Fibromyalgia is a chronic, often life-long condition that causes pain and discomfort throughout the body. It also leads to a myriad of interruptive symptoms, including but not limited to sleep disturbances, fatigue, headaches, depression, anxiety and more.
Though not often talked about, fibromyalgia is one of the most common chronic pain conditions in the world, affecting between 2% and 5% of the global population. In South African alone, it affects approximately 3% of the population.
While it is not life-threatening, fibromyalgia is a global issue, and one that leads to missed worked days, loss of productivity, increased disability claims and other pitfalls. For this reason, researchers are working to identify the causes in the hopes of being able to build a treatment. Though direct causes remain unknown, researchers agree that some are more plausible than others.
Several hormones in the body, such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, help the body process and balance out pain. If you have lower-than-normal levels of one or more of these hormones in the brain or nervous system, your pain signals may become disrupted, thereby triggering pain at inappropriate times and/or intensifying the feelings of pain when a painful event does occur.
In many people with fibromyalgia, the brain and nervous system are simply unable to process pain signals in typical ways. They may have abnormal levels of the chemicals that carry these signals in the spinal cord, nerves and brain, which could make them more sensitive to pain.
Not only is genetics a possible risk factor but also, it could be a cause. Researchers are starting to suspect that individuals with fibromyalgia may carry one or more genes that causes them to react strongly to stimuli that others may not perceive as painful. They can pass on these genes to children, thereby increasing their children’s risk that they, too, will develop the condition.
Cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 play a role in inflammation are often associated with fibromyalgia.
Researchers have detected a strong correlation between sleep disturbances and fibromyalgia. However, they are unclear as to whether the disturbances cause the condition, the condition causes the disturbances, or if both simply exacerbate one another.
It is not uncommon for otherwise healthy individuals to develop fibromyalgia after going through an emotionally or physically trying time. Though such events do not cause the condition themselves, they may trigger its onset in individuals who have a predisposition for it by changing how the nervous system responds to pain. Some possible triggers of fibromyalgia are as follows:
Though weakly linked to fibromyalgia, obesity is a risk factor for the condition.
The outlook for fibromyalgia depends largely on the severity of the condition. For some people, the symptoms are milder, while for others, they are more severe. For some, they are chronic and long-term, while for yet others, symptoms come and go and may not last forever.
Though fibromyalgia is not life-threatening, it can drastically alter your way of living and quality of life. Fibromyalgia can cause considerable pain and discomfort, both of which can interfere with your activities of daily living and those activities you enjoy. Symptoms are also difficult to manage, as doctors are often unsure of what causes them. That said, if you work closely with your doctor, you can work to identify the cause and, in the process, pinpoint the best treatment and support options.