Fibromyalgia
By Aleck Disalvo
What is it?
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes widespread pain, fatigue, soft spots, and more. It usually occurs with woman between the ages of 20 and 50, but it can occur in men. Most people affected by fibromyalgia have gone through illness, injuries, or emotional trauma.
Whats going on?
Fibromyalgia patients feel an amplified amount of pain, compared to a normal person. Doctors aren't sure why this is but they do have some theories. One of these is that fibromyalgia patients have an abnormal amount of neurotransmitters( chemicals that send signals across the body in including pain signals). Having more of these can amplify the pain sensation.
Diagnoses
There is no none cause of Fibromyalgia, some think that its transmitted through genes, others thinks it through stress or a traumatic experience. To get diagnosed you need to feel widespread muscular pain, fatigue, sleep problems and need to feel pain in at least 4 of these soft spots.
Symptoms
Some symptoms of Fibromyalgia include:
- Fatigue
- Widespread pain
- Sleep disturbed by pain, and wake up tired
- Anxiety/depresion
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Tmj disorders
- Chronic muscle pain
Who has it?
In America 10,000,000 people have fibromyalgia. That equals to about 3% of americans. Most of those are women between the ages of 20 and 50.
Treatment
There is no cure for fibromyalgia, but there are ways to treat it. Lots of sleep, exercise, stress relief methods, healthy lifestyle choices, and medications. These include antidepressants, pain relievers, and sleep aids.
Fibromyalgia