Fibromyalgia is a multi-faceted, chronic condition characterized by widespread pain and fatigue. The pain is located in the soft tissues situated around the joints and in skin and organs all through the body. Fibromyalgia has been called the invisible disability or the irritable everything syndrome due to the vast number of symptoms which are not able to be easily seen or detected.
There are 18 tender points or trigger spots that were identified by the American College of Rheumatology in 1990. Doctors make a diagnosis of fibromyalgia when a patient identifies pain in at least 11 of the 18 points and when the constant, widespread pain has persisted longer than three months.
Pain has been referred to as persistent, achy, throbbing, shooting, stabbing, screaming or intense burning and is frequently accompanied by chronic fatigue.
Other symptoms people have experienced that have been associated with fibromyalgia include:
- Abdominal gas
- Abdominal pain
- Acid reflux
- Allergic type reactions or sensitivities to medications, chemicals, food additives and pollutants
- Balance issues
- Behind the eye headaches
- Being easily overwhelmed
- Bloating
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Difficulty focusing or concentrating and retaining new information, known as the fibro fog
- Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep
- Difficulty focusing eyes
- Dizziness or feeling faint
- Dry or burning eyes or mouth
- Dry, itchy, blotchy skin
- Exercise difficulties
- Feeling of swollen extremities
- Head pain
- IBS
- Irregular heart beat
- Irritable bladder or inflammation of the bladder
- Jaw and facial pain
- Menstrual pain
- Migraine headaches
- Muscle weakness
- Nasal congestion
- Non-cardiac chest pain
- Numbness
- Palpitations
- PMS
- Profuse sweating
- Restless leg syndrome
- Sensitive to bright lights
- Sensitive to loud noises
- Sensitive to odours
- Sensitive to temperature
- Shortness of breath
- Sinus pain
- Sleep apnea
- Sleep disturbances
- Stiffness in muscles, tendons and ligaments
- Temporal headaches
- Tenderness to touch
- Tension headache
- Tingling sensations
- Urination frequency
- Urination urgency
Consult your doctor if you are experiencing any of the symptoms listed.
The existence of a few or many of these symptoms does not necessary mean a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. The official diagnostic criteria include (1) the history of widespread pain and (2) the presence of pain in 11 of 18 tender point sites on digital palpation and must be made by a medical physician.
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