Save Yourself from Fibromyalgia

A patient, Mrs. H., wrote me this letter and had sought my medical advice, it reads:

“Dear doctor, I woke up on a Monday morning experiencing pain all over my body. I was rushed to the hospital as I was in severe pain and could not turn my neck sideways. It was like a stiff neck.

“It started in my wrist, radiating to my fingers and slowly made its way up to my elbow and felt bad. I have been experiencing burning and tingling sensation in my hands and my feet. I was sent home when I initially had symptomatic relief.

“My doctor ran some tests, including the test for rheumatoid arthritis — they came back negative. I now have pain in my feet like a crushing sensation, especially in the mornings, back and hip pain and pain in my knee and ankle. My husband thinks it requires local massager/traditional bone doctor. What could be wrong with me?”

I replied her, telling her to send all her test results and the medication she was on. In one of the test results, there was a provisional diagnosis of fibromyalgia, which was in keeping with all her features.

I informed her that I agreed with the provisional diagnosis of the physician and told her to go for a second opinion consultation with a specialist.

Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterised by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, stiffness, sleep disturbance, memory and mood issues. It is pain in the fibrous tissues and muscles.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition, meaning it lasts a long time — possibly a lifetime. However, it may be comforting to know that fibromyalgia is not a progressive disease.

It is never fatal, and it will not cause damage to the joints, muscles, or internal organs. In many people, the condition does improve over time.

For unknown reasons, between 80 and 90 per cent of those diagnosed with fibromyalgia are women; however, men and children can also be affected.

Risk factors: Some risk factors that can either make fibromyalgia more likely, or act as a trigger for the condition, include: physical trauma (damage to the body’s tissues), psychological trauma (an incident that causes emotional damage, such as the death of a loved one), a viral infection (such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV/AIDS), and malaria.

Other risk factors are: being depressed, metabolic disturbances such as an hypothyroidism — when the thyroid gland does not produce enough of the thyroid hormone; inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis — a condition that causes joint pain and stiffness, among others.

Symptoms: The symptoms sometimes begin after a physical trauma, surgery, infection or significant psychological stress. In other cases, symptoms gradually accumulate over time, with no single triggering event.

The symptoms are listed below: chronic muscle pain, muscle spasms, or tightness, fatigue (extreme tiredness), decreased energy, insomnia or waking up feeling just as tired as when you went to sleep, stiffness upon waking or after staying in one position for too long, itchy/burning sensation on the skin.

Other symptoms are difficulty remembering, concentrating, and performing simple mental tasks, abdominal pain, tension or migraine headaches, jaw and facial tenderness, feeling anxious or depressed, numbness or tingling in the face, arms, hands, legs, or feet, increase in urinary urgency or frequency (irritable bladder), reduced tolerance for exercise and muscle pain after exercise, a feeling of swelling (without actual swelling) in the hands and feet.

Treatment

There is no total cure for fibromyalgia, but treatment eases the symptoms and improves the quality of life. As fibromyalgia has a number of different symptoms, no single treatment will work for all of them.

A variety of treatments — normally a combination of medication and lifestyle changes — will improve the quality of life.

Analgesic/pain killers: such as Paracetamol, can be used to treat pain. If Paracetamol is not effective, a stronger pain killer, such as Codeine or Tramadol can improve pain and may also help one to function better in one’s daily activities.

Antidepressant medicines for fibromyalgia are not prescribed specifically to treat depression. They are used to boost the levels of certain neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that carry messages to and from the brain. A new anti convusulatant is also used in treating fibromyalgia.

Sleeping pills and muscle relaxants are also adjuvant in the treatment of fibromyalgia.

Exercise, relaxation, and better sleeping habits also improve the quality of life.

In conclusion, fibromyalgia can make sleeping difficult. The following advice may help if fibromyalgia is affecting sleep: Go to bed and get up at the same time every night and morning; try to relax before bed, avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol before going to bed; avoid eating a heavy meal late at night.