Fibromyalgia Facts

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Category: Useful Information

Published on Sunday, 20 February 2011 01:09

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Will the Pain Worsen?

People with fibromyalgia have physical abnormalities that result in pain amplification, causing pain to be perceived even when they are exposed to sensations that would not normally cause pain i.e. wearing certain items of clothing, a touch on the arm or even a bright light can cause extreme pain & fatigue.

• The pain usually consists of generalised aching, it can be described as stabbing, burning or even cramping – a sense of “I hurt all over”
• certain parts of the body may be particularly painful
• the pain may move around and be accompanied by muscle spasm
• the pain can fluctuate from day to day, even hour to hour
• everyone with fibromyalgia will experience worsening of their pain from time to time; that is part of the illness
• usually the worsening is temporary, and is known as a flare-up, we can’t stop this from happening, some people have frequent flare-ups others don’t
• usually we can identify the cause of the increased pain, if not, we call the flare-up spontaneous
• sometimes flare-ups happen even when we have taken care to handle everything we do correctly.  We simply have to deal with them as they occur and try to accept that these intrusions are part of the condition

When you don’t feel well how do you know if it is because of  Fibromyalgia or something else?

The impact of fibromyalgia differs in type and severity from person to person. FM does not preclude the possibilities of you suffering from other medical conditions. You should never assume that everything that you are experiencing or feeling is because of fibromyalgia.

Because FM is associated with:

• widespread pain in all parts of the body including the chest and abdomen
• as well as severe fatigue

it is often difficult to know whether symptoms are related to FM or caused by another medical condition.

Acute pains, shortness of breath, and high fevers are your body’s warning signs which you should not ignore.

If you are experiencing any new symptoms:

“The GOLDEN RULE” must be to check them out with your own MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.

Similarly if you feel that:

• the treatments
• medications

that you are receiving are not helping you manage your condition you will need to discuss this with your own medical professionals