Fibromyalgia history and symptoms
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
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Overview
History
Common Symptoms
The defining symptoms of fibromyalgia are chronic, widespread pain and tenderness to light touch. There is also typically moderate to severe fatigue. Those affected may also experience heightened sensitivity of the skin (also called allodynia), tingling of the skin (often needle-like), achiness in the muscle tissues, prolonged muscle spasms, weakness in the limbs, and nerve pain. Chronic sleep disturbances are also characteristic of fibromyalgia. Indeed, studies suggest that sleep disturbance are related to a phenomenon called alpha-delta sleep, a condition in which deep sleep (associated with delta EEG waves) is frequently interrupted by bursts of brain activity similar to wakefulness (i.e. alpha waves). Deeper stages of sleep (stages 3 & 4) are often dramatically reduced.
An example of tactile allodynia is when a person perceives light pressure or the movement of clothes over the skin as painful, whereas a healthy individual would not feel pain. Fibromyalgia patients are often affected by a number of symptoms other than pain, including debilitating fatigue, abnormal sleep architecture, [1] (meaning the brain does not reach all the restorative levels of sleep necessary for overall health), functional bowel disturbances,[2] and a variety of neuropsychiatric problems including cognitive dysfunction, [3] which can mean short and/or long term memory problems, slowed information processing ability, diminished attention span and anxiety and depressive symptoms.[4]
In addition, many patients experience cognitive dysfunction (known as "brain fog" or "fibrofog"), which may be characterized by impaired concentration and short-term memory consolidation, impaired speed of performance, inability to multi-task, and cognitive overload.[5][6] Many experts suspect that "brain fog" is directly related to the sleep disturbances experienced by sufferers of fibromyalgia.
Other symptoms often attributed to fibromyalgia that may possibly be due to a comorbid disorder include myofascial pain syndrome, diffuse non-dermatomal paresthesias, functional bowel disturbances and irritable bowel syndrome (possibly linked to lower levels of ghrelin[2], genitourinary symptoms and interstitial cystitis), dermatological disorders, headaches, myoclonic twitches, and symptomatic hypoglycemia. Although fibromyalgia is classified based on the presence of chronic widespread pain, pain may also be localized in areas such as the shoulders, neck, low back, hips, or other areas. Many sufferers also experience varying degrees of facial pain and have high rates of comorbid temporomandibular joint disorder. Weather sensitive pain is common (see RSD, CRPS, Thermography). Not all patients have all symptoms.
Symptoms can have a slow onset, and many patients have mild symptoms beginning in childhood, that are often misdiagnosed as growing pains. Symptoms are often aggravated by unrelated illness or changes in the weather. They can become more tolerable or less tolerable throughout daily or yearly cycles; however, many people with fibromyalgia find that, at least some of the time, the condition prevents them from performing normal activities such as driving a car or walking up stairs. The disorder does not cause inflammation as is characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis, although some NSAIDs may temporarily reduce pain symptoms in some patients.
Variability of symptoms
The following factors have been proposed to exacerbate symptoms of pain in patients:
- Increased psychosocial stress
- Excessive physical exertion (exercise seems to decrease the pain threshold of people with fibromyalgia but increase it in healthy individuals)[7]
- Lack of slow-wave sleep
- Changes in humidity and barometric pressure (seeRSD, CRPS, Thermography)
Less Common Symptoms
References
- ↑ Musculosketal symptoms and non-REM sleep disturban...[Psychosom Med. 1975 Jul-Aug] - PubMed Result
- ↑ Fibromyalgia: the gastrointestinal link. [Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2004] - PubMed Result
- ↑ Cognitive dysfunction in fibromyalgia and chronic ...[Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2006] - PubMed Result
- ↑ Comorbidity of fibromyalgia and psychiatric disord...[Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2007] - PubMed Result
- ↑ Leavitt F, Katz RS, Mills M, Heard AR (2002). "Cognitive and Dissociative Manifestations in Fibromyalgia". J Clin Rheumatol. 8 (2): 77–84. PMID 17041327.
- ↑ Frank Leavitt. "Fibrofog, Fibromyalgia and Dissociation -- Understanding why some memory-impaired patients with fibromyalgia score normally on neuropsychological testing".
- ↑ Staud R, Robinson ME, Price DD (2005). "Isometric exercise has opposite effects on central pain mechanisms in fibromyalgia patients compared to normal controls". Pain. 118 (1–2): 176–84. PMID 16154700.