Is It Just Pain...or Is It Fibromyalgia?
Main Category: FibromyalgiaArticle Date: 18 Feb 2009 - 7:00 PDT
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Months of constant pain, restless sleep and being drained of energy will make anyone seek help. Yet after the doctor has prescribed three different treatment regimens, the pain remains, the sleep is still restless and the body still lacks the proper energy to function. The patient becomes discouraged, as each attempt at healing the problem proves fruitless.
Because its symptoms are quite common and laboratory tests are generally normal, people with fibromyalgia were once told that their condition was 'all in their head,' the Arthritis Foundation says on its website. However, medical studies have proven that fibromyalgia does indeed exist, and it is estimated to affect about 2% of the U.S. population today. Research is being done to identify the causes of fibromyalgia, as well as treatments and a cure. Because the syndrome varies in each patient, an individualized health plan is the best option. These include (but are not limited to) prescription medications, herbal supplements, massage, exercise, healthy eating and physical therapy.
In the accompanying video, Dr. David Ferrera offers details on a new study called the Engage Fibromyalgia Study currently underway that may help Fibromyalgia patients find a treatment option for their condition.
You can view the video here.
Engage Fibromyalgia Study
Visit our fibromyalgia section for the latest news on this subject.
MLA
13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/139484.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/139484.php.
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The Unique Pain Of Fibromyalgia
posted by Dan on 4 Mar 2009 at 2:10 amThe Unique Pain Of Fibromyalgia Syndrome
The experience of pain appears to be a complex phenomenon with humans. The reason for the occurrence of pain can be physical, psychological, or a combination of both of these causes. And how one defines or describes the intensity of the pain they experience varies as much as the types of pain that exist. Although the origin may be the same from one person to another, the experience of pain is, in fact, a subjective emotional response to the sensation and perception of the pain itself.
This is why the syndrome of Fibromyalgia is so difficult to define objectively and treat for health care providers, who are usually primary care physicians. Rheumatologists have said that Fibromyalgia Syndrome is the second most common musculoskeletal diagnosis after osteoporosis.
Fibromyalgia is a very controversial syndrome. Some doubt it is as prevalent as others believe (3 to 6 percent of the population, some have determined). About 80 percent of the sufferers that are diagnosed with fibromyalgia are women. Furthermore, fibromyalgia is not a disease- it is a syndrome. A syndrome is what you call something that has multiple symptoms that occur together. A disease, however, is an actual dysfunction of one’s physiology in some manner.
Fibromyalgia syndrome is considered a muscle condition that involves varying intensities of chronic pain for a prolonged period of time. As a result of this pain which is rather brutal with many sufferers, their physical function becomes limited. In addition, the location of the pain associated with fibromyalgia is determined by the health care provider according to at least 11 of 18 defined tender points at various locations on the human body.
Regardless, fibromyalgia is misunderstood by the medical community overall. To further complicate the subject of fibromyalgia syndrome, some have suggested that the pharmaceutical companies that make the only two medications actually approved for the treatment of fibromyalgia, which are the drug giants Pfizer with their drug Lyrica, and Eli Lilly, the maker of Cymbalta, have conducted what is known as disease mongering.
Disease mongering is when others expand the diagnostic criteria for a particular medical issue though various ways of informing the public of the potential undetected cases of such an issue through advertising, primarily.
Also, another method of disease mongering is though the funding of various related associations and societies through educational grants to be the voice for those who conduct disease mongering with deliberate intent to increase the profit of their medications. There is evidence to support this claim- with more funds from these companies dedicated to advertising much more than grants.
Yet it is clear that fibromyalgia syndrome exists, as there are so many diagnosed with this medical issue that share the same symptoms, which include other symptoms besides pain alone. And it often takes a great deal of time for a patient that has fibromyalgia to receive the correct diagnosis due to the absence of any objective diagnostic testing to assess this syndrome. The fibromyalgia patient often goes through numerous other diagnostic testing, such as blood work and X-Rays, as their doctor orders such tests to rule out other diseases and disorders that may be present with the symptoms expressed with fibromyalgia syndrome.
Variables associated with those diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome include those patients with a history mental illness. They also tend to be overweight and live an inactive lifestyle, overall. Also, there seems to be an association with those diagnosed with fibromyalgia and these patients being in a state of low socioeconomic status.
Also in over 50 percent of those diagnosed with fibromyalgia, the patients are experiencing mental stress, emotional distress, as well as some sort of family conflicts as well. In fact, this stress amplifies the symptoms of fibromyalgia if these emotions are expressing themselves in the fibromyalgia patient. Insomnia is associated with fibromyalgia as well. It appears that mean age of onset of Fibromyalgia is around 40 years old, yet fibromyalgia syndrome can occur at any age.
Aside from systemic pain of varying degrees with the fibromyalgia patient, the patient experiences affective disorders typically. Since the symptoms of fibromyalgia also could indicate other disease states in 25 percent of the patients, usually X-Rays and blood work are examined to rule out other possible causes for the symptoms.
The Journal of the American Medical Association gave these symptoms the name of Fibromyalgia in the mid 1980s, as well as this association publically acknowledging that it is a disabling illness
There is evidence the cause is neurological. Upon examining the spinal fluid of a fibromyalgia patient, their serotonin levels are low, which is a neurotransmitter that has multiple emotional functions, as well as elevations of the neuro-chemical protein called substance P, which is the catalyst for pain. The patients also have elevated levels of what is called nerve growth factor (NGF). NGF is a protein molecule that, when elevated, is also associated with Alzeimer’s disease, and, believe it or not, one falling in love.
Furthermore, some fibromyalgia patents have had their brains scanned for abnormalities that may be present, and their brains in fact have shown varying degrees of structural dysfunction with their brains due to fibromyalgia.
So some suspect not only the cause may be some sort of central nervous system injury, but also there is evidence the syndrome is from some sort of viral infection, it has been reported.
Treatment of the fibromyalgia patient includes not only the drugs mentioned earlier, but also other medications for pain, anxiety, and insomnia in particular. Lifestyle changes are recommended for the fibromyalgia patient, as well as many other treatment methods in order to relieve their discomfort. Physical exercise is appropriately recommended for the fibromyalgia patient as well.
What is perhaps not recommended enough is cognitive or behavioral therapy for the fibromyalgia patient. There seems to be a strong association between fibromyalgia syndrome and psychogenic or psychophysiological causes for their symptoms.
Or, perhaps the fibromyalgia patient is suffering from some sort of guilt for some reason that is amplifies the unfortunate syndrome they are forced to tolerate.
Mea Culpa is Latin, meaning, ‘my fault’.
Pain is a Latin word as well. Its meaning: a fine or penalty.
Further research, however, is needed regarding this unfortunate syndrome experienced by so many others for no solid reason defined yet.
ww.fmaware.org
Dan Abshear
Professionals Are Using New Reasons For Our Pain
posted by Lorraine Jones on 26 Mar 2009 at 7:52 amI just want to say that as I read new info about fibro I'm finding that professionals are using new reasons for our pain. What happened to being abused as a child? What happened to PTSD? What happened to severe continuous jarring of the body? What happened to being continuously beaten from childhood right on up to adulthood? Why are you people taking the REAL reasons of Fibromyalgia and sugar-coating them with soft wording? I know where, how and why Fibro comes from and it isn't from all your new soft words. It's from past child abuse and getting beat, being molested continuously, PTSD, trauma, seeing and experiencing other famikly members go through it before you and having anxiety attacks, panic attacks, Biploar disorder, chronic depression, PTSD, continuous flashbacks, being manic, mood swings, etc. All that from childhood eventually comes out in adulthood and Fibro just happens. No doctor knows why. I'm living proof of that and have had more than one doctor tell me that!
Stop sugar-coating Fibromyalgia and get dowm to the grass roots of our problem and deal with it head on. Otherwise, no one will get the proper help we need!!!!! Stop softening all these diseases and medical problems. If we still called "shell shocked" shell shocked instead of PTSD then the Viet Nam vets would've gotten the help they needed!!!! We can't even call crippled people "crippled" anymore and "crippled" is in the Bible!!!! STOP down-playing how we feel! Fibromyalgia flippin' HURTS!!! And it HURTS 24/7/365/366 in a Leap Year for goodness sake!!! And I MEAN IT HURTS. If you think all these pills help then you are a bunch of sadly mistaken doctors/researchers/scientists/what-have-you becuase they don't work. The only thing that will take my pain away is death. My pain is at a level 9 on the pain scale and I live like that every day. Nothing works. So stop claiming that you have some "pain relief" product, because you don't. My doctors have tried everything under the sun and above the Earth. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. All these "miracle" rubs, creams, ointments, sprays, pads, wraps, patches, pills, and whatever else on TV, in catalogs, and on store shelves, I've tried them ALL. They're all full of lies. The only thing that helps is when I put myself at zero gravity. That isn't often because I have too much to do. Stop making us look foolish and stop sugar-coating the real reasons why we get Fibro. I know the real reasons. Let's get back to them. Inform the public of the real reasons. It started out as child abuse and trauma. Let's get back to that because that's mostly what it is.
One Person's Experience Doesn't Represent Us All
posted by Sandy on 2 Apr 2009 at 8:05 pmMuch sympathy to Lorraine for what she's been through. . . But I have Fibro. My pain is severe 24/7/365 as well. However, I can say UNEQUIVOCALLY that I was never abused. There was nothing spectacular or shocking about my life. My family wasn't even particularly dysfunctional. I can't say why the Fibro started. I don't know any more than anyone else these days. I do know that my personal journey through a painful life started right after I had gall bladder surgery. There was nothing more to it. There's been frustration, of course. Denial, definitely. Medications galore, massage, you name it, I've tried it. And like Lorraine, there's been no relief. All I can hope for is a few hours sleep each night. Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. Just like the pain is different depending on the person, the people who have fibro are different. . .
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