There are so many unknowns with fibromyalgia. Experts are not sure what causes it. They don’t know what might cure it, if anything. They don’t know why it seems to affect women more than men. They often don’t even know you have it, and missed diagnoses are common.
So what is known about fibromyalgia? We know it’s not arthritis. Arthritis affects the skeletal system, and fibromyalgia involves your muscular system. We know it’s a chronic condition that lasts a long time and can possibly afflict you for your entire life.
It generally develops in 20-50 year olds. Four to six million Americans suffer with it. It disturbs or prevents restful sleep. And we know, thankfully, it isn’t a progressive disease.
There is hope on the horizon though, for the millions who live every day with constant pain and muscle stiffness. Research continues to find a cause for fibromyalgia and the hope is, once a caused has been identified, work can begin to find a cure.
Some experts are beginning to believe the underlying cause of fibromyalgia is related to disturbances in the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system. More specifically, the stress response of both those systems.
The ‘neuroendocrine axis’, which refers to the crossing over of the nervous system with the endocrine system, has been studied closely with regard to the sleep disturbances found in most fibromyalgia patients. Studies have shown that fibromyalgia patients have their non-REM sleep phase disturbed by alpha waves that shouldn’t be there, frequently keeping them from progressing to stage 3 and stage 4 sleep.
It’s during those stages that insulin growth factor is released. Since fibromyalgia sufferers often don’t reach those stages, it accounts for why a third of fibromyalgia patients have low levels of that hormone.
Further studies indicate that by artificially creating the disturbed non-REM sleep, they can actually produce some of the symptoms of fibromyalgia. With alpha waves intruding when they shouldn’t, it’s little wonder that so many fibromyalgia patients endure night after night of ‘non-refreshing’ sleep.
Other endocrine and neurological abnormalities they’ve found include elevated levels of certain neurotransmitters in the cerebrospinal fluid that enhance pain perception, up to three times higher than normal levels. Fibromyalgia patients also tend to have lower than normal cortisol production.
While all that may sound a bit technical, the bottom line is researcher are making progress in the area of finding a cause for fibromyalgia. No one knows how long it may take to pinpoint it exactly, but it should give hope to those suffering from it. Of course, then they’ll have to begin work on how to cure it.
But if you suffer from fibromyalgia pain, you’ve landed on the right page. It’s not necessary for you to continue hurting while you wait on scientists to develop a cure. You can join today the ever-growing number of people my fibromyalgia program has already helped.
The Fibromyalgia Program is not complicated at all and involves learning a few simple techniques that only take minutes a day to perform. Fibromyalgia sufferers from around the world have been able to reclaim their lives, and you can too!
Warm regards,
Christian Goodman
