Fibromyalgia
Find out more.
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes pain and tenderness all over the body for a prolonged period of time. It usually shows up in young or middle-aged women. However, anyone can suffer from it.
Symptoms and signs
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome made up of the following symptoms and signs:
- Pain on both sides of the body, above and below the waist, and in the axial spine (frequently the paraspinal, scapular, and trapezius muscles) that lasts for more than three months
- Stiffness
- Fatigue; sleep that is broken up and not restful
- Cognitive difficulties
- Multiple other symptoms that can't be explained, anxiety or depression, and problems with daily activities are used to make a diagnosis.
Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion, which means that other disorders that could cause the same symptoms must be ruled out before fibromyalgia can be confirmed. The clinical evaluation could find objective signs of a separate or coexisting illness, such as:
- Hypothyroidism
- Rheumatic arthritis
- Lupus erythematosus systemic
- Polymyalgia rheumatic
- Other autoimmune or inflammatory diseases
- Serious heart problems manifesting in chest pain, shortness of breath and palpitations
Testing
Even though patients with fibromyalgia don't have typical or consistent abnormalities on laboratory tests, routine laboratory and imaging studies can help rule out diseases with similar symptoms and help diagnose certain inflammatory diseases that often coexist with fibromyalgia. Among these tests are the following:
- Blood differential
- Metabolic panel
- Urinalysis
- Level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of thyroid-stimulating hormone
- Vitamin B12 level
- Iron tests, such as iron level, total iron binding capacity, percent saturation, and serum ferritin level
- Magnesium levels
- Erythrocyte sedimentation rate
Pain management
There is no cure for fibromyalgia, but education, changes in lifestyle, and the right medications can help control the illness better and bring significant improvements.
Cognitive-behavioral and operant-behavioral approaches to managing pain in adults are based on models of pain behaviour that show how biological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioural factors are all interconnected.
Children with fibromyalgia can get better with therapy, exercise, relaxation techniques, and education. For the most part, children don't need medicine.
Ways of pain management that don’t involve medication
- Diet (low FODMAP)
- Stress management
- Aerobic exercises (low-impact aerobics, walking, water aerobics, stationary bicycle)
- Sleep therapy (for example, learning how to sleep well)
- Therapy based on psychology and behaviour (cognitive-behavioral)
Drugs that help manage the pain
When treating fibromyalgia, one should always use both drug and non-drug therapies. It’s imperative to also treat depression resulting from the condition.
Some medicines used to treat fibromyalgia:
- Analgesics (tramadol)
- Skeletal muscle relaxants (tizanidine)
- Antidepressants (amitriptyline, duloxetine, milnacipran, venlafaxine)
- Anticonvulsants (pregabalin, gabapentin)
- Cannabinoids (THC, CBG, CBN)
