What is fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that causes you to feel pain all over your body. Researchers are still uncovering why you feel pain, but theorize that overstimulation of your nerves may alter your brain chemistry, which increases your sensitivity to pain.
Fibromyalgia can affect anyone but is more prevalent in women. You may be at risk of developing fibromyalgia if it runs in your family. An infection or physical or emotional trauma may also trigger the condition.
What are the symptoms of fibromyalgia?
The most well-known symptom of fibromyalgia is widespread myofascial pain. With this chronic pain condition, you experience a dull, aching sensation in what may feel like every muscle in your body. This pain may also interfere with your ability to get a good night’s sleep, causing you to feel chronically fatigued.
Many people with fibromyalgia also experience something referred to as “fibro fog,” which may affect your ability to focus or concentrate on mental tasks.
How is fibromyalgia diagnosed?
Your specialist at Regency Pain & Therapy Institute can determine if your pain is due to fibromyalgia after a comprehensive examination. For a diagnosis, you must be experiencing widespread myofascial pain for three months or more. While there’s no specific diagnostic test for fibromyalgia, your specialist may recommend blood work to rule out other conditions that may be causing your pain.
Your specialist at Regency Pain & Therapy Institute may also conduct a tender point test to help determine a diagnosis. During this test, your specialist presses on points scattered over your neck, back, chest, hip, buttocks, elbows, and knees and asks you to describe what you feel.
How is fibromyalgia treated?
No single treatment works for all those that suffer from fibromyalgia. Your specialist at Regency Pain & Therapy Institute works one-on-one with you to develop the most effective treatment that provides you relief from your pain. Treatment for fibromyalgia focuses on improving your general health and wellness, and may include:
- Over-the-counter pain medication
- Stress management
- Exercise program
- Healthy diet
- Antidepressants
- Gabapentin
The specialists at Regency Pain & Therapy Institute focus on your myofascial pain and also offer osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), which is a hands-on technique that gently stretches your muscles and joints to improve alignment, relieve your pain, and reduce your reliance on medication.
The pain fibromyalgia causes don’t have to take over your life. For effective treatment of your fibromyalgia, call Regency Pain & Therapy Institute today.
