What You Don't Know Can Hurt You - Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

Have you ever experienced intense muscle pain - the type wherein a certain part of your body gets so sensitive even when it is only touched lightly? Or have you felt long-lasting and chronic pain in your joints or tendons? If you answered yes to all of these, chances are you're suffering from fibromyalgia.

Knowledge is Power: Knowing about Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia can be characterized as pain in muscles, joints, and tendons all over your body. Usually, the pain is felt along the spinal area. It primarily affects women between ages 20 to 40. Fibromyalgia is commonly associated with arthritis. We should clarify that because these two are two very different concepts. Arthritis is a disease of the joints; whereas, fibromyalgia is a muscle condition. Unlike arthritis, fibromyalgia does not cause inflammation in the joints. Nevertheless, both can cause intense pain and fatigue that it may disrupt or interfere with your day-to-day activities.

Early Symptoms

"Prevention is better than cure." That may pass as one of the most overused cliché. But then again, it speaks a lot for our topic. You should not wait for fibromyalgia to leave you breathless and pained. Here are some symptoms to look out for to check if you have this illness.

Since the trademark symptoms of fibromyalgia are fatigue and stress - and that fatigue and stress are common symptoms of many diseases - many people do not know or do not believe that they have fibromyalgia until their physician says so.

However, aside from chronic muscle pains, muscle spasms, and leg cramps, people with fibromyalgia usually develops a tender spot (this refers to the presence of sensitive areas in the body) commonly found in the knees, hips, elbows, and the back of the head.

For some people, they feel moderate or severe fatigue and decreased energy. Insomnia or the feeling of weariness even after you wake up is a symptom too. Other symptoms include stiffness upon staying in one position too long, difficulty in concentrating, recalling, remembering, and even performing simple mental tasks, abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, and constipation alternating with diarrhea, tension headaches, migraine, jaw and facial tenderness, increase in urinary frequency, reduced tolerance for exercise and muscle pain after exercising, painful menstrual periods (for women), dizziness, dry eyes with itching or burning, blurred vision, and weight gain.

Fibromyalgia has other unusual symptoms too like feeling anxious or depressed, nasal congestion and post-nasal drip, irritated tongue or abnormal tastes, greater susceptibility to infections and allergies, numbness and tingling in the face, arms, hands, legs, or feet, and unusual sensitivity to certain odors, bright lights, and  noise. 

These symptoms may worsen depending on the time of the day. However, the worse attacks are usually during evenings. The best hours of the day (less pain attacks) are often between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Probable Causes of Fibromyalgia

The primary cause of fibromyalgia is still a mystery for medical experts. However, it is observed that stress or inadequate sleep may trigger or worsen the symptoms. Today, researchers are looking for the possible connection of fibromyalgia to the abnormal levels of hormones and neurotransmitters in the body.

Aside from stress, changes in the weather, cold or drafty conditions, tension, inactivity, fatigue, overexertion, hormonal fluctuations, depression, and other emotional factors can worsen fibromyalgia.