What is Fibromyalgia?

Greetings,

The first question that really needs to be answered in this particular discussion is "What is Fibromyalgia?" Now, there are a lot of definitions to look at and information can be found all over the place. In order to make this rather long process a little less painful, I will be using both some information from various hand-outs I was given and also some of my own personal experiences. Hopefully this will mean that a decent sort of description of this particular illness will result from the combination of these two.

Ok, where to start. Needless to say, I have a lot of information about this particular subject. My mother was most helpful once I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia (FM) and gave me a large envelope filled with hand-outs about this particular issue. It has been most useful for me. Where to start?

"FM is a "Chronic invisible illnesses". It isn't just a form of muscular rheumatism. It's actually a type of neurotransmitter dysfunction." (Dr D. Starlanyl, "A Guide for Relatives and Companions)

Well what does this all mean? What it means is that FM is not just a form of rheumatoid arthritis it actually has a great deal to do with what is going on in the brain. Neurotransmitters are what the brain uses to communicate with the rest of the body and tell it what to do. In the FM patient it means that something has gone wrong here and it is telling the body the wrong things. This causes all sorts of issues in the body. It has also be described as such;

"Fibromyalgia is a common condition characterized by diffuse musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. The syndrome is defined by the presence of musculoskeletal tender points on physical examination. Additionally, persons with this syndrome have a high incidence of headaches, ocular and vestibular complaints, parasthesias, esophageal dysmotility, "allergic" symptoms, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, genitourinary symptoms and affective disorders." (Dr D. Clauw, "Fibromyalgia: More Than Just a Musculoskeletal Disease)

More medical talk for those of you who understand all of this, that is great. To put it in more layman's terms, I have come up with a definition of my own. Take all of the fatigue associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and combine it with the joint issues of Rheumatoid Arthritis, and then throw in some other issues as well and you will have a general idea about what FM is. The problem with the "other issues" that I have described is that these can be attributed to a lot of other issues, and this can be one of the most annoying factors in this particular illness.

In essence FM from my point of view is a combination of all sorts of different symptoms which happen to be present in the individual and generally make their life a great more difficult than it could be. For doctors who are unfamiliar with this particular condition it can cause all sorts of problems as diagnosis for it can be problematic to say the least. Often people with undiagnosed FM are sent off to psychologists and psychiatrists as the pain and fatigue has a random on-set and effect and it is assumed that it is all in the patient's mind. Admittedly, there are elements of FM which affect mood and so forth, but it is also a physical condition. With regard to this, it is not particularly common as it only affects between 2 - 6% of the population including children.

There is a long list of symptoms which are associated with FM and not all of the people with this illness actually get all of them. This list includes some broad categories and also some specific symptoms which are associated with FM when found in combination with other ones. This long list of symptoms, which can overlap with other conditions, and often do, makes diagnosis particularly difficult. In my case, I suffer from the following symptoms:

Fatigue,

Cognitive function problems including: calculation difficulties, memory disturbances frequently saying the wrong word,

Psychological Problems including: depression, anxiety,

Other Nervous System Problems including: sleep disturbance, headaches, changes in visual acuity, numbness or tingling feelings, burning sensations, lightheadedness, feeling "spaced out", intolerance of bright lights, enhancement of medical effects, ringing in the ears

Recurrent sore throat

Severe nasal and other allergies

Muscle and joint aches

Mottled skin appearance

Muscle spasms

Chest pain

Dry eyes and mouth

Cold hands and feet

On top of my list there is more than a dozen other symptoms which can be associated with FM. As can be seen by the breadth of my list of symptoms, the diagnosis of this condition is of a particular problem. For many years this particular condition was not recognised by the medical profession, and in some cases is still controversial. For governments, recognition of this particular condition is also problematic and many assistance agencies do not recognise it as a credible disability due to its random nature.

The purpose of this particular blog has been to discuss FM as a condition and attempt to give some sort of idea about what it is. One of the biggest problems with this particular task is that the symptoms are so widespread and differing that only really an approximation of what it is, is possible. I can honestly say that until I was diagnosed with FM I had never heard of the condition. A great deal of information is available about FM from many sources and needless to say the Internet has a fair amount the Wikipedia has its own page devoted to FM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibromyalgia). Some of the problems associated with the diagnosis of FM and also some of the opinions about this condition will be discussed in following blogs. Hopefully this blog has given some useful information about this particular condition for the readers, and also more of an understanding about it.

Cheers,

Henry.