What does a person with fibromyalgia feel?

fibromyalgia It is not a passing fad or a new disease. It is most likely a new name for a disorder that has been around forever. The current name is descriptive: muscle fiber pain, but in reality the symptoms can be very varied, so much so that the majority of patients go from consultation to consultation for years until they receive the diagnosis: you have fibromyalgia.

In the year 2000, the EPISER study estimated that fibromyalgia affected 2.4% of the Spanish population, with an incidence four times higher in women than in men. It is also possible that similar symptoms are diagnosed in women as fibromyalgia and in men as stress or burnout syndrome. But, What does a person with fibromyalgia feel?

What does a person with fibromyalgia feel?

Fibromyalgia is a whole collection of different symptoms. This is what a person with fibromyalgia can feel:

1. Diffuse and persistent pain

The main symptom of fibromyalgia is Pain that spreads and persists throughout the body. Patients can rarely tell where exactly it hurts. The pain seems to be everywhere, in the joints, in the muscles, in the organs. You can also move from one place to another. Sometimes it hurts in one place, then it goes away and a few days later the pain comes back.

Fortunately, fibromyalgia patients have good days, without discomfort, but with any effort or overload, the pain returns, Whether it’s due to hot or cold weather, whether it’s too much work, too much stress, too much sport or an infection.

2. Mental “fog”

Many people experience a kind of fog or lack of mental clarity or alertness, with difficulty concentrating and memory failures.

3. Sensitivity to cold and heat

Many fibromyalgia patients They do not tolerate cold and especially drafts. Often they are already freezing when other people still find the temperature comfortable.

However, if temperatures begin to rise in summer, the heat can still become a nuisance and those affected by fibromyalgia they quickly sweat and hot flashes.

4. Excessive sensitivity to irritation

In the same way, an increased sensitivity to irritation can develop:

Noise and noises are perceived as extremely unpleasant. Patients avoid situations where people are talking at the same time (eating at the bar, at a party, etc.) and are even bothered by the rattle of a fork on someone else’s plate.Bright light is just as uncomfortable. The best thing for them is not to leave the house without sunglasses.The smells they often grow to threatening proportions, but it’s not a real stench that bothers them, even odors that others haven’t even noticed are extremely bothersome to them.Those affected want to ventilate all the timeand in rooms where there are several people (perfume, deodorant) they hardly hold.Physical contact is also experienced as unpleasant. Sometimes firm touches (pressure, massage) bother them, but sometimes very light rubbing also bothers them.

5. Digestive and sleep disorders

Falling asleep is not usually a problem in fibromyalgia, but staying asleep is. Often, those affected wake up after a few hours of sleep and can no longer fall asleep. In the morning they feel exhausted and unproductive.

It is not uncommon for patients to be diagnosed with irritable bowel, because they present the corresponding symptoms: abdominal cramps, bloating, heartburn, diarrhea, constipation or even alternating diarrhea and constipation.

Also food intolerances are common such as histamine intolerance, gluten intolerance or fructose intolerance.

6. Depression and anxiety

Fibromyalgia can often be accompanied by anxiety and depression. Sometimes the depression came before the pain, while in other patients it develops in the course of fibromyalgia, which is not surprising since the disease is extremely stressful.

7. Fluctuations in blood sugar levels

Many fibromyalgia patients have problems with blood sugar levels. They seem to be much more sensitive to carbohydrates than other people. The consequent fluctuations in blood sugar with crippling periods of hypoglycemia cause dizziness, palpitations, concentration disorders, night sweats, etc.

However, these symptoms can also have completely different causes, such as gluten intolerance.

7. Many more symptoms

Some people also suffer from shortness of breath, irritable bladder, headache and facial pain, tinnitus, numbness or tingling in the extremities, dry mucous membranes, dry eyes, forgetfulness, feeling of stiffness, swelling due to fluid retention, itching, atopic dermatitis and profuse night sweats.

How is fibromyalgia diagnosed?

In many affected by fibromyalgia the symptoms are so intense that prevent them from leading a normal life. They cannot go to work and the simplest household chores become impossible. In addition, dizziness, tiredness, lapses and lack of concentration increase the risk of accidents. Fibromyalgia is, therefore, a disease that cannot be ignored.

To make matters worse, visits to the doctor and specialist are usually unsuccessful. Blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, endoscopies, and other tests the doctor may order are inconclusive.

Therefore, fibromyalgia is diagnosed when you suffer from a collection of symptoms that include pain throughout the body, and physical and mental exhaustion for which no other cause can be found.

Actually, each person with fibromyalgia suffers from it in a different way: for some Suffering is above all psychological and for others it is physical. Other patients suffer above all from extreme sensitivity to external stimuli.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes pain throughout the body, extreme tiredness, muscle stiffness. People with fibromyalgia may be more sensitive to pain than people who do not, and may experience anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, or concentration problems, among other symptoms.

Until now, the diagnosis has been made based on the symptoms, because there were no known organic changes detectable by analytical tests. This lack of tests for fibromyalgia has led many doctors to believe that it is a problem of psychological or nervous origin. Also causes the diagnosis to arrive months or years late, since the patient begins his journey through medical consultations in search of help.

Possible test to determine fibromyalgia

This could change after the study carried out by American and Israeli researchers, who have discovered peculiar characteristics in the microbiota and bile acids of patients. The finding could facilitate diagnosis and contribute to the development of new treatments.

The study, published in the journal Painaffirms that in the blood of patients with fibromyalgia there is an abnormally low concentration of a secondary bile acid. This acid is a result of the metabolization in the liver of bile acids broken down by the intestinal microbiota.

The researchers compared 42 healthy women with 42 women with fibromyalgia and noted that metabolizing gut bacteria were not identical in both groups, and also women with fibromyalgia had significant alterations in the concentration of secondary bile acids in the blood. In addition, the values ​​corresponded to the intensity of the symptoms.

Therefore, the measurement of secondary bile acids in the blood serum can become a diagnostic test for fibromyalgia. According to the researchers, the analysis currently has a diagnostic accuracy of 90%. This percentage could improve in the future.

The study, led by Dr. Yoram Shir, of the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit at McGill University Health Center, says that in patients with fibromyalgia the concentration in the blood of alpha-muricolic acid can be up to five times lower in fibromyalgia patients, compared to healthy people.

To analyze the correlations between bile acids and different gut bacteria, the researchers turned to DNA sequencing technologies and artificial intelligence.

As the diet influences the composition of the intestinal microbiota, the researchers observed in another study the eating habits of the patients, buto They found no relationship between nutrients and types of bacteria that metabolize bile acids. But they were able to verify that a better quality of the diet from the nutritional point of view is reflected in milder symptoms and less depression.

These findings suggest that both the symptoms of fibromyalgia and the gut microbiome alterations associated with the disease are probably not due to nutritional differences, but to other factors, whether environmental, intrinsic, or both. More studies will be necessary to determine the causes of fibromyalgia.

Scientific references:

Natural treatment of fibromyalgia

Natural therapies offer very valuable complementary resources for fibromyalgia patients. In the following articles you can find guidance and advice: