Fibromyalgia is a painful condition that currently affects between 3 and 6 million Americans or about 1 in 50 people. 80-90% of fibromyalgia sufferers are women, but it also occurs in men and children. A diagnosis is usually made in middle age people, although symptoms can show up as early as childhood years. Unfortunately, many times the pain in children is dismissed as growing pains and nothing is done until the disorder worsens with age.
Medical experts have been unable to pinpoint the specific cause of fibromyalgia, but studies have suggested a link between fibromyalgia and traumatic events, such as a car accident, repeated injuries and certain diseases. The symptoms can be slow in their onset and can be aggravated by the weather, an unrelated illness, or seemingly nothing at all.
It’s thought that people with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or other autoimmune diseases are more likely to develop symptoms associated with fibromyalgia. More recent research has suggested the cause is due to a central nervous system malfunction. The bottom line is most so-called experts have no idea what causes fibromyalgia or how to cure it. Some patients have even been told their symptoms are brought about by laziness or inactivity.
Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread chronic pain, debilitating fatigue, and extreme skin sensitivity, even to light touch. Victims also complain of an impaired ability to focus or concentrate, sleep disturbances, ‘needles and pins’ feeling in the skin, muscle spasms or stiffness, and weakness in the arms and legs to the point they’re sometimes unable to drive a car or walk up a flight of stairs.
In earlier times, symptoms were often blamed on female ‘hysteria’, a catchall diagnosis many doctors used when they really had no idea what was wrong. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that the American Medical Association officially acknowledged the term fibromyalgia as a real physical problem. This may, in part, account for the majority of recorded cases being women. It’s likely there are many more men suffering from fibromyalgia who simply aren’t seeking medical help, given what their female counterparts have encountered in their quest for relief.
Most fibromyalgia sufferers are forced to go to several doctors before finding one able to give them an accurate diagnosis because the symptoms often overlap with numerous other conditions. Even after they’ve been given a diagnosis, too often they’re given little hope for anything more than management of their pain, typically with pain medications whose side effects are often as difficult to live with as the fibromyalgia itself.
My compassion for the suffering of people plagued with fibromyalgia is one reason I developed a way to offer relief from the constant pain and draining fatigue, without the harmful side effects of most prescribed medications.
A few minutes each day, performing simple-to-do exercises can give you your life back. Find freedom from doctors and their mind-numbing pain medications. More importantly, you’ll find relief from the daily pain and constant exhaustion that keeps you from living a full, happy life.
