Some Important Facts About Fibromyalgia

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by: jackjreynolds
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Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2011 Time: 7:19 PM
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Major portion of the population is affected by this common disease. Females are more commonly affected by fibromyalgia than males. Also the age group in which it is common is 25-60 years. Now, a survey reveals that more number of children are also seemed to be affected by this.

In fibromyalgia, pain is felt where muscles are attached to ligament, tendon or bone. It is very much similar to arthritis. Like arthritis there is no bone deformity in fibromyalgia. In fibromyalgia, usually pain starts in neck or shoulders and gradually spreads to other parts. Depending on the change in weather, time of day, stress, body activity etc. the intensity of pain varies.

There are different kinds of pain in this. There may be stiffened pain, burning or stabbing sensation, a sudden rise, or radiating nature or aching type. Some symptoms seen in fibromyalgia are sleep disturbances, fatigue, and migraine headaches. It may be due to lack of serotonin. These are some of the very important symptoms which are present in almost all the patients of fibromyalgia and helps in diagnosis. With absence of symptoms, wrong diagnosis by the physician may happen.

Some other symptoms which may or may not be present are tingling, numbness in extremities, GIT symptoms like irritable bowel syndrome, bladder spasm etc. Females experience painful menstruation because of this. Also the patient may suffer from constipation alternating with diarrhoea. Other symptoms that affect these patients include lowered concentration, depression and alteration of mood.

The causation of fibromyalgia is not clear at all. Only few assumptions and propositions are thought to be the reason for its cause. Many facts are there which states some explanations relating the cause for this. One point of view is that reduction in blood flow in the muscle tissue and in the thalamus along with caudate nucleus is the reason for pain. While some other studies say that the decreased level of serotonin may be causative. The cause for pain in fibromyalgia may also be due to improper functioning of pain processing pathways.

There are generally two broad types of fibromyalgia. The two types are Primary and Secondary. Primary fibromyalgia is generally called as idiopathic i.e. without any cause. Whereas Secondary fibromyalgia is due to causes. It may related to other diseases like Hepatitis C, Lyme disease, surgery, injures etc.

The main target of treatment to fibromyalgia is to get rid of the pain. Medicines which reduce the pain of muscles are certainly prescribed. Anti-depressants may also be prescribed sometimes. Muscle relaxants like skelaxin etc are also given. Along with this, there should be change in lifestyle also. Exercises will do more good. Some exercises are swimming, cycling, aerobics, yoga etc. Only under supervision of experts these exercises must be done.

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Find more info on fibromyalgia symptoms and fibromyalgia diet plan.