Fibromyalgia: Symptoms and Possible Causes
Fibromyalgia symptoms can severely restrict the lives of those affected. You can find out here which symptoms there are, how the disease develops and what helps.
What is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disease that means “muscle fibre pain”. Fibromyalgia syndrome (also known as FMS) is estimated to affect around 1.6 million people and causes severe pain at certain points in the body.
What are the Symptoms of Fibromyalgia?
The following complaints and diseases can occur in patients with fibromyalgia:
- Muscle and joint pain
- Tendon pain
- Abdominal pain
- Intestinal complaints
- Fatigue
- Incontinence
- Breathing difficulties
- Heart diseases
Fibromyalgia can also affect the psyche. These symptoms can also trigger the disease:
- Insomnia
- Depressions
- Concentration disorders
- Mood swings
- Constant exhaustion
- Anxiety
Depending on how severe the symptoms are and how severe the pain is, doctors divide the disease into mild and severe forms. The severe forms, which are associated with persistent and many types of pain, can significantly reduce the quality of life of those affected.
How Do I Know if I have Fibromyalgia?
Often affected people have already had a long ordeal before the doctor makes the right diagnosis. FMS is not a disease that is particularly easy to diagnose – many patients are not taken seriously because it is initially difficult to find possible causes for their complaints.
Are There Triggers for the Fibromyalgia Symptoms?
Why FMS erupts, no research can explain exactly. However, first approaches suggest that the body’s pain processing processes are disturbed. Triggers for this could, for example, be hereditary factors and environmental influences. Strong strains, for example family or work related, also cause increased stress. If this stress persists over a longer period of time, fibromyalgia is more likely to occur.
Therapy: This Helps against Fibromyalgia
Most fibromyalgia patients have good experience with holistic treatments, which are both mental and physical, and thus alleviate chronic pain. Some such programmes are financed by health insurance companies.