimated that it effects 1 in 25 of us around the world with 80 to 90% of sufferers being women and to make it more complicated we all suffer differently, so what medication might work for one may not for another.

Fibro Active do not promote the use of medication for Fibromyalgia and are not GP’s therefore unable to recommend medication especially with the complications of side effects, taking meds for other conditions and we all react differently. You should never take another person’s medication and always consult your GP before you try any promising ‘miracle cure!’ That being said Fibro Active do have a team of specialists that can help you manage your pain and symptoms using gentle exercise, nutrition and lifestyle advice and emotional support.

How do people get Fibromyalgia?

The main two causes have been narrowed down to a viral infection such as glandular fever, mumps and campylobacter or a trauma this could be an accident, an operation, childbirth, the death of a loved one or long term chronic stress. It is also recognised that it is hereditary so there is a great possibility you may be able to trace it up the line if you started with symptoms as a child.

Although many sufferers have been able to trace symptoms back to their childhood, diagnosis for many wasn’t until their 30’s or 40’s. Remember being told you have growing pains? Now you are 35 and you keep telling yourself you have growing pains!

How is Fibromyalgia diagnosed?

There are limited ways to be diagnosed as blood tests would come back normal apart from in some cases Vitamin D would be low. Symptoms in the initial stages can be adhock so you wouldn’t necessarily link them together. Wide spread pain for 3 months or more is a key indicator and GP’s use Tender Points to help them diagnose. There are 18 Tender Points around the body. They are areas on your body that feel sensitive and bruised like you have banged into something and has left you with an invisible bruise.

Trigger Points

Trigger points are not to be confused with tender points. Common areas of trigger points include the head and back of the neck, the main joints of the legs and under the feet.

Trigger points are primarily due to myofascial constriction. Chronic myofascial pain (CMP), also called myofascial pain syndrome, is a painful condition that affects the muscles and the sheath of the tissue called the fascia that surround the muscles. CMP can involve a single muscle or a group of muscles. Trigger points occur over many areas of the body and often in layers.

What is a Flare?

A Flare is an increase in severity of your normal daily coping symptoms. This can happen through a change in the weather, exceeding your limitations, illness such as cold or flu, shock or even a change of routine.

10 Things that Contribute to Fibro Flare

1. Weather Changes
2. Over-exertion
3. Stress
4. Illness or injury
5. Hormonal changes
6. Temperature changes
7. Lack of or changes in sleep routine
8. Treakment changes
9. Travelling
10. Individual sensitivies

Managing your symptoms

Before proceeding it is essential to make sure you are ready for this! It’s all about where you are at and how you approach this.

There are two ways you can manage your symptoms and these methods subsequently rely heavily on your focused perspective.

Give yourself the best quality of life you can have under the circumstances by adapting your lifestyle and reducing your stress. It’s not about fighting the illness it’s about managing it, planning, accepting that a flare day is a recovery day not a setback, understanding the consequences of exceeding your limitations, it’s bite sized steps tiptoeing along so that you don’t awake the ‘alien’ inside you.

The choice is yours!

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

The main symptoms of FM are pain, fatigue, broken sleep, IBS and Fibro Fog.  It is very easy for people to judge when they do not have Fibro. It is an invisible illness.

Pain

Fibro is immediately associated with pain as it is one of the predominant symptoms. However, long term chronic pain causes long term damage to our health. It’s not just the odd headache here and there and a bit of back or joint pain. There are over 7 different types of pain. Some wide spread, some localised some rotating round your body. Pain in whichever form is always there 24/7 it is regularly exacerbated into a flare by the slightest stress or trying to do simple tasks like preparing food, walking, or reaching for an item that you have dropped. It could be triggered by environmental factors such as noise or smell, which in turn trigger other symptoms like chronic fatigue, allergies, flu like symptoms and inflamed glands.

Pain Threshold

Pain threshold is not the same as pain tolerance. Many people with Fibro have lived with chronic pain for years and have learned to adapt to the pain, which in turn can increase pain tolerance.

The threshold means the point in which pain or symptoms occur – which happens to be more quickly and more intensely for people with Fibro.

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

There are over 200 different symptoms! To read more about these symptoms, just click on any of the topics below. We will be adding more as time progresses, so please come back to read more on this.