Suffering from the chronic pain symptoms of a disease like fibromyalgia can be challenging, to say the least.
It is estimated that more than 10 million people are currently being treated for fibromyalgia pain and that – out of those 10 million people – more than half of them are women.
And even though fibromyalgia is becoming increasingly common in our society, there seems to be little research being done on this extremely severe form of pain that increases your sense of touch and causes pain.
Not only that, but since there is no cure, and because the disorder cannot be identified with traditional tests, it is sometimes difficult to diagnose the problem definitively.
Using Your Pain Severity to Help Treat Your Fibromyalgia
One option that doctors and healthcare professionals have in helping figure out how to treat your fibromyalgia symptoms is to talk to you about your various pain points, pain signals and your pain severity that you are experiencing.
Because fibromyalgia pain tends to be consistently found in specific spots on a person’s body, identifying the types of pain you may be experiencing is going to be very helpful in determining what course of action should be taken.
Following are some of the most common 8 types of fibromyalgia pain that most patients typically present with when they are experiencing a fibromyalgia flare up.
Abdominal and Pelvic Pain
Approximately half of all people who have struggle with fibromyalgia suffer from the symptoms of an irritable intestinal disorder, otherwise known as irritable bowel syndrome.
Irritable bowel syndrome is a gastrointestinal condition that can be caused by stomach discomfort and stomach pains as well as constipation, diarrhea, and even nausea.
Living with constant reoccurrences of irritable bowel syndrome can be highly unpleasant. Trying to go about daily tasks when your stomach is flaring up is difficult as well as possibly embarrassing since it’s unclear how often or how severe an attack is going to be.
Acid reflux has also been identified in patients who are suffering from fibromyalgia.
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Acid reflux happens when the stomach acids come from the tubes lining the inside of your stomach back into your throat or mouth.
Researchers found that fibromyalgia patients had an almost twofold higher risk for the recurrence of acid reflux. Other abdominal pains are also common in women with fibromyalgia, due to bladder pains.
Brain and Spinal Cord Pain
Several people suffering from fibromyalgia also tend to experience an increase in brain and spinal cord pain as their disease worsens.
Due to the fact that people who suffer from fibromyalgia have a more sensitive central nervous system, symptoms like burning and itchy skin are all too common.
Neuropathic pain is also heightened, causing the person with the fibromyalgia symptoms to feel more tingling and numbness than another person might.
There is also a higher probability for fibromyalgia sufferers to have to deal with tension headaches more frequently than others as well as something that many people refer to as fibro fog.
Fibro fog makes a person feel as though their thoughts and processing order are not as clear as they should be.
It may be necessary to take medication to ease brain and head pain when a person is experiencing a fibromyalgia flare up.
Widespread Muscle Pain
Frequent and persistent bouts of muscle tension and discomfort are characteristic signs of fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia falls into the family of diseases that are musculoskeletal in nature, like rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease.
When muscle pain persists, doctors will often encourage a patient to take over-the-counter pain medications. They may also suggest physical therapy to help loosen the muscles, or even therapeutic massages.
It’s also been suggested that stiff muscles can usually be helped by getting a good workout for 30 minutes daily, though this may not be possible when a severe muscle pain flare up is taking place.
Joint Pain
Joint pain – or joint stiffness – is often reported by those who have fibromyalgia.
In fact, joint pain is one of the most common deep pain complaints that a person will first present with at their doctor or healthcare provider’s office.
The reason for this is pretty obvious.
Because fibromyalgia is considered a musculoskeletal disorder, having chronic pain in various joints around the body makes sense.
This may be the result of those stiff and tight muscles mentioned earlier.
When muscles get too tight and constrict, they will often make the joints around them stiff and achy as well, since movement in and around them is being restricted.
Headaches
Another incredibly common and highly debilitating pain that many fibromyalgia patients experience frequently is chronic headaches.
Knowing why headaches are a common symptom of fibromyalgia is unclear.
Some experts believe the headaches result from blood vessels constricting and tightening, similar to muscles.
Others think that the headaches have more to do with poor sleep quality, which tends to plague fibromyalgia sufferers as well.
Though tension headaches can be extremely unpleasant, they are usually not so bad as to limit a person’s activity too greatly.
That said, many fibromyalgia victims will complain of having migraine headaches in addition to tension headaches, which can be very unpleasant and make it a challenge to do daily tasks.
Fatigue
Though many Americans don’t get enough sleep, fibromyalgia disease makes getting quality sleep nearly impossible.
Because there is so much chronic pain associated with fibromyalgia, it makes sense that non restorative sleep is more the norm that the exception for people who have fibromyalgia.
Though a patient’s poor sleep issues may range from mild tiredness to exhaustion, it’s almost unheard of for a fibromyalgia sufferer not to experience some level of sleep deprivation.
In the most extreme cases, a person may be diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome as well as fibromyalgia, meaning that there seems to be no known cause for their fatigue, and that it can be persistent even when the person feels as though they are maintaining a healthy sleep schedule.
Light Touch Sensitivity
A definite sign that a person is experiencing the symptoms of fibromyalgia will be when they struggle with light touch sensitivity.
It is not common to feel pain when someone grazes your elbow, or lightly rubs the back of your neck.
For the person who has fibromyalgia, however, these types of touch can be incredibly uncomfortable and even painful.
Known as “light touch sensitivity” a doctor or healthcare provider can use this chronic pain condition to help them diagnose fibromyalgia when a person first presents with it.
There are 18 different “pain points” on a person’s body that – when gently pressed – can be used to determine their pain severity scale.
Once a physician or healthcare professional knows what a person’s pain severity scale is, they can have a better idea if their symptoms are indeed those of fibromyalgia, and how to begin treating them appropriately.
Mood Disorders and Depression
Finally, fibromyalgia also has a good chance of giving its victims emotional pain as well as physical.
Since there is no known cure yet for fibromyalgia, many sufferers will live for years with the chronic pain symptoms associated with it before they can even begin to find someone to take them seriously and begin administering the relief needed from their symptoms.
Because of this, it is highly common for a person with fibromyalgia to experience severe mood swings, mood disorders, and even depression.
Sometimes these symptoms are manageable with diet, exercise, good sleep patterns, and even talk therapy.
Other times they are severe enough to warrant medications be given by a professional who understands the complexities of mental health.
Check out our Restore 3 made for people suffering from fibromyalgia:
How Can I Self-Care Through My Fibromyalgia Pain?
Learning the various types of severe pain that fibromyalgia causes, and how best to handle each one is going to be crucial to your long-term health.
And – because so many medical professionals still don’t know enough about this debilitating disease, it’s important to be able to advocate for yourself and find ways to practice self-care when no one else seems capable to help you.
Native Formulas is an online community full of support for fibromyalgia sufferers with widespread pain as well as other symptoms. Come take a look at some of the ways in which we can help you learn how to live with your symptoms and stop letting fibromyalgia get in the way of you living your best life!
Until a test is discovered, one option patients have is to ask their physician to test them for other diseases that present in similar manners to fibromyalgia.
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