What is fibromyalgia?

Craftcatcher pretty much said it all so I just have a few things to add. As for my own personal experience, I believe in the theory of a previous virus planting a seed that lays dormant until triggered by a traumatic event, or series of events. I had mono when I was 17. The symptoms of mono are also symptoms of fibromyalgia. Granted, fibromyalgia has a heck of a lot more than mono but every mono symptom (fever, sore throat, swollen glands, fatigue) are all symptoms of fibromyalgia. Undiagnosed polio has been another theory. Type A personalities are more prone to getting this illnesses because we feel we have to do it all. There are a lot of nurses with fibromyalgia. As for treatment, no, there is no cure. There are treatments and unfortunately since our bodies are all made up differently, what works for one person may not work for another. What will give one person certain side effects may not give another the same side effects. For example, I have been taking Wellbutrin (anti-depressant) for 7 or 8 years. The only side effect I had at the beginning was trouble getting to sleep. No surprise there. That's a symptom of fibro. But I don't have that problem anymore and I do take a low dose sleeping pill but I still don't get enough sleep and certainly not Stage IV Restorative Sleep. Trial and error is the only answer. There is one supplement that I have had much success with and everyone I have recommended it to has had the same success. Magnesium/Malic Acid (know here as Mag-Citrate). Fibromites are severely lacking in Magnesium which aids in over 300 bodily functions. My turn-around came when I started on the Mag-Citrate. When the three stores in our town ran out of it I had to go without for about a week and my pain increased. As much as it pains people to think about, exercise is also important. If people who fibro remain inactive (which most of us do because we are tired and in pain) our muscles will atrophy and that just makes things worse. Also getting your heart rate up and the release of endorphins that exercise brings helps lift your spirit. I know it's hard to exercise but one must start very slowly even if it's just walking to the end of your driveway and back and slowly increasing it day by day. I walk 3 miles in an hour now. If I feel pain while walking I slow down until the pain eases and then pick up the pace again. This has also helped me to lose weight, which doesn't hurt. Diet may need to be adjusted depending on how extreme the IBS is. I never know what will affect my IBS but a lot of the time it is just stress. The weather plays a part too. These are things you don't have much control over, I guess that is why meditation has helped some people. Some people say red meat causes pain. Some people say to remove all "white" products from your diet - flour, rice, potatoes, etc. Believe me, a bout of IBS can take a lot out of you and the physical work involved brings pain to the rest of your body. So getting IBS in control is helpful. As Craftcatcher said, there is no cure so don't waste your money on these products that claim to be cures. There are treatments. You can go into remission and then you can have relapses. It's totally unpredictable. One must learn their limitations, to pace themselves, and find what works for them.

This is still a new thing for me as well. My doc has recently started discussing it as a poaaibility for me. She explained to me as a sort of mis communication in the nerves. Things like pressure, heat and cold will send the wrong signals to the brain, or the brain reads the signals wrong. Instead of feeling pressure on my legs when my fiance rests his on mine, I feel like he's kicking me or pressing on a bruise. I guess it can also cause other systems in our bodies to malfunction.. I have a lot of irregularity and abdominal pain that she says could be related. I've enjoyed reading the responses to this, as it has helped me to understand the condition from other points of view.

The research center for fibromyalgia at the university of michigan is finding that people who have fibromyalgia have an increased response to pain due to irregular synapses in the nerve endings. This is a new finding. The u of m research facility on fibro has been researching for about 8 years now. The are finding that 98% of people who get this disease are woman,but they are not sure why that is. My experience with fibromyalgia (I'm 41 and have had it since I was 25) is it is not just causing pain,although that seemd to be the main symptom. Other symptoms I have experienced very frequently have been loss of vision, loss of hearing, irritable bowel syndrome, severe headaches on one side of head, chect pains, numbness,tingling and loss of function of my legs and arms, (short term). I have a problem driving because pushing on the gas pedal causes extreme pain in my leg and travels up my body. I also will be on my way to the store and half way there I will have forgotten where I am going and have to turn around. The other symptoms used to scare me,like the chest pain, and the migraine in one spot on the left side above my eye (I thought I had a tumor) testing in all these symptoms have come back negative and my fibromyalgia specialist believes it is all linked to my fibro. I am on a medication regimine that works fairly well unless I have a bad Flair up. I tke oxycontin 40 mg twice a day, oxycodone 30 mg in between the other, cymbalta (it's great for the depression you get from being in pain all the time, klonopin because I also have restless leg syndrome (which also useually goes along with fibro as does chronic fatique syndrome (which I also have) and I take neuontin,it helps with the nerve pain. This is a regimine put forth through my dr. while we wait for a cure. another thing that greatly helps fibro is daily activity and exercise. I walk every day on my treadmill and do yoga 3 times a week(when I'm able) To really explain fibro, is hard to do. It is a disease with many manifistations. You could have different severities(I have Very severe Fibro.)some people have mild and my dr. think there is also a progresive type only because over the last 5 years mine has gotten much worse not just the pain, but everything. I would also say that definitly fibro is a painful disease of your muscles,your joints,and your skeletal parts. I have actually been studying(with my father ) the effects of weather on fibro. I used to live in Michigan,and now live in florida. we have found that fibro. or I should say the severety of it greatly depends on the barometric pressure. when the pressure is mving from high to low,I can barely walk, I'm shaky,I have word search problems(that's like when you want to say something and the thing you want to say is greatly familiar to you,but you can't for the life of you figure out the words you want to say example. You want to say "Oh,look at the flowers,they are finally blooming!" and you can't thing of the words for look, flowers ,blooming. your mind goes blank. you know that you know those words but they wont come to your brain so you can think and say them, it's fustrating and it's part of a flair up. a flair up is when all your fibro. symptoms run on high. and you are almost non functional compared to a "good" day. anyway like I was saying (our) dad's and mine. me being the subject and him watching my symptoms and the barometer, have come to the conclusion that when the barometer moves at more than a slight rate ,my symptoms flair. If the barometer just moves a little and stops ,it usually doesn't effect me. Other things that will cause a flair up is doing to much,you need to cut back on you activities while still trying to be active,it's a hard thing to do especially if you have worked full time your whole life. I was a nurse from the age of 30 until I was taken off work by 4 dr's at 38 .before nursing school,I was a nursing assistant since the age of 17. so I worked full time all my life and am still trying to adjust my activities,because I still have that working instinct. I hope I helped some. there is so much more but I can't type any longer because the pain is going through the roof, but I truly hope this helped some. Good luck, my heart goes out to you. There is a really good support site called fibrohugs.com theres a lot of information about the trigger points and also other things and a good suppot group of very nice, understanding people. Valerie

HI, I was diagnosed five years ago, but in hind sight I have had it for years the older I get the worst it gets I am now taking lyria which has cut the pain in half, I do not think you have to take high doses because if you do you get the side affects, I take my med at night then I do not get the dizziness but when you first start it you will get tired and have some dizziness I started with 50 mg and I am going to try 100 mg to see if it helps more...usally what triggers the fibromyalgia is some trama to the body (I broke my back in a car accident)or a virus or sometimes a health problem. even some think that emotional trama may get it going....It is extreme pain all over your body, kinda like charlie horses, sometimes it hurts for someone to touch your skin like it's hyper-sensative..... you get tired and wore out but if you sleep alot it will make you hurt more excercise makes you feel good but if you do to much you will be in pain for days after, you just have to pace yourself ...they are still trying to figure out a lot of things about this but at least they are trying to find ways to make this easier hope this helps I could go on and on about this but I won't!

Nobody knows how it's caused for sure! If you check out Wikipedia, it gives a history of the study of fibromyalgia, and possible causes. I'm sorry your mother has fibromyalgia! good luck with your research.

fibromyalgia means pain in the muscles, tendons and ligaments- the soft fibrous tissues of the body. its primary symptoms include musculoskeletal plain, severe fatigue and disturbed sleep.