What’s Going on Now? -Fibromyalgia!

Just a few months ago I had my regular six month check up with my rheumatologist. I am feeling pretty crumby. Lots of joint pain, worsening fatigue and more difficulty with sleep. I figured I was experiencing a Spondyloarthritis flare. She conducts a physical and sees only one swollen joint. She feels like this is Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia can accompany Spondyloarthritis and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder. All three of these diseases cause pain. I feel betrayed again by my body.

What is Fibromyalgia?

It is a chronic long-term condition that causes pain, fatigue and sleep disturbances. The brain is sending out abnormal pain signals. Pain is amplified. It can occur with other chronic conditions. It is not a mental health disorder. Fibro is a real disorder, and it is lifelong. Fibro patients brain scans show a larger area of the brain where pain is experienced and for a longer duration than those who do not have fibro. 80-90% of those affected are female and 2% of the Canadian population has this diagnosis.

Symptoms

Every fibro patient experience is different. For me it is pain, tingling, brain fog, irritability, very poor sleep and extreme fatigue. Other common symptoms are widespread body pain, memory issues, feeling weak, constipation, noise sensitivity, temperature sensitivity and bladder issues. The difference between the pain of arthritis and fibromyalgia is that fibro does not harm the joints. Even without doing joint damage, pain is pain.

The Brain

Pain is an important message to the body. It is the bodies way of telling the brain to pay attention, slow down or stop. In fibro, the pain messages get messed and the brain has a hard time to recognize them. The messages are turned up loud and the nervous system goes into overdrive. Fibromyalgia can occur after a trauma, illness or with another disease.

My Journey with Fibromyalgia

For me fibro is an unwelcome guest in a house already bursting from the seams with people. I can understand its origin. My body has been dealing with chronic pain for so long that now it is mixing up the messages and adding pain where it shouldn’t be. This doesn’t make the pain any less real. My overall burden of pain has increased and at times it can be so overwhelming. The best I can manage is trying to reduce my stress, rest when I can, move even on the worst of days and distract myself with something I enjoy.

How do you deal with your fibro? Send me a message in the get in touch widget.