Posted by Fibro Girl on 12/28/2005, 10:31 am By The worst parts of having fibromyalgia are the My short-term memory is terrible, and My husband tells me I repeat myself a lot, and In the late afternoons I am worn out than usual. I move slowly, driving is painful, and every movement When I have a lot to do in the afternoons, Will I be able to make it from one place to another, Often, just thinking about a busy schedule My skin aches with such intensity that clothes are Chronic fatigue is like having the life force I take lots of breaks and it takes a long time Because my pain levels can vary from one day to I wonder--Is fibromyalgia a metaphor Is this a real physical phenomenon or a People with fibromyalgia are told all the time When I suffer through a particularly hard day with Fortunately for those of us who suffer with Sophisticated brain scans and other tests are But what has all the years of telling us essentially So they wrap it up into a neurotic parcel and slough BAD ERROR! I’ve had this misunderstood condition The basic symptoms of FM are intense, Pain usually is experienced in the back, shoulders, One of the most confounding and Since people with FM tend to have low levels FM has been thought to be imaginary or Since FM symptoms can overlap with other conditions Causative - We can all relate to this syndrome. I call it the doctor The National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) The Arthritis Foundation estimates that 3.5 million More women than men tend to be affected by FM, FM is often, but not always, brought on by a Many spine problems, arthritis, etc. There is no definitive answer about This makes me wonder if it is a precursor or a However, recent research suggests that it is associated Several studies, including one at the University Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Rheumatologist Dr. Daniel J. Clauw of the When mild pressure was applied to the fibromyalgia FM and other chronic pain conditions also Neuroplasticity is normally associated with positive But neuroplasticity can also be negative for
FIBRO DRAGON
Fibro girl
fatigue, pain and my persistent brain fog.
I forget things easily.
he worries about me a lot.But then, his Mother
died of Alzheimer’s Disease.
I always feel fatigued, but late afternoon my body
and spirit are lagging beyond redemption,
so it feels to me.
is like moving a little mountain.
I envy people who glide through space quickly
because I think about every motion before I make it.
I fret about it all day
pick up groceries, meet my friend for lunch?
ahead seems to make my muscles hurt even more.
difficult to put on and wear. I much prefer to hang
out in my soft pajamas and robe.
drained from my cells, bones, and muscles so
accomplishing the simplest tasks—making dinner
, doing the dishes—seems monumental.
to get something done.
the next, or even one hour to the next, I have
learned to work on developing the patience of a rock.
for something else or is it real?
manifestation of inner distress or depression?
that the illness is in their heads,
and truth be told,since I can’t often predict how
I will feel from one day to the next,
sometimes I wonder if this illness
is all in my head!
fibromyalgia, I tend to write about it. Somehow,
putting my pain and frustration into words takes
the burden off what is going on within me.
I therefore journal a lot.
fibromyalgia (also called FM), medical research
is answering some questions about this confounding,
complex and painful condition.
finally providing evidence that people
with FM really are experiencing physiological pain
rather than imagining it.
that we were all neurotics using bad experiences
in life to provoke unrelenting chronic pain that most
medical doctors even to this day, do not claim exists in
the physiological sense. They have continued to deny us
validation and have even in some cases, gone so
far as to rebuke us for having all this pain.
us off, giving us tranquilizers, muscle relaxants, you
name it, just to get rid of us. Ever try to tell a FM doctor that his or her treatment was not working?
They don’t like to hear that.
for about 20 years.
constant muscle pain and tenderness, disturbed
sleep and fatigue, morning stiffness ,and in some,
irritable bowel syndrome.
neck, pelvic area and hands,skin, but any
body part can be affected.
frightening
symptoms is “brain fog” (difficulty concentrating
and memory problems).
of the neurotransmitter serotonin, depression is
often another symptom that provokes the weary
and boring diagnosis (to them) of FM.
psychosomatic because people who have it can
look perfectly healthy, and there are currently no
lab tests that can diagnose it (although ongoing
research may soon change this).
such as arthritis and lupus,it is commonly misdiagnosed
and the symptoms can drag on for years, as the patient
goes from doctor to doctor before a correct diagnosis
is made. It can be a primary condition or a
secondary to the primary condition problem.
This is important to know. There are
three kinds of Fibromyalgia:
Secondary -
Primary -
to doctor “Don’t know nuthin syndrome”!
estimates that approximately three to six percent
of the U.S. population has FM.
Americans are affected by the illness.
and there are reports of children with the condition.
precipitating event—a virus, injury or time
of unusual stress. (causative)
can accompany SECONDARY FIBROMYALGIA.
what causes FM.
companion to a yet undiagnosed disease anomaly!
with an imbalance in chemicals and hormones
involved in pain perception in the brain.
Alabama, have found in FM patients elevated
levels of Substance P, a neurotransmitter that
transmits pain signals to the brain after injury.
studies have also demonstrated that subjects with
FM have abnormal pain perception.
University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor,
who is a leading authority on fibromyalgia,
chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War illnesses and
multiple chemical sensitivity, led one such study.
patients, they experienced twice the pain levels
as those in the control group, and 12 areas of
their brains were activated. In comparison, only two
brain areas were activated in those in the healthy group.
appear to be associated with neuroplasticity, the
nervous system’s amazing ability to form
new neural pathways.
things, such as the way older persons retain their
memory function by remaining engaged and limber,
or the way infants learn through forming millions of
brain connections in their first years of life.
chronic pain sufferers since pain
neurons grow more connections to othe
r nerves, thus amplifying the pain.
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