Summary: Fibromyalgia is a largely misunderstood chronic health condition. Its primary symptom is systemic pain. While there is no cure, many patients would be satisfied if they could just ‘turn down the volume’ a little.
Fibromyalgia pain runs far deeper than just the casual aches and pains most people feel from day-to-day. As a chronic condition, fibromyalgia is relentless. It is continually discomforting and sometimes debilitating. As for the pain, think of it as the loudest possible music blaring from the speakers at a rock concert. If a patient could just ‘turn down the volume’ a bit, there would be measurable relief.
What used to be known as ‘fibromyalgia syndrome’ (now simply ‘fibromyalgia’) is a condition typified by consistent systemic pain in nearly every region of the body. Imagine the nerves responsible for sending pain signals to the brain being controlled by dials. Now imagine turning all the dials up to maximum. That gives you an idea of what a fibromyalgia patient goes through.
Ignored and Misunderstood
The constant and nagging pain of fibromyalgia is hard enough to live with. But for so many patients, the worst part of the condition is the ignorance and misunderstanding that goes along with it. An X-ray will not reveal the presence of fibromyalgia. Nor will an MRI or blood test. Therein lies one of the biggest challenges in diagnosing the condition.
Doctors order a battery of tests that find nothing mechanically wrong with the patient’s body. Then it is easy to dismiss the patient’s complaints. How many fibromyalgia patients have been told that their pain is imaginary? How many of them have been told that their pain is just a cry for attention?
Because fibromyalgia pain is considered medically nonspecific, it is a kind of pain that is hard for most people to understand. But that does not diminish the reality of the condition. It is very real. It is very debilitating. And for so many patients, just turning down the volume would be enough to let them take their lives back.
Two Ways Pain Is Manifested
Dealing with fibromyalgia is made harder by the fact that its associated pain isn’t always felt in the exact same way. Different patients feel different things. But even a single patient can experience different pain sensations. Typically, fibromyalgia pain is manifested in two ways:
- Allodynia – A situation in which non-painful stimuli is still perceived as painful. For example, most people would not experience pain by lying underneath a blanket. Fibromyalgia patients often do.
- Hyperalgesia – A scenario in which a patient experiences an exaggerated response to painful stimuli. For example, pinching the skin would be mildly uncomfortable for most people. To a fibromyalgia patient, the pain is perceived as excruciating.
It is also worth noting that the fibromyalgia pain experience isn’t limited exclusively to physical stimuli. Environmental stimuli can also induce perceptions of pain. Everything from bright lights to loud noises to new foods can trigger pain episodes.
So many things can create pain perceptions that fibromyalgia patients often feel exhausted. They commonly report memory lapses, trouble concentrating, and something we refer to as ‘fibro fog’. It is a general sense of mental heaviness combined with an inability to think clearly.
Turning Down the Volume Can Help a Great Deal
Turning down the volume on fibromyalgia pain can help a great deal due to the simple fact that it encourages breaking the cycle. Think of a patient experiencing chronic pain. The more painful the experience, the more mental stress the patient is under. Stress causes more pain, which leads to more stress.
Fibromyalgia patients often find themselves in the same cycle. The only difference is that their cycle is so much more complicated because of the volume of stimuli that can increase the pain experience. Turning down the volume – which is to say finding ways to moderate the pain – helps patients feel better. Feeling better reduces stress, and reducing stress can further reduce pain.
Turning down the volume is also important because there is no known cure for this condition. For many patients, dealing with fibromyalgia is an exercise in long-term pain management. Making the pain experience more manageable allows patients to return to some level of what they considered normal before they were afflicted.
When Pain Is Not Properly Managed
There is yet one more reason turning down the volume matters: the consequences of not doing so could be serious. Fibromyalgia patients who never find relief are likely to become isolated. They are highly likely to drop out of ‘normal’ life. That means less socialization, career-ending unemployment, a loss of friends, a loss of hobbies, and so on down the line.
The combination of isolation and loss can lead to depression. That only feeds the cycle and contributes to the patient’s pain. Not managing pain effectively just promotes a downward spiral that becomes gradually harder to escape.
How the Pain Is Treated
Despite all the bad news related to fibromyalgia, there are some positives. First and foremost is the fact that getting restful sleep can help a lot.
When a person is constantly fighting high-volume pain, quality sleep can seem fleeting. Yet sleep is a therapeutic imperative for more fibromyalgia patients. Why? Because sleep encourages the body to enter its restorative phase. It is during this phase that the body repairs damage done throughout the day.
Unfortunately, fibromyalgia patients often struggle with sleep. But if they can work with their doctors to correct this one problem, they should start feeling somewhat better. In addition to addressing sleep problems, fibromyalgia pain is also treated through clinical interventions:
- Nerve blocks
- Trigger point injections
- Radiofrequency ablation
- Gentle pain medications
Pain medicine doctors, like those here at Lone Star Pain Medicine, are likely to recommend a combination of clinical and holistic interventions. Examples of holistic strategies include:
- Regular but gentle exercise
- Stress management exercises
- A healthy diet
- Heat and cold therapies
- Nutritional supplements
- Body work (e.g., acupuncture, massage, chiropractic)
Fibromyalgia pain is a lot like extremely loud music or high-intensity pulses that constantly annoy. To the average patient, just turning down the volume would be enough. That is the starting point for us here at Lone Star Pain Medicine. So if you are living with fibromyalgia and have found no relief, maybe we can help.
FAQs
Is fibromyalgia an autoimmune or inflammatory disease?
Fibromyalgia is classified as a centralized pain or neurological disorder. The disorder involves the nervous system and how it interprets sensory input.
Can fibromyalgia be cured by modifying one’s diet?
There is no scientifically proven diet for treating fibromyalgia. But a healthy diet can reduce things that enhance pain, like inflammation.
How can nerve blocks help fibromyalgia pain?
Fibromyalgia pain almost always originates from somewhere. By identifying the origin point and then blocking pain signals from reaching the brain, a patient can be made more comfortable.
How can exercise help someone who is experiencing fibromyalgia pain?
Gentle exercise helps strengthen the body, especially the muscles. This addresses the stiffness and muscle deconditioning so often associated with fibromyalgia, mitigating two biological signals the brain often interprets as pain.
Are trigger points related to fibromyalgia?
Trigger points are exceptionally irritable areas of muscle. Though they are separate from fibromyalgia, they can contribute to increased pain. Addressing trigger points can help a fibro patient feel better.
