Fibromyalgia For Dummies

Roland Staud, Christine Adamec

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118051672
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Diseases & Allergies

Your easy-to-follow guide to the latest research, treatments, and medications! The pain you suffer from fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is not in your imagination. FMS is a real medical problem that can be as debilitating and demoralizing as it is mysterious. Fibromyalgia For Dummies, Second Edition, brings you the latest scientific findings on the symptoms and causes of this disease and guides you toward proven, practical steps you can take reduce or eliminate FMS-related pain.

This plain-English guide is fully updated with the latest fibromyalgia treatment options, and evaluations of new medications that have shown great promise in reducing pain. You'll discover how to spot an array of symptoms and their possible causes, work with your physician to develop a treatment plan, and manage your pain at home and in the office. You'll learn how to:

• Identify your FMS trigger points
• Cope with chronic pain and sleep problems
• Find medications that work for you
• Locate a physician who can really help you
• Make healing lifestyle changes
• Use hands-on therapies to alleviate pain
• Find effective over-the-counter and prescription medications
• Choose among alternative therapies and treatments
• Reduce the emotional distress caused by FMS
• Help a child with FMS

Featuring moving and inspiring stories from fellow FMS sufferers who share their stories and offer invaluable tips on working your way back to wellness, Fibromyalgia for Dummies, Second Edition offers serious and sensitive guidance to help you overcome FMS and start being yourself again.

Part I

The What, When, and Why of Fibromyalgia

In this part . . .

Fibromyalgia is a real medical problem — no matter what you may have heard from other people (including some doctors!) who act as though they know what they’re talking about. Fibromyalgia isn’t “just in your head” — actually fibromyalgia pain and tenderness are usually spread throughout the entire body!

In Part I, I describe the key aspects of fibromyalgia that you need to know, such as exactly what fibromyalgia is and what the major symptoms are. I include a fibromyalgia self-test that you can take. I also discuss intriguing theories on why you and others may have developed fibromyalgia. I cover car crashes, infections, autoimmune systems run amuck, traumatic experiences, genetic predispositions, and other theories. Pain is the main problem with fibromyalgia, and I devote an entire chapter to this topic (quite painless to read), which I hope will provide good insight into what’s actually going on with your poor aching body.

Chapter 1

Yes, Fibromyalgia Is Real

In This Chapter

Considering symptoms, causes, and the pain aspect

Knowing who gets fibromyalgia

Looking at medical problems confused with fibromyalgia

Finding a good doctor

Exploring over-the-counter and prescribed medications and alternative remedies

Considering how fibromyalgia affects work and family

Improving sleep, decreasing stress, and dealing with emotional effects

Knowing that fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a real medical problem that needs to be dealt with is an important first step toward mastering your fibromyalgia — and moving toward that place where you can start to feel like you’re making progress. Sure, you can try to ignore the problem. But mostly, it won’t let you.

Fibromyalgia has many aspects to consider. In this chapter, I line up the major issues for you and refer you to chapters later in this book where I discuss how fibromyalgia affects you individually and what treatments and medications may work best for you.

Dumping Your Doubts about Whether FMS Is Real

Many people spend months or years questioning their fibromyalgia symptoms, sometimes wondering if they’re imagining how bad the symptoms are. After all, if you feel terrible one day and then significantly better or almost normal the next day, you may start to think that maybe you were exaggerating the pain and fatigue of the previous day.

The thing is, most people can’t remember pain well. They can remember that they had pain, but they can’t remember what it actually felt like. (This is generally a good thing!) As a result, people experiencing the ups and downs of pain and other symptoms that accompany fibromyalgia worry sometimes that perhaps the problem isn’t that big of a deal and could even be all in their heads. Consequently, they may try to ignore the problem and hope that it’ll go far, far away — preferably today.

But if you have fibromyalgia (and I recommend that you take my self-test later in this chapter to see whether you could be a possible candidate), simply ignoring the problem doesn’t work. The sooner you acknowledge that fibromyalgia is a real and long-term problem, the sooner you can work toward reclaiming your life.

You can gain enormous control over the symptoms that stem from your fibromyalgia, but only rarely can you eradicate them altogether. Most people have plenty of room for improvement, however.

Examining the Symptoms, Causes, and Pain Problems Associated with Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of medical problem, but I can make some descriptive generalizations about it regarding symptoms, causes, and pain.

Sizing up the symptoms

Many people with fibromyalgia report that the following statements are true about their fibromyalgia symptoms. In fact, most people with fibromyalgia say that they have at least several, if not all, of these symptoms (which I cover in much more detail in Chapter 2):

Flu-like pain that can be severe

A constant feeling of extreme fatigue

Several tender body areas that hurt

Overall body aches

Depression and/or anger

Feeling very anxious

Muscle stiffness and pain

Chronic back pain

Insomnia

Worsening of pain after physical activity

Mental malaise and confusion, often referred to as fibro fog

Many people with FMS have other pain-based medical problems as well, which I also cover in more depth in Chapter 2. Some examples of the array of medical conditions that people with fibromyalgia may experience, on top of the fibromyalgia that they already have (as if FMS isn’t enough), include

Restless legs

Irritable bowel syndrome

Interstitial cystitis (a chronic, painful bladder condition that may feel like a constant bladder infection)

Tension headaches or migraine headaches

Benign joint hypermobility syndrome (BJHS; an often painful form of hereditary joint hyperextension)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Considering causes

No one knows for sure what causes fibromyalgia, but physicians and other experts have many fascinating theories to explain what may induce the onset of FMS. The cause could be hormones or an autoimmune problem or biochemicals gone awry, chronic stress, or it may be related to a previous trauma, such as an injury that you incurred in a car crash or in another serious accident. Individuals who have been abused as children or adults are more likely to develop fibromyalgia than others.

The cause could also be a combination of different factors coming together at just the right time (or the wrong time when you think about it) for you to develop FMS. For example, maybe you got the flu, and then were involved in a serious accident. Or some other awful combination may have occurred.

As researchers (like me) continue to study this medical problem, they move closer to the truth. Speculating about causes can be fascinating, and Chapter 3 offers some common theories for what causes fibromyalgia.

Pondering pain

Thinking about pain is certainly no fun, and yet pain is part of what makes us alive and human. But when pain runs rampant in our bodies, extracting particular pain in certain parts of it, it becomes a major problem, and fibromyalgia pain can be very intense. I talk about the purpose of pain and how and why it needs to be managed in Chapter 4. It may sound like a chapter to avoid, but hold on! You need to read it because it includes some important and useful ideas.

And by the way, I’m not just saying that I believe that the pain and symptoms of fibromyalgia are real because I’m a nice guy who doesn’t want to hurt your delicate feelings. I think that I am here to help you, but even more important, I’m a physician who’s a clinical researcher, and I’ve proven in my studies on the pain of people with fibromyalgia that their pain (and yours) is real.

My studies, as well as the studies that have been done by other researchers, have shown that the pain sensations experienced by people with fibromyalgia (especially women) are actually more intense, and the pain lasts longer than does the pain of people who don’t have fibromyalgia. Read Chapter 4 for further information on the ins and outs of fibromyalgia pain.

Considering Who Gets Fibromyalgia

Just about anyone of any age can develop fibromyalgia, but most research so far indicates that the majority of people with FMS are of the female persuasion, partly because women are more sensitive to pain than men. This is a time where a little equal opportunity of pain would be preferable (if you’re a woman). But who gets fibromyalgia isn’t about fairness.

Although women are the primary sufferers of fibromyalgia, many men have been dia...