Fibromyalgia and Treatment
Fibromyalgia is a long-lasting or chronic disorder that causes muscle pain and fatigue (feeling tired). If you have fibromyalgia, you have pain and tenderness throughout your body.
How is Fibromyalgia Treated?
Fibromyalgia can be treated with medicines, lifestyle changes, and complementary therapy. However, fibromyalgia can be hard to treat. It’s important you find a physical therapist who is familiar with the disorder and its treatment.
Making lifestyle changes can also help you manage your fibromyalgia, including:
- Getting enough sleep.
- Exercising.
- Adjusting your work demands.
- Eating well.
You can also try complementary therapies such as:
- Physical therapy.
- Massage therapy.
- Movement therapy.
- Diet supplements.
Who gets Fibromyalgia?
Anyone can get this disorder, though it occurs most often in women and often starts in middle age. If you have certain other diseases, you may be more likely to have fibromyalgia. These diseases include:
- Rheumatoid arthritis.
- Systemic lupus erythematosus (commonly called lupus).
- Ankylosing spondylitis (spinal arthritis).
If you have a family member with fibromyalgia, you may be more likely to get the disorder.
What are the Symptoms of Fibromyalgia?
The symptoms of fibromyalgia are pain and tenderness throughout your body. Other symptoms may also include:
- Trouble sleeping.
- Morning stiffness.
- Headaches.
- Painful menstrual periods.
- Tingling or numbness in hands and feet.
- Problems with thinking and memory (sometimes called “fibro fog”).
What Causes Fibromyalgia?
Doctors don’t know the exact cause of fibromyalgia. Researchers continue to study fibromyalgia and think the following events may contribute to the cause of the disorder:
- Stressful or traumatic events, such as car accidents.
- Repetitive injuries.
- Illness.
- Certain diseases.
Sometimes, fibromyalgia can develop on its own. Fibromyalgia tends to run in families, and some scientists think that a gene or genes could make you more likely to develop fibromyalgia. The genes could make you react strongly to things that other people would not find painful.
Are there Any Tests for Fibromyalgia?
Currently there aren’t any laboratory tests to diagnose fibromyalgia.
Healthcare providers use guidelines to help diagnose fibromyalgia, which can include:
- A history of widespread pain lasting more than 3 months.
- Physical symptoms including fatigue, waking unrefreshed, and cognitive (memory or thought) problems.
- The number of areas throughout the body in which you had pain in the past week.
If you are looking for someone with experience treating fibromyalgia, we can help.
Give us a call at (580) 920-2231
