People with fibromyalgia often ask, “Is fibromyalgia genetic?” It’s a hard question to answer, especially when little is known about how fibromyalgia works. But it’s something that could be relevant to getting the best possible treatment. So let’s look at the evidence.
If you have fibromyalgia, there’s a good chance that you know someone in your family who also has it. According to research, fibromyalgia does tend to run in families. And that implies that there is a genetic component to the disease.
The fact that fibromyalgia might be genetic means that the genes that are responsible for so much about the way your body works are passing along fibromyalgia.
But that also means that if someone in your family has fibromyalgia, then you are also likely to develop fibromyalgia.
What does that mean for you?
Because we know that fibromyalgia is genetic, we know that having a relative with fibromyalgia is a red flag when it comes to the possibility of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. So if someone in your family has the disease, you should keep on guard for the signs that you are also developing it.
Fibromyalgia can’t be cured, but it can be treated. And there’s no reason to spend years suffering without any treatment at all from mysterious aches and pains because you didn’t realize you had the disease.
After all, many people with fibromyalgia can go years before finding out that the cause of their pain is in fact, fibromyalgia.
So with your knowledge of the fact that fibromyalgia is genetic, you can have a better chance of catching it early.
If you have any of these symptoms, you should consult a doctor. Tell them if fibromyalgia runs in your family. This will alert them to the possibility that you have fibromyalgia and they should begin tests.
Just remember that the best way to deal with fibromyalgia is to be proactive about managing your symptoms. And get a diagnosis as soon as possible.
Fibromyalgia is a difficult disease to live with. It causes chronic fatigue and pain all over the body. And people who have fibromyalgia often find it hard to find a treatment that works for them. That’s why it’s important to get a diagnosis early so you can get effective treatment as soon as possible. There are a few early signs of fibromyalgia that you should look for to tell if you have fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia can be difficult to diagnose. And in the early stages, the first signs of fibromyalgia can be very different for different people. One of the best symptoms to look for early on is chronic fatigue. People with fibromyalgia often feel like they can’t seem to get a good rest no matter how much they sleep. And to make things worse, sleeping can be very difficult by itself.
Just feeling tired all the time is probably worth a trip to your doctor, as chronic fatigue is a symptom of many different conditions.
In addition, the most obvious symptom, and the one that doctors use to diagnose you is widespread pain. Fibromyalgia pain is located along 18 different points on the body. These are usually in the joints of the limbs and back. A doctor will test you to see if you have pain in 11 of these points, which is sufficient to prove that you have fibromyalgia.
This pain is typically what causes fibromyalgia patients to visit a doctor, as it is difficult to manage.
What Should You Do If You Think You Have Fibromyalgia?
If you have these early signs of fibromyalgia, it’s important to see a doctor as soon as possible. If possible, it’s best to see a doctor who specializes in fibromyalgia. You can contact the National Fibromyalgia Research Association for a list of fibromyalgia specialists in your area. And a doctor who treats fibromyalgia regularly will be more aware of the early signs of fibromyalgia and better equipped to recommend an effective treatment.
Be honest and thorough when describing your symptoms as it will help the doctor make the best diagnosis possible.
There are a number of drugs that doctors prescribe to treat fibromyalgia. Often these are anti-depressants, like Lyrica and Cymbalta, that increase the levels of serotonin in your brain. Serotonin helps calm the nerve pain associated with fibromyalgia.
But there are also other drugs that are new when it comes to treating fibromyalgia but show promise. Drugs like naltrexone offer new hope to people with treatment-resistant fibromyalgia.
And doctors are rapidly testing new drugs and making advancements in the study of what causes fibromyalgia. Meanwhile, many find that the standard treatments are at least partially effective.
A diagnosis of fibromyalgia is often given when doctors are unable to find another cause for chronic widespread body pain. But many fibromyalgias suffers are often told the pain is all in their heads. Now, discoveries about the potential cause of fibromyalgia, along with a new test to diagnose fibromyalgia, could offer relief to millions — the vast majority of whom are women. If you have fibromyalgia, you’ve likely experienced frustration when trying to find a treatment that works to alleviate body pain, fatigue, brain fog, and more. And, you might experience the additional blow of family, friends, and even doctors telling you that your symptoms are psychosomatic.
“Fibromyalgia patients tend to be stressed, tense, anxious, ambitious, and sometimes depressed. Some fibromyalgia sufferers describe themselves as perfectionists,” Stanford Medicine reported. “They may also suffer from symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome or migraine or tension headaches. Physicians who dismiss their patient’s complaints as being ‘all in the head’ can also make symptoms worse.”
More and more evidence has emerged about how the body and brain work together, and how a communication breakdown between these two systems can contribute to chronic pain conditions. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have identified an underlying condition that could play a role in illnesses like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome, according to a study published in the journal Current Pain and Headache Reports. Additionally, another study published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice reported that a new test could more effectively differentiate fibromyalgia from other chronic pain conditions.
New Screening Can Effectively Diagnose Fibromyalgia
The study from the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice was conducted to help primary-care physicians become more skilled at correctly identifying fibromyalgia. According to the study, half of all primary-care providers from the U.S., Asia, and Europe did not know how to diagnose fibromyalgia. The screening method, which involves using Achilles tendon pressuring in tandem with an inquiry about widespread body pain, can help doctors determine if a chronic pain patient might have fibromyalgia in less than one minute.
Being able to get a fast and accurate diagnosis can save chronic pain suffers years of tests and uncertainty. “Because of the many different symptoms it may present, fibromyalgia can be challenging to diagnose,” Fibromyalgia News Today reported. “The process often takes two to three years and three to four evaluations by different medical teams to reach a correct diagnosis.”
If you’ve seen Gaga: Five Foot Two, then you know that Lady Gaga did not receive her fibromyalgia diagnosis for five years. This new screening method is meant to speed up that process. According to Fibromyalgia News Today the study used three clinical measures — blood pressure (BP) cuff‐evoked pain, digital palpation evoked pain, and a single question about “persistent deep aching” — to indicate fibromyalgia.
“The study found that patients with fibromyalgia showed significantly greater sensitivity to digital pressure and BP-evoked pressure pain compared to patients with chronic pain but no fibromyalgia,” Fibromyalgia News Today noted. “When questioned about deep ache, more fibromyalgia patients responded positively than the other groups of participants. Additional analysis showed that patients who had right Achilles tenderness and who endorsed the deep-aching question had an 11 times greater chance of having fibromyalgia.”
The study concluded that patients who receive a positive diagnosis need a follow-up exam to confirm whether or not they have fibromyalgia.
The Massachusetts General study found that something called small-fiber polyneuropathy — the impairment of small nerve fibers — is present in a variety of different diseases and often results in symptoms of burning and shooting pain. Fox 25 in Boston spoke to Dr. Anne Louise Oaklander, who was involved in the study and said that those who suffer from diseases like fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic fatigue syndrome might actually have a disease called small-fiber polyneuropathy, or SFPN, a disorder in which nerve cells found under the skin are attacked by the body’s immune system. One of the reasons it’s so hard to diagnose is that even though patients suffer from widespread pain, no one can see it — but that’s now changing.
She discovered that drugs called immunomodulators — medications used to help regulate or normalize the immune system — can be effectively used to treat SFPN in some patients, which is offering relief to long-time sufferers. “It’s pretty routine that I have patients who break down and cry when they get an answer for the first time to something that’s been disabling them for years or decades,” Oaklander said, adding that SFPN is diagnosable by biopsy.
The study described symptoms of SFPN, and they’re pretty on point with what many people with fibromyalgia, IBS, chronic fatigue, and undiagnosed chronic pain report. “Many individuals report the gradual onset of distal symptoms that include vague disturbances of sensation in the feet. These symptoms may include the feeling of a wrinkle in a sock that cannot be removed or of small pebbles or sand in the shoe. Others may report a cold-like pain, tingling or a pins and needles sensation,” the study detailed.
Other, more severe, symptoms include persistent burning pain and transient electric shock-like pain with symptoms worsening during periods of rest and at night. Additionally, “Patients with small fiber neuropathy frequently complain that the bedsheets are exquisitely painful, and therefore, wear socks or use ‘foot tents’ to keep the sheets from making physical contact with the feet.”
Harvard’s newspaper, the Harvard Gazette, reported that as many as half of all people diagnosed with fibromyalgia may actually have SFPN, which could be good news because, unlike fibromyalgia, SFPN is treatable with immunomodulators. Because the two diseases are so similar, it can be difficult to tell them apart. And, while not everyone who has fibromyalgia has SFPN, those who do may find some relief with medication. What’s more, because SFPN can be diagnosed with a biopsy, patients can finally find out one way or the other if they have it.
Overall, these two discoveries offer hope for chronic pain sufferers who often feel like they’re fighting an invisible war. Having more options to diagnose and treat chronic pain is a positive step on the road to healing.
Fibromyalgia has long baffled both medical professionals and sufferers. Branded as a neurological syndrome characterized by chronic pain, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction, fibromyalgia has defied precise categorization and treatment. However, emerging evidence introduces a compelling and often-overlooked player in this painful puzzle: fascia, the connective tissue that blankets every inch of our internal architecture.
Could it be that the discomfort fibromyalgia patients endure—those deep, radiating aches and that crawling, prickling sensation beneath the skin known as formication—isn’t just rooted in the brain, but in this intricate web of tissue just beneath the surface?
Let’s peel back the layers—literally and figuratively—of the human body to expose how fascial dysfunction might underpin fibromyalgia, and what that revelation means for the future of symptom management and healing.
What Is Fascia? The Underappreciated Matrix of the Body
Fascia is a thin, fibrous, and remarkably dynamic connective tissue that envelops every muscle, bone, nerve fiber, and internal organ. This fibrous matrix performs far more than structural duties; it is rich in sensory nerve endings and plays a critical role in proprioception, pain signaling, and internal communication.
Far from being inert packing material, fascia is alive with cellular activity and fluid dynamics. It:
Supports and stabilizes musculature and joints
Separates and connects anatomical structures simultaneously
Conducts mechanical signals, such as pressure and vibration
Interacts intimately with the central nervous system via embedded receptors
In essence, fascia is the body’s broadband network—and when that network becomes gnarled, compressed, or dehydrated, the resulting dysfunction can cascade throughout the system.
Fibromyalgia has traditionally been attributed to central sensitization—a condition in which the brain and spinal cord amplify pain signals. While this remains a crucial piece of the puzzle, it does not fully explain why the pain begins in specific areas, or why it’s often symmetrical, migratory, and resistant to common painkillers.
When this tissue becomes stiff, bound, or inflamed, it exerts abnormal pressure on nerves, impairs blood flow, and generates localized inflammation—all of which can mimic and potentially cause the widespread discomfort seen in fibromyalgia.
Formication is a tactile hallucination—a feeling that something is crawling on or under the skin. It often coexists with fibromyalgia and is profoundly distressing. While frequently linked to neuropathy or drug withdrawal, many fibro patients experience it without external triggers, suggesting a deeper somatic origin.
So how could fascia be responsible for this bizarre, bug-like sensation?
Entrapped Nerves: Fascial adhesions can compress sensory nerves, causing misfires that the brain interprets as crawling or tingling.
Abnormal Tension: Chronic fascial tightness distorts mechanoreceptor input, leading to bizarre tactile sensations.
Inflammatory Signaling: Fascia, rich in immune activity, may spark cytokine activity that sensitizes nerve endings.
Disrupted Fluid Flow: Impaired lymphatic and interstitial fluid movement due to fascial rigidity may alter skin sensation.
Together, these factors provide a plausible basis for formication as a peripheral-origin hallucination, originating in fascia and misinterpreted by the brain.
Recent studies show that fascia has a higher density of nociceptors (pain receptors) than muscle tissue. This suggests that pain attributed to “muscle soreness” may in fact originate in the fascia.
Imaging Insights
Ultrasound and MRI technologies have demonstrated that fibromyalgia patients often have thicker, less elastic fascia, especially in the trapezius, lumbar region, and lower extremities.
Cellular Inflammation
Biopsies and lab studies suggest that inflammatory markers in fascial tissues are elevated in fibro patients—supporting the theory of an immune-mediated fascial syndrome.
Feedback Loops Between Fascia and the Central Nervous System
Fascia doesn’t operate in isolation. It is intimately tied to the nervous system through:
Proprioceptors (sensors for movement and tension)
Baroreceptors (sensors for pressure)
Chemoreceptors (sensors for chemical signals like inflammation)
A stiffened or inflamed fascial environment sends constant “danger” signals to the brain, keeping the nervous system in a perpetual state of alert. This feeds into central sensitization, reinforcing both pain perception and emotional distress—a loop that’s tough to break without addressing the tissue dysfunction.
Many fibromyalgia patients have undergone a carousel of medications—from antidepressants to anticonvulsants to opioids—without sustainable relief. Addressing the mechanical and physiological health of fascia offers a promising avenue.
Integrative Care Model
An ideal fibromyalgia treatment plan might include:
There’s growing recognition that the nervous system does not operate in a vacuum. It is embedded within the fascia, nourished by its fluids, and influenced by its tension. When fascia falters, nerves suffer—and the body broadcasts its distress through pain, fatigue, cognitive fog, and bizarre sensations like formication.
By embracing fascia as a living, reactive, and treatable structure, we open new doors for people with fibromyalgia—doors that may lead to recovery, restoration, and resilience.
Remember:
Formication and fibromyalgia share common neural roots—an interwoven story of sensory misfiring. Though unwelcome and at times terrifying, this symptom responds to a multi-pronged plan grounded in nerve modulation, holistic care, medical oversight, and patient resilience. By embracing a broad, informed approach, individuals suffering from formication can reclaim comfort, control, and, above all, hope.
More Detail about Formication and Fibromyalgia: When It Feels Like Bugs Crawl Beneath Your Skin
Fibromyalgia is a multifaceted disorder. Beyond chronic musculoskeletal pain and profound fatigue, sufferers often report a constellation of distressing sensory symptoms. Among them, formication—the eerie sensation of insects crawling on or under the skin—emerges as one of the most unnerving. Its existence in fibromyalgia raises questions about the nature of the disease: Why would a person feel tiny creatures writhing beneath the surface? Why is it so common among fibromyalgia patients? And how can one manage or treat such a disturbing sensation?
Formication (pronounced for-MIH-kay-shun) is the clinical term for the illusion or hallucination of insects crawling on or under the skin. Derived from the Latin formica (“ant”), it classifies as a tactile hallucination—a sensory misperception where the skin feels touch, pressure, or movement that has no external source.
Psychosomatic or Neurological?
Although formication frequently appears in psychiatric conditions and stimulant drug use, such as chronic methamphetamine abuse, it is not solely a mental health phenomenon. The culprit is a misfiring nervous system—sensory signals being generated without any actual stimulus. The brain interprets these signals as crawling sensations, triggering a powerful, visceral reaction, even though no real bugs are present.
Why It’s So Distressing
Psychological torment: The sensation can feel all too real—driving sufferers to itch, scratch, or pick compulsively.
Docked sleep: The relentless crawling feeling can interrupt rest, triggering further physical and emotional exhaustion.
Risk of self-inflicted harm: Constant scratching may lead to open sores, infections, scarring, and a vicious cycle of pain.
Emotional strain: The awareness that others may not believe you only adds to isolation, frustration, and uncertainty.
Fibromyalgia is increasingly understood as a central nervous system disorder, in which pain and sensory signals are amplified or misinterpreted. Just as fibromyalgia patients experience widespread pain and hyperalgesia (heightened sensitivity to painful stimuli), they may also experience tactile misinterpretations like formication.
Consider these points:
Altered pain thresholds: In fibromyalgia, pain signals can arise spontaneously; likewise, sensations like crawling may emerge without an external cause.
Crosstalk in sensory pathways: Overlapping neural circuits for pain and touch might misfire, confusing tactile signals.
Central sensitization: The brain becomes primed to detect threats, turning up the volume on stimuli—real or imagined.
Data Supporting the Connection
Many fibromyalgia patients report complex sensory symptoms:
Itching without skin changes
Burning or tingling sensations (paresthesia)
Peripheral swelling, unexplained by visible inflammation
Though medical research into formication in fibromyalgia is still developing, existing studies point to its high prevalence and strong association with other sensory disturbances—reinforcing the theory of shared neural dysfunction.
Lack of large-scale studies on its prevalence and pathophysiology
Limited neuroimaging evidence to pinpoint brain regions responsible
No clear “standard of care”, leading patients to navigate trial-and-error treatments
Variability among individuals—what alleviates symptoms in one person may be useless for another
9. Emerging Research & Future Directions
The scientific community is steadily advancing understanding:
Neuroimaging studies are mapping abnormal sensory processing in fibromyalgia—hinting at targets for neuromodulation.
Peripheral neuropathy investigations reveal micro-nerve damage in many fibro patients, which may trigger formication.
Novel therapeutics, including low-dose naltrexone, cannabinoids, IVIG, and even brain stimulation (TMS, tDCS), are under scrutiny for their nervous-system modulating effects.
10. Empowering Yourself: Tips & Takeaways
Understand it’s real—Formication is not imaginary or psychological weakness.
Reduce self-harm—Trim nails, use moisturizers, and apply chill compresses.
Track episodes—A diary reveals triggers and aids medical planning.
Treat the nerves—Address fibromyalgia itself, not just individual symptoms.
Harness mind-body tools—Meditation, CBT, and relaxation techniques help regulate neural signals.
Advocate for care—Work with clinicians toward multidisciplinary treatment.
Stay hopeful—Research progresses, and many fibromyalgia patients find relief with personalized strategies.
11. Stories from the Front Lines
To grasp the lived reality of formication, consider these patient-reported experiences (anonymized):
“It felt like ants were marching all over my arms. I’d wake up in the middle of the night scratching until I bled. Nothing calmed it—no coconut oil, no antihistamine. Finally, gabapentin helped me get through the night.”
“Doctors called me paranoid, but I knew I wasn’t going crazy. Writing in my journal, I realized every episode followed heavy coffee or my PMS week.”
Sleep hygiene, relaxation routines, possible sleep meds
Skin Damage
Scratching leads to wounds and potential infection
Nail care, soothing compresses, monitor lesions, treat promptly
Emotional Distress
Anxiety, helplessness, fear of being misunderstood
Support groups, clear communication, stress reduction tactics
Doctor-Patient Misalignment
Central nature complicates understanding
Education, documentation, advocate for neuro/derm care and biopsies if necessary
13. Final Thoughts: You Are Not Alone
Dealing with fibromyalgia is already a full-time struggle—juggling pain, fatigue, “fibro-fog,” and emotional ups and downs. To add formication—sensations of ants, worms, or bugs crawling on your skin—often unmasks profound frustration. But the sensation is not random or imagined—it is a symptom of nervous system chaos, not a character flaw.
By acknowledging its connection to fibromyalgia, documenting episodes, advocating for nerve-directed treatments, and adopting skin-friendly and mind-body measures, you can gain control, reduce episodes, and protect your well-being.
Further Resources & Reading
Fibromyalgia research foundations—offer patient-oriented guidance and clinical trial listings
Neurosensory and neuroimaging journals—for emerging insight into tactile hallucinations and central sensitization
Support communities—both local and online—for shared strategies, empathy, and hope
Final Reflections: Rewiring the Body Through Tissue Healing
Fascia may not be visible to the naked eye, but it speaks volumes through the language of sensation. In fibromyalgia, its voice is often muffled—drowned out by pain pills and misunderstood diagnoses. But when we listen closely, fascia may hold the key to unraveling the chronic pain that shadows so many lives.
No single therapy will be a silver bullet. Yet, through patient-centered, fascia-inclusive care, fibromyalgia sufferers can begin to stitch together a tapestry of healing—one strand of relief at a time.
Gluten has been liked to more than 55 diseases and is often called the ‘big masquerader’. The reason for this is that the majority of symptoms of gluten intolerance are not digestive in nature but rather neurological such as pain, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, behavioral issues, fatigue, and depression.
Adrenal Fatigue: Adrenal fatigue is a result of chronic stress whether real or perceived. Chronic pain is a stress to the adrenal glands, though typically not the initial adrenal stressor. The initial stressor is usually something such as food intolerances, Candida, mercury toxicity, vitamin deficiencies, or mycotoxins. The goal is to support the adrenals while searching for the root cause of the stress and correct it.
Thyroid: More than half of the people with thyroid issues have no idea they have one and 90% of these have hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid gland. It is vital that your doctor check six different blood markers to measure your thyroid gland’s function, and it’s imperative that your doctor use the optimal levels rather than the standard reference range when assessing and diagnosing thyroid disorders.
Candida Overgrowth: Candida is a fungus or yeast, and a very small amount of it lives in your intestines. However, when overproduced, Candida breaks down the wall of the intestines and penetrates the bloodstream, releasing toxic byproducts into your body causing a host of unpleasant symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, digestive issues, and pain. A lot of fibromyalgia patients have had Candida overgrowth.
Glutathione Deficiency: Glutathione, a molecule, is the most critical part of our body’s detoxification system. Glutathione gets recycled in our body unless our toxic burden gets too high or we lack GSTM1 and GSTP1, the enzymes needed to recycle and produce glutathione. Taking a glutathione supplement or the precursors (NAC, alpha-lipoic acid, milk thistle) often helps dramatically with fatigue.
Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and Leaky Gut: There are more bacteria in us and on us than there are of our own cells. When these bacteria get out of balance through the use of antibiotics or a sugar-rich diet we can lose our ability to digest and absorb nutrients, particularly B12. Gluten can cause SIBO and leaky gut and SIBO and leaky gut can lead to gluten and other food intolerances. It’s a catch-22 and a vicious cycle. You must first heal the gut in anyone with fibromyalgia or any chronic illness.
Mycotoxins: Mycotoxins are very toxic substances produced by toxic molds. Only about 25% of the population carries the genes to be susceptible to the effects of mycotoxins. Conventional environmental mold testing only tests for levels of mold spores and does not test for mycotoxins.
MTHFR Mutations: This is a genetic test you can get through any conventional lab. The more mutations you have in the MTHFR gene the less able you are to methylate and detoxify, particularly toxins such as mercury and lead. The more mutations you have in this gene the higher your requirements for methyl-B6, methyl-B12, and folinic acid in order to keep your detoxification pathways working properly.
Vitamin Deficiencies: Magnesium, vitamin D, and B12 deficiency are the most common vitamin deficiencies in those who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The best way to measure magnesium is a red blood cell (RBC) magnesium level, which can be ordered by your conventional doctor.
As you can see from the above list, many of these causes are interrelated and often there is no single root cause of fibromyalgia or any chronic illness. It is a combination of several or possibly all of the above.
Social Security has published a ruling that helps define when applicants with fibromyalgia should be granted disability benefits.
A lot of candidates for Social Security disability benefits the ones who apply based on fibromyalgia get rejected. The part of the motive was that Social Security does not have a disability “listing” for the condition. (Social Security’s disability listings offer the conditions needed for numerous different impairments to be sanctioned as disabilities.) The Social Security Administration (SSA) printed a ruling in 2012 to address the issue, providing directions to disability claims surveyors and administrative law judges (ALJs) regarding how to evaluate fibromyalgia circumstances. This ruling ought to help reduce the number of fibromyalgia applicants who are rejected at the preliminary application phase and go on to file an appeal and ultimately win disability welfares.
Despite that, a lot of fibromyalgia patients will continue to be denied welfares. If you are applying for disability constructed on fibromyalgia, it just benefits to know that how the SSA views this specific impairment (known as fibromyositis).
Usually, when a disability claims examiner got a situation where the motive for disability was just fibromyalgia, the point of view for an initial endorsement was poor. Disability examiners usually presented slight weight to an entitlement of fibromyalgia unless there was one more condition involved, for instance, degenerative disc disease or arthritis, the one that was more possible to come with objective proof of the disease just like x-rays. Why was it? Part of the problem has to do with the nature of fibromyalgia—its signs are mostly particular and its causes are not understood. Since its symptoms differ from person to person, and for the reason that the medical career had not figured out fibromyalgia’s reasons, disability examiners were by no means certain how to categorize such circumstances. As the medical profession has started to recognize fibromyalgia better, Social Security has established new standards for evaluating fibromyalgia.
As to be selected for disability welfares, you need to have an impairment recognized by medical proof for instance medical “signs” of the disease or illness and lab tests. In other words, your impairment cannot be established merely by your reports of your symptoms. This is known as the necessity of having a “medically determinable impairment” (MDI)—the SSA has to understand medical signs of an impairment that might more likely be expected to produce your symptoms. Verifying this can be challenging with fibromyalgia, as the illness is generally categorized by subjective reports of extensive pain, dizziness, tenderness in the muscles, joints, and soft tissues, fibro fog, and fatigue.
Luckily, in July 2012, Social Security allotted a ruling clarifying when fibromyalgia would bring into being as a medically determinable impairment. The ruling directs statements examiners and judges to count on conditions allotted by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) to define whether a candidate has fibromyalgia, and so has an MDI.
To be considered an MDI first, the patient would have proof of chronic extensive pain, with pain in the back, chest, or neck and the doctor must have governed out other diseases (hypothyroidism, such as lupus, and multiple sclerosis) over the procedure of lab tests or x-rays. Also, the patient must have one of the following:
1. Tender arguments in at least 11 of 18 tender argument regions of the body, with tender arguments befalling on both sides of the body and both above and beneath the waist. You can get a list of the tender arguments in the SSA’s latest ruling on fibromyalgia.
2. Repetitive manifestations of six or additional fibromyalgia symptoms, mainly cognitive, fatigue, or memory issues (fibro fog), anxiety, non-restorative sleep, depression, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Other likely symptoms consist of abdominal pain, headache, muscle weakness, seizures, Raynaud’s phenomenon, and dizziness.
The claims examiner will evaluate your medical records to see if they comprise proof of the above criteria. The examiner will read the doctor’s notes on your complaints of fatigue, pain, and possible cognitive complications. To evaluate the reliability of your complaints, the claims examiner can ask your doctor to offer information about the amount and time period of your impairments, his or her judgment of how well you are capable to function, what treatments were done, and whether they were supportive and had side effects, and how long the doctor believes your capability to function to be restricted. The longer your medical record contains proof of fibromyalgia symptoms and treatment, the better.
In case SSA defines that you have the medically determinable impairment of fibromyalgia, Social Security’s assessment is not done; actually, it has just started. The SSA will possibly create a “residual functional capacity” (RFC) assessment for you to decide if there is any work you can do, with your past work. RFC assessment is an estimation of your capability to perform numerous exertional stages of work; let’s say, if you can’t lift more than ten pounds, you will be provided a sedentary RFC. The SSA bases your RFC on your medical records, views from specialists and doctors, and statements from you and from your family members. In evaluating your RFC, the SSA will be dependent on your doctor’s view as to your abilities, just like how long you can stand, walk, and sit, how much you can lift, and how well you can focus and remember guidelines. These practical restrictions are the key to showing the SSA why you can’t work.
When making your RFC, the SSA will match it to the kinds of jobs vacant for somebody with your RFC level and restrictions. If the RFC rules out every job, though sedentary work, you will be considered disabled.
More likely in other cases, hiring a lawyer to request a rejection of welfares for fibromyalgia can surely benefit, as disability lawyers are aware of the Social Security decision on fibromyalgia (SSR 12-2p) and the modern court verdicts on when disability would be approved for fibromyalgia. This information can assist disability attorneys to find errors that were made by the judge or claims examiner in the disability determination and use them to your benefit.
Also, if just a primary care internist or physician gives you a fibromyalgia diagnosis, then try to make an appointment with a specialist; and a diagnosis made by a rheumatologist will be more reliable to a judge or disability examiner and will help your Social Security disability request or claim.
Women are far more likely than men to get Fibromyalgia Causes —a disease that causes pain and tender points throughout the body. Between 80 and 90 percent of people who are diagnosed with this condition are women, according to the National Institutes of Health. The reason for this gender inequality may have to do with hormones, immune system differences, or genes. But researchers still aren’t exactly sure why women get Fibromyalgia Causes in much greater numbers than men.
Fibromyalgia Causes a very specific kind of pain. Women often describe it as a dull ache that starts in the muscles. To be diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Causes, the pain must be on both sides of your body. And, it must affect both the upper and lower parts of your body. The pain may come and go. It can be worse on some days than on others, which can make it hard to plan for daily activities.
Fibromyalgia Tender Points Fibromyalgia Causes: In addition to more widespread pain, causes fibromyalgia tender points around the body. They’re called fibromyalgia tender points because when you press on them, they hurt. There are 18 possible fibromyalgia tender points. You may have pain in some or all of these places:
Fibromyalgia Causes: The pain from fibromyalgia can make it very hard to sleep. Conditions that often occur with Fibromyalgia Causes—such as restless legs syndrome and sleep apnea—can also keep you awake at night. A lack of sleep night after night can make you feel tired and cause you to have trouble concentrating during the day. In a vicious cycle, a lack of sleep can also make your pain worse.
Fibromyalgia Causes in Women who may start to notice that they have trouble remembering and concentrating. They may mix up words when they speak, or get confused more easily than they used to. These thinking problems are sometimes called “fibro fog” because the mind feels foggy. Although doctors aren’t sure what’s behind “fibro fog,” it may be caused by a lack of sleep or by the effects of fibromyalgia pain on the brain.
About half of fibromyalgia Causes in women develop headaches, according to a study in the journal Clinical Rheumatology. Many women get migraines—a throbbing type of headache that can cause nausea, vomiting, and flashes of light. Why fibromyalgia women are more likely to get headaches isn’t clear. But experts think fibromyalgia Causes in women and headaches may stem from the imbalance of chemicals like serotonin and epinephrine in the brain.
fibromyalgia Causes in women: In general, menstrual period cramps can be mild or painful, depending on the woman. But women with fibromyalgia report having more painful periods than usual. Some women with fibromyalgia also have endometriosis. In this condition, tissue from the uterus grows in other parts of the pelvis. Endometriosis can cause uncomfortable periods too. Women with fibromyalgia Causes may also find that sexual intercourse becomes more painful.
Main Fibromyalgia Causes In Women: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is another health condition that is more common in women, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And women with fibromyalgia are more likely to have IBS. Researchers don’t know the reason why IBS and Fibromyalgia Causes are connected. IBS causes symptoms such as stomach cramps, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea, which can also have a big impact on a woman’s life.
Many women with fibromyalgia get a creepy, crawly feeling in their legs that wakes them from sleep. This condition is known as restless legs syndrome (RLS). RLS is much more common in people with fibromyalgia. About 33 percent of people with Fibromyalgia Causes have RLS, compared to only 3 percent of those who don’t have fibromyalgia. RLS disturbs sleep, and it can lead to daytime drowsiness.
Fibromyalgia Causes If you have fibromyalgia, you might notice that you have to put on a sweater every time the temperature drops, or that you break into a sweat whenever the mercury rises. Temperature sensitivity is very common in women with this condition. Some women with fibromyalgia are also more sensitive than usual to other things, such as loud noises or bright lights.
This will be the first Christmas that Tammi Hale spends without her husband Doug in over 30 years.
The 53-year old Vermont man, who suffered chronic pain from interstitial cystitis, committed suicide in October after his doctor abruptly cut him off from opioid pain medication.
“His primary care provider kept trying to wean him off his opioid therapy, which worked at higher doses,” says Tammi. “My husband ran out (of medication) early a few times, so the doctor cut him off completely one day. Six weeks later he took his life as no medical establishment would treat his chronic pain.”
We’re telling Doug Hale’s story, as we have those of other pain patients who’ve committed suicide because their deaths have been ignored or lost in the public debate over the nation’s so-called opioid epidemic. Patients who were safely taking high doses of opioids for years are suddenly being cut off or tapered to lower doses. Some are being abandoned by their doctors.
“I believe it will get worse with time. The docs are simply more interested in not risking their licenses than in treating chronic pain,” Tammi wrote to Pain News Network in a series of emails about her husband’s death.
Depression and suicidal thoughts are common for many people living with chronic pain and illness. According to a recent surveyof over a thousand pain patients, nearly half have contemplated suicide.
But the problem appears to have grown worse as physicians comply with the “voluntary” prescribing guidelines released in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which have been adopted as law in several states. Many doctors now fear prosecution and loss of their medical licenses if they overprescribe opioids. Some have chosen not to prescribe them at all.
While federal and state authorities track the number of drug overdose deaths, no one seems to be following the number of patients who are dying by suicide or from cascading medical problems caused by untreated chronic pain. Some in the pain community call this “passive genocide.” Tammi Hale compares it to the Holocaust.
“The Nazis eliminated the sick and the weak first, right? Makes you wonder,” she says. “I realize my comments are harsh, but I believe the public needs to be aware of the dangers any one of us could be facing with this silent epidemic.”
Doctor Insisted on Weaning
Doug Hale began facing a life with intractable chronic pain in 1999 after a surgery left him with interstitial cystitis, a painful inflammation of the bladder. According to his wife, Doug tried physical therapy, antidepressants, epidurals, nerve blocks, TENS, cognitive behavioral therapy, and several different medications before finally turning to opioids for pain relief. High doses of methadone and oxycodone for breakthrough pain were found to be effective.
But a few years ago, Doug’s primary care provider (PCP) started urging him to wean to a lower dose.
“The PCP insisted on weaning. Although Doug clearly had documented malabsorption issues, the PCP persisted on weaning. The pressure to wean was unbelievable,” says Tammi.
“It came to a head in May of 2016. The PCP gave Doug one month to wean completely from 120mg/day of methadone and 20 mg/day of oxy. We knew this was impossible.”
Tammi says Doug checked himself into a 7-day detox program, where he was weaned to 40 mg of methadone a day. The doctor agreed to prescribe that amount, but it was not enough to relieve Doug’s pain. He started taking extra doses.
“He ran out a week early in late August. The PCP abandoned Doug, stating ‘I’m not going to risk my license for you. The methadone clinic can deal with you.’”
But the methadone clinic refused to treat Doug because they saw him as a chronic pain patient, not as an addict. “Had he turned to street drugs they could have treated him, but because he didn’t break the rules they couldn’t help,” Tammi explained.
Doug tried to detox at home, which Tammi calls a “brutal” experience. On October 10th, after being turned down by other healthcare providers, Doug went to his former doctor one last time to beg for help and was refused. The doctor said again that he didn’t want to risk his license.
“Doug left the office still thrashing in pain and despondent,” Tammi recalls. “The next day, my dear, sweet thoughtful husband of 32 years; a father, son, brother, uncle, and friend, well-loved by many, dragged a chair to a remote spot in our back yard. A spot we could not see from the house, the road, or by the neighbors.
“He shot himself in the head to escape his pain. He made sure we could still live in our home and not be plagued by gruesome memories. I just wish the medical establishment had an ounce of the compassion that he did.”
“Can’t take the chronic pain anymore. No one except my wife has helped me. The doctors are mostly puppets trying to lower expenses.”— Doug Hale
“Can’t take the chronic pain anymore. No one except my wife has helped me,” Doug wrote in a suicide note. “The doctors are mostly puppets trying to lower expenses, and (do not accept) any responsibility. Besides people will die and doctors have seen it all. So why help me.”
“Doug did make vague references about suicide during the summer due to the desperation and pain. He was just such a tough guy, he survived so much that my reaction, and others after the fact, was no. Not Doug. He’s like the bionic man. Too much of a warrior to give up,” said Tammi.
“At his memorial, so many people commented on what an inspiration he was to them. To graciously bear the path of pain and his never-give-up attitude made them reevaluate their own daily issues. I guess you could say his legacy was love and to never quit.”
Tammi consulted with a medical malpractice attorney after Doug’s death, who told her the chances of winning a lawsuit against the doctor were slim. The cost of legal action would have also been prohibitive, after so many years of dealing with Doug’s medical expenses.
Tammi and Doug may never get their day in court, but she is determined to share his story in the hope that patients, doctors, and regulators learn from it.
“My promise to him was to share with others. He was thrown away like a piece of trash, but his life and the life of all humans are precious. All patients deserve to be treated respectfully,” she wrote. “Hopefully some changes will come in time before the holocaust grows too much larger.”
It’s a trickle at present, but the conversation around chronic pain between doctors and patients is no longer one way only.
Over the past few months, the constant messaging suggesting chronic pain patients are dying in dramatically increasing numbers because of opioid overdoses has been questioned.
Understand, the messaging was indeed clever. Chronic pain patients weren’t directly and specifically named, but the messaging caused listeners and readers to believe it was pain patients whose lives were being shattered, or even ended, due to opioids.
Then a few of us in media began to ask questions, and immediately the anti-opioid medication messaging began to falter. Patients suffering hideously from non-stop pain willingly spoke about the horrific conditions of their lives.
They voluntarily shared longtime doctors who had prescribed opioid medication which made their lives at least livable were under pressure to cut dosages dramatically, with the objective to end prescribing altogether.
There is pressure from supervisory medical bodies and governments. Ontario ended coverage of opioids on January 1, 2017, and now the elderly on fixed incomes, battling constant vicious pain, are required to pay for their not inexpensive medications out of pocket.
I interviewed the Federal Minister of Health at her request. Dr. Jane Philpott was ineffective in making the case against opioids for pain patients. In fact, she repeatedly told me my questions were “fantastic” and “excellent.” The only reason I asked the questions is that they reflected the need for relief from pain that can destroy the quality of life.
Last weekend, Dr. Lynn Webster of Salt Lake City, Utah, past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and co-producer of The Painful Truth documentary revealed the anti-opioid medication crusade was undertaken by U.S. insurance companies, which we’re finding opioid prescriptions expensive to cover.
Today I’ll be speaking with Dr. Stephen Nadeau, a scientist and neurologist with over 30 years in a U.S. tertiary care center treating patients with non-malignant pain. Dr. Nadeau heard my interview with the health minister and chronic pain patients and will share his own views on the subject.
Back with me today as well is Dawn Rae Downton, a national journalist and chronic pain patient who has a euthanasia plan in place in the event her opioid medication is arbitrarily stopped. Downton recently wrote a Globe and Mail column about her Fentanyl use.
Marvin Ross, who writes on health matters for Huffington Post Canada, has been challenging politicians and their anti-opioid agenda for some time.
If you’re a chronic pain patient, doctor, or even a politician who cares about the crushing weight of never-ending massive pain, listen today and then speak out.
Living pain-free is a human right. Pain patients should not be reduced to pleading for help and meeting arrogance and indifference as a reply.
Fibromyalgia is linked to a malfunction in the ANS. Patients with fibromyalgia find that their Sympathetic Nervous System functions at an elevated pace and that their Parasympathetic Nervous System works at a much lower rate. Such individuals always face this inevitable “fight or flight” response. When such individuals are in a hyperactive state, they have an escalated heart rate. Women with this problem suffer from dysfunctional ANS.
The HPA axis is a network of stress responses by the brain, pituitary, and adrenal glands. The main function of the hypothalamus is to maintain the body’s balance. It receives and sends messages from the nervous system via hormones through the circulatory system. The hypothalamus regulates and controls blood pressure, digestion, sleep cycles, sex drive, body temperature, coordination, heart rate, and sweating.
The pituitary gland is responsible for the secretion of certain important hormones for the body while the Adrenal Gland produces hormones for the entire body and controls chemical reactions and the “fight or flight” response to stress.
Together, the ANS and the HPA axis are major paths for body responses during stressful conditions. These responses include pain, trauma, infection, low blood sugar, and low blood pressure.
Due to certain malfunctions in the ANS and HPA, the body can struggle to maintain homeostasis. External factors such as persistent daily stress, injury, or other stressors can further knock the body’s equilibrium off-balance. The body systems and stress response regulated by the ANS and HPA respectively can go haywire.
Studies conducted have shown that fibromyalgia patients are prone to either inactivity or overactivity in the HPA, causing abnormal levels of important hormones and hence leading to various symptoms of fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia, a widely misunderstood illness, confuses and frustrates both patients and doctors alike. I know because I’ve seen it from both sides—as both a physician and a woman with the illness myself.
Still, there remains a lot of confusion about what the illness really is and how it’s treated. Here are five truths about fibromyalgia that are not widely known, even by most doctors:
Research on fibromyalgia has lagged far behind other diseases, bogged down by controversy and a century of arguments about whether it’s a “real” illness.
This changed in 2002 when a groundbreaking study showed abnormalities in how the brain processes pain in fibromyalgia. These brain-imaging studies gave the objective data to prove fibromyalgia was “real” and triggered a decade of intensive research resulting in three drugs approved by the FDA that dull pain signals.
But those medications don’t treat the often more debilitating symptoms of fatigue and fuzzy thinking called “fibrofog.” To do that, doctors and patients have to be knowledgeable about different treatment options—especially holistic approaches such as making dietary changes to reduce inflammation or adding supplements to boost cellular energy production.
I often hear the myth repeated that “we don’t know what causes fibromyalgia.” Recent physician surveys reveal that most doctors still don’t know how to help their fibromyalgia patients—in spite of the existence of some very effective treatments. Fibromyalgia is often described in medical journals as “perplexing,” “mysterious,” and “confusing.”
The TV commercials that say fibromyalgia is a condition of hyperactive pain nerves don’t tell the whole story. In fact, pain-processing problems are only the tip of the iceberg. A much bigger factor is a stress (or danger) response that has gone haywire and is constantly on “red alert,” leading to a chain reaction that results in fatigue, brain fog, and muscle pain.
The only way to get lasting improvement in all of these symptoms is to systematically address the negative effects on the body of a chronic hyperactive stress response. A chronically activated stress response wreaks havoc by preventing deep sleep and keeping muscles tense, leading to pain and tenderness; impairing digestion and energy production; and throwing hormones out of balance. It also ultimately causes the pain-sensing nerves to increase the volume of their signals.
Unfortunately, many doctors, even sleep specialists, are not aware of the sleep issues that come with fibromyalgia. But fibromyalgia is in many ways a sleep disorder, a state of chronic deep sleep deprivation. Studies have demonstrated over and over that patients experience inadequate deep sleep that is frequently interrupted by “wakeful” brain waves. This deep-sleep starvation contributes to the fatigue, muscle pain, and foggy thinking characteristic of the condition.
Treating sleep is the key to treating fibromyalgia, and it’s where I see the most benefit in reducing pain, fatigue, and brain fog. Sleep must always be improved before any other treatment will work, so it’s vital to address this with your health care provider to treat hidden sleep problems like obstructive sleep apnea and then add medications and supplements to help restore normal deep sleep.
Fibromyalgia is an orphan disease that is not claimed by any specialty and instead awkwardly straddles the fields of rheumatology, neurology, sleep, and pain medicine. The majority of care falls to overwhelmed primary care doctors who don’t have time to go searching for new treatment ideas among the sea of medical publications. The big medical journals neglect fibromyalgia. In fact, since 1987, only one fibromyalgia study has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the most widely read medical publication in the world.
Since the busy primary care provider does not have time to actively search out new treatments for fibromyalgia, research has to be brought to their attention in some other way—namely by their patients. So in my new book, The FibroManual, I included a health care provider guide with research-supported medical guidance for patients to bring to their doctor’s attention.
There is no cure for fibromyalgia—yet. But we don’t have cures for many chronic illnesses, like diabetes and high blood pressure. What we do have are effective treatments that manage those diseases well enough that they are minimally detrimental to one’s health. And powerful treatments for fibromyalgia are out there as well.
When people ask me if I have recovered from fibromyalgia, I say, “Yes.” I’ve found ways to feel much better and minimize its impact on my life. Ultimately, I do still have fibromyalgia, and there is no magic bullet that completely eliminates all symptoms. It requires work, and I have learned that consistency in my self-care routine is essential to keeping my symptoms under control.
