Fibromyalgia affects your wellbeing with widespread, unexplained pain in your muscles and joints and although the symptoms are often triggered by emotional stress, an illness or a physical trauma, the causes of this health concern are not well understood. As it stands, wellness experts believe that your brain and nerves misinterpret or overreact to normal pain signals – possibly due to an imbalance in your body’s neurotransmitter chemicals – and this is what causes your symptoms. Still, there’s more to fibromyalgia than just pain; there are several debilitating symptoms surrounding the condition:
Pain
Most sufferers of fibromyalgia describe the pain as a deep ache within your muscles that gets worse with strenuous exercise. This may be a burning, shooting or throbbing pain, and is often accompanied by numbness or tingling in your limbs. This is a particular affliction in the muscles that you use the most frequently, such as those in your hands feet and legs, and may become worse in the mornings and evenings.
Tender Points
You might find specific points on your body only require a small amount of pressure in order to become painful. There are nine pairs of pressure points associated with fibromyalgia; both sides of the back of the head, both sides of the neck, top of each shoulder, shoulder blades, both sides of the upper chest, outside of each elbow, both sides of the hips, buttocks and the insides of the knees.
Fatigue
Also known as fibro fog, extreme feelings of tiredness or exhaustion are common in fibromyalgia. This means that you may have difficulty with certain tasks that are vital for everyday activities, such as concentration, remembering information, and following conversations.
Sleep Disturbances
There are three main reasons why, if you have fibromyalgia, you may have trouble with sleep; restless leg syndrome, sleep apnoea and waking up throughout the night due to pain. This can mean you experience difficulty getting to sleep, staying asleep, or reaching a deep and truly beneficial stage of sleep.
Psychological Symptoms
There is a close link between fibromyalgia and imbalances in brain chemistry, which means that psychological symptoms are likely to occur. Conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be caused due to abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitter chemicals in your brain.