Dear Fibromyalgia

Tag: Fibromyalgia

An in-depth guide on Fibromyalgia, covering its symptoms, causes, treatments, and tips for managing this chronic condition effectively.

  • Paresthesia and Fibromyalgia

    Paresthesia is one of the nerve symptoms of Fibromyalgia that causes the ‘pins and needles sensations, an itch, tingling, prickling, and numbness. In general, Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition, as once it starts it isn’t going away but this isn’t always the case. There can be ways to manage and reduce it at times. At least I had some luck with this but that isn’t saying much, I know, FM being the fickle beast that it is. I will explain what I went through though.

    Sensations:

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    Treatments:
    • NSAIDs or aspirin are recommended if symptoms are mild.
    • If it is more complex antidepressants have been used at low doses because they affect the perception of pain.
    • If the pain is more severe things such as codeine have been used to manage it.
    • B complex, in particular, B12. But be careful because too much B6 can actually be a Cause.
    • Acupuncture and massage have been used to reduce symptoms.
    • Ointments with capsaicin can provide relief. This actually, has been studied for FM pain beneficially.
    • Wearing loose-fitting clothing.

    I have had a bad experience with this symptom. First, I developed peripheral neuropathy in my hand. Rather spontaneously one day, I woke up with half my hand with a thick numbness which over the course of a week spread over the entire hand. It caused damage to two of the fingers mobility-wise as well. Initially, it was thought to be due to a status migraine I was in the middle of but there was a substantial debate about that so I consider it to be idiopathic since they didn’t, in fact, do any actual evidence-based tests to determine that. So I endure the glove-like numbness. The sharp prickling pain. The sharper, deeper never pain. I began to take B12 because I heard it was good for nerve pain and it reduced the prickly pain sensations that were rather problematic for me.

    Second, because I had this ‘incident’ where I developed severe Paresthesia below the waist which spread slowly and gained in intensity and eventually with a significant area of numbness. It greatly disturbed my doctor who thought it might be spinal stenosis or other related back diseases. It led to three back MRIs. And it wasn’t. it wasn’t anything definable with evidence to be seen with an MRI. It was Fibromyalgia related. Just severe. Progressively so it seemed. Until it was running down my legs. Entirely waist down. And the method of treatment for it, which no doctor recommended or thought of, but coincidentally worked for me was a lot of B12. I had been taking it with some benefit for my peripheral neuropathy and by coincidence, it helped, slowly, with this bizarre intense Paresthesia. Now granted, it very well might have been the cause of my idiopathic peripheral neuropathy and the Paresthesia for all I know and that is why the B12 worked for me. All I know is that it was freaky and I am glad it was greatly reduced. I barely have the symptom there now and the severity of it is greatly reduced, so makes me wonder if for me it was a deficiency issue. Nevertheless, not a pleasant fibromyalgia symptom to endure.

    However, I still do have symptoms of this and expect I always will. Mostly now it is the crawling itchy sensation. Generally, at night I get the same sensation I had before from the waist down but less intense. I just reduced that specific area dramatically.

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    For More Information Related to Fibromyalgia Visit below sites:

    References:

    Fibromyalgia Contact Us Directly

    Click here to Contact us Directly on Inbox

    Official Fibromyalgia Blogs

    Click here to Get the latest Chronic illness Updates

    Fibromyalgia Stores

    Click here to Visit Fibromyalgia Store

  • 6 things I would like you to know about Fibromyalgia

    6 things I would like you to know about Fibromyalgia

    There are a lot of things I wish people understood about Fibromyalgia I would like to share for fibromyalgia awareness.

    Here are a few…

    We have ambition.

    Just like all the ‘normals’ out there we have ambition. Career goals. Things we desired to do with our lives. It is just the syndrome with the pain, fatigue, and comorbid conditions interfering with that reality. We ended up making compromises and getting other jobs. Or we were forced to work part-time. Do flexible hours. Work from home. Or go on disability. You have to understand this was a hard sacrifice for us to make. It was one of those compromises that we feel stole something from us but we needed to make for our health. Not that we are lazy and living it up. No, we wanted to have it all. A career and a way to manage our illness with it. It hurt to know we couldn’t.

    We look fine, but that is our Baseline pain.

    What you see when we look fine and are doing well enough to function is our Baseline Pain. It is the pain we deal with no matter what. Always there. We are not ‘better’. We were not ‘cured’. There is not fine one day, sick another. It is our baseline craptastic feeling of existence. So we feel we can deal with this and do slightly more moderated activities. Don’t see this and assume why can’t you do That all the time. It is a mistake. You are looking at a damn fine day.

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    We have flare-ups.

    Flare–ups of pain often come from pushing ourselves beyond our limits. Which we do because often we feel we have no choice. That we must. And sometimes we do it because there is something special we want to do and are willing to pay the inevitable pain price. A flare-up is a large jump in symptoms and pain. We are low functionality these days. We need downtime. We need rest. And we need to not feel guilty about this because we need to focus on self–care. I’ve had flare-ups that are just random. Hit me hard and I just had to recover like usual. Minimal activities, rest, and self-care. This isn’t an ‘exaggeration’ this is a painful event that can last for days.

    We guilt a lot.

    We compare ourselves to our past healthy selves. To other people. To a fictional self that never got ill and did great things we never did. And we feel guilty for clearly failing to be those things. We feel guilty about taking care of ourselves when we should be trying to catch up on housework or anything… to feel productive. Because are we not supposed to be productive to be useful? We never give ourselves a break. People criticize us with their stigma and lack of knowledge but we are far worse on ourselves than they ever will be. Getting used to an ill existence is a difficult task. And making us feel guilty isn’t helping the matter, it is reinforcing the belief we should feel guilty, like a failure, and shame at being ill.

    We are tired.

    We have all-consuming fatigue. Like walking around with a lead blanket all-day wearing you down, making it hard to engage in activities and when we do… it exhausts us. We are running on empty from the sleep deprivation and fatigue combined. So we need to rest often. We need to take short naps to boost what little energy we have. This is not lazy. It is the management of energy conservation.

    Moderation.

    We have to think about moderation in all things. We have limits and we know what happens if we exceed them. We have to pace our activities all the time. We cannot rush through the day with several things on the menu planned. It simply doesn’t work that way. We have limited energy and pain resources to use. We have to carefully decide what we have the energy to use on that day. People often do not understand this limitation, which for us is a lifestyle. Maybe they don’t understand because they are in such a rush all the time and we cannot be. To do so leads to pain, flares, and boom and bust pain cycles. All of which we try to avoid.

    The thing with Fibromyalgia is that it is always there. It seems like every system in your body is against you. If it is not one thing, it is another. All over pain all the time, but also specific pain in some areas that quite a bit hurts more than the rest. And flares that hurt significantly more than normal. We are constantly adjusting to this on a daily basis and managing as best we can in a body that fluxes with symptoms and pain constantly. For example over and above my baseline pain my knees and feet are killing me, I have extreme nausea and fought all day with IBS-D. Who knows what tomorrow will be like.

    https://fibromyalgia-6.creator-spring.com/
    https://www.teepublic.com/stores/fibromyalgia-store

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    For More Information Related to Fibromyalgia Visit below sites:

    References:

    Fibromyalgia Contact Us Directly

    Click here to Contact us Directly on Inbox

    Official Fibromyalgia Blogs

    Click here to Get the latest Chronic illness Updates

    Fibromyalgia Stores

    Click here to Visit Fibromyalgia Store

  • How much fibromyalgia awareness is out there?

    There is this impression that a lot of people do not know about Fibromyalgia or understand it in the general public. I wrote an article in 2020 about How Much Awareness is Out There that suggested there was more than we think. I am going to post the reprint on that. I assume there is even more awareness now via all the 800 drug company commercials.

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    May 12, 2020: How much awareness is out there?

    Fibromyalgia is a syndrome primarily characterized by widespread chronic muscular pain, fatigue, and insomnia. It is difficult to diagnose syndrome and equally difficult to understand.  People who suffer from the condition often fear they are being treated as hypochondriacs or are perceived as chronic complainers and lazy.  They often fear to disclose they have the condition to their employer and co-workers because they might face discrimination or a hostile work environment. A decade ago many people would be hard-pressed to say they had even heard of the condition.  How far has FM awareness come today?

     American Chronic Pain Association survey

    According to a survey done by the American Chronic Pain Association in March 2012 92% of the general population in America has heard of Fibromyalgia.  This is a substantial increase in FM awareness in the general population, however, the survey also suggests people do not understand the difficulties involved with everyday tasks.  For example, people were asked to indicate activities they believed people with FM would have difficulties with and people with FM answered the same survey.  There was a little discrepancy in the category of ‘do yard work or clean the house’ but there was a significant discrepancy in categories like ‘watch a movie or ‘drive a car’.  The reasoning for this is no doubt that pain must be caused by doing activities but in cases like FM, it can be just as painful to be still or in one position for too long.

    Do people know who FM afflicts?

    When it comes to who can get FM the same survey suggests people are not too clear on the idea.  44% said they were not sure who was impacted by FM and one-third said older women.  When looking at FM prevalence the majority of FM sufferers are indeed women, however, men suffer from the syndrome as well.  Diagnosis can come at a young age but there is an increase in the prevalence of the condition in aging populations.

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    How is the FM disabled perceived?

    What is most interesting about the ACPA survey is how the general population perceives those who suffer from FM versus how they perceive themselves.

    The study states that people with FM believe society sees them as ‘complainers’, ‘weak’, and ‘lazy’.

    Whereas the results indicate the general population sees them as ‘courageous’ and ‘strong’.

    There are plenty of reasons for FM sufferers to have this impression.  People who have had FM for over a decade have been exposed to doctors who have denied the existence of the condition or refused to treat them.  They have been told they were ‘stressed’ or it was ‘all in their heads.  This leads, unfortunately, to an unwillingness to disclose details to health professionals for fear they will be labeled as hypochondriacs.  Others fear they appear as chronic complainers because their health concerns come up in everyday life so often.  They fear co-workers might believe they are using their health as a reason to ‘get out of work’ or as ‘an excuse’.  They may have dealt with hostile work environments or family members who have had difficulties coping with having a loved one with the illness.  They also tend to believe society, employers, and family all have expectations of them, of anyone, that they are not fully capable of living up to anymore and the guilt of that is a heavy emotional burden.  All of this leads to the general impression that the average person would have a negative view of their condition.  Whereas the general population sees people coping with a chronic pain condition, perhaps suffering financial and emotional burdens because of it, and yet still able to get through daily life and function.

    Pain may be a private experience and while it can be doubted by the outside observer we, as human beings, have the capacity to empathize and as such, we can grasp the struggle someone is going through without having to feel the pain ourselves.  It takes a great deal of strength and courage to cope with a complex, chronic pain syndrome like FM, and clearly, people are able to empathize with that struggle.  It is profoundly encouraging to see that result in FM awareness even if only to bring to light to FM sufferers that all people do not perceive them in a negative fashion.  Clearly, there is more awareness of fibromyalgia as a chronic pain condition even if the specifics of how that pain affects daily living are not too clear.  However, FM awareness as a chronic pain condition is different than FM awareness as a syndrome.  Very few people understand the complexity of the syndrome as a whole or the fact that there is a great deal more involved than just pain.  Awareness campaigns that bring to light all aspects of the incurable syndrome not only help with public perception, which decreases decimation and bias, but can help push for research and eventually a cure to this debilitating condition.

    https://fibromyalgia-6.creator-spring.com/
    https://www.teepublic.com/stores/fibromyalgia-store

    Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More….

    For More Information Related to Fibromyalgia Visit below sites:

    References:

    Fibromyalgia Contact Us Directly

    Click here to Contact us Directly on Inbox

    Official Fibromyalgia Blogs

    Click here to Get the latest Chronic illness Updates

    Fibromyalgia Stores

    Click here to Visit Fibromyalgia Store

  • A Flare is one of the worst fibromyalgia experiences.

    The Flare-up (see here for my article on it) is one of the worst fibromyalgia experiences. I fell into it sometime last night and woke up with the most unpleasant pains. In the hips, shoulders, and back, not to mention all over aches. I was very fatigued yesterday and perhaps that was some prediction of impending doom.

    Here is the thing we can pace and moderate but we cannot avoid all flares. Sometimes they just occur. Sometimes they are just radically unpredictable. And we just do not know where the hell they came from. This one I have no clue what triggered it. It certainly was not something obvious like overdoing it. Things like poor sleep are a constant factor but that could certainly have done it. It wasn’t the weather.

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    And, well, I can blame stress. Because I can always blame stress. But specifically, I do not know. There is nothing that stands out. I know, usually, when it is stress-induced because it is a significant stressor. But I can say I don’t always know when it is a lack of sleep because that does fluctuate from bad to horrific.

    Nevertheless, we simply can’t avoid it. And it is Painful. I was walking around like Frankenstein’s monster. And slow, so slow.

    Medications can only do so much I suppose. Mine doesn’t do that much. They take the edge off regular FM pain which is true, but not the hyped-up Flare pain. I can’t rest when I have to work. Can’t avoid stress… when I have to work. So… I am waiting it out. And moving slowly. Tomorrow I am off and I will have a day of rest. And it will be a mellow day of relaxation and a lot of menthol creams I suspect.

    It never ceases to amaze me how FM can flare up so spontaneously from like a 4-5 level pain to a 7-8 level pain. Fast, little cause, just BAM. Overdoing it is the most prevalent cause we experience. We just cross that limit a little too far… just a smidgen. And maybe we don’t even realize it right away. Or maybe we do a little bit. With muscle fatigue and aches. Then suddenly the pain just smacks into us out of nowhere. It is sometimes hard to Know where that Line is. So it is pretty easy to cross. Especially on good pain days. Not to mention we are literally told all the freaking time to not let our pain stop us from doing things. So of course, if we do things we are going to accidentally cross those invisible lines. Hell, I cross them just doing the exercise I am supposed to do. Because exercise is painful all the time, it is hard to know when I have pushed that pain limit too far. And then when I do it is extremely painful and I can’t exercise for days after.

    So to recap… pace, moderate… but don’t stop doing activities… but don’t exceed your limits and overdo it or you will cause a flare-up. So simple, right?

    https://fibromyalgia-6.creator-spring.com/
    https://www.teepublic.com/stores/fibromyalgia-store

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    For More Information Related to Fibromyalgia Visit below sites:

    References:

    Fibromyalgia Contact Us Directly

    Click here to Contact us Directly on Inbox

    Official Fibromyalgia Blogs

    Click here to Get the latest Chronic illness Updates

    Fibromyalgia Stores

    Click here to Visit Fibromyalgia Store

  • Lack of continuous sleep in Fibromyalgia

    Fibromyalgia has some pretty distinctive sleep disturbances associated with it not to mention comorbid sleep issues. It is one of the key factors in the syndrome… our inability to attain refreshing sleep. I wrote a post about it here. So it interests me that they have done some recent research in this area. One of the important things about our sleep dysfunction is that since it isn’t presenting like regular insomnia the treatment likewise has to be different. Lack of sleep, as we are all aware, can cause a lot of symptoms.

    So the recent Canadian study in Ontario took a look at 132 subjects (109 insomniacs and 52 without any sleep difficulties). During the two-night analysis, their sleep was recorded by polysomnography; electrodes placed on the face and scalp of the subjects enabled the researchers to look at sleep latency, the stages of sleep, sleep cycles, and duration of sleep.

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    With fibromyalgia and insomnia subjects have issues falling asleep, compared to controls and they have fragmented sleep. They have frequent night wakings. Here is specifically what they found with the differences between Primary insomnia and FM insomnia.

    • FM subjects had decreased total sleep time
    • They had slow-wave sleep
    • They had increased latency to persistent sleep
    • And wake time after sleep onset.
    • Both FM and insomniacs had short sleep duration compared to controls

    Conclusions: Increased frequency of wake and sleep tips and wake Decreased end duration, together with LPS and Increased Decreased SWS, Suggests That Sleep in FM is characterized by year Inability to Maintain continuous sleep goal and Greater sleep drive Compared with PI. Clinical Journal of Pain

    The ideal goal then is not only to get us To sleep but to maintain continuous sleep.
    There is research to suggest that the issue lies in difficulties with deep sleep interference

    ” Alpha-delta sleep is the abnormal intrusion of alpha activity (8- to 13-Hz oscillations) into the delta activity (1- to 4-Hz oscillations) That olefins slow-wave sleep. Alpha-delta sleep is Especially prevalent in fibromyalgia patients, and there is evidence Suggesting Que la Irregularities in the sleep of These patients May because of the muscle tissue and bread That characterizes the disorder. We constructed a biophysically realistic mathematical model of alpha-delta sleep. Imaging studies in fibromyalgia patients Suggesting altered levels of activity in the thalamus has motivated thalamic model as the source of alpha activity.”

    It should be noted that previous studies have also shown we have had issues with Delta deep sleep, leading to unrefreshing sleep no matter how much we get. Causing other issues as well. Although it is interesting to note they point to the thalamus as the alpha intrusion into our deep sleep.

    Now, I hardly needed a study to tell me I have difficulty falling asleep and maintaining it. It has been a long-term issue of mine since I was quite young. Not to mention pain is a factor as well. The main thing is that by researching it there can be new targets for medication. I had heard they researched a sleeping pill for people with FM. I have not heard anything since then, so maybe nothing came of it… but it was designed to keep us asleep. Maybe that is still on the go. Either way it is interesting to know primary insomnia is not quite the same as Fibromyalgia related insomnia.

    https://fibromyalgia-6.creator-spring.com/
    https://www.teepublic.com/stores/fibromyalgia-store

    Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More….

    For More Information Related to Fibromyalgia Visit below sites:

    References:

    Fibromyalgia Contact Us Directly

    Click here to Contact us Directly on Inbox

    Official Fibromyalgia Blogs

    Click here to Get the latest Chronic illness Updates

    Fibromyalgia Stores

    Click here to Visit Fibromyalgia Store

  • Brain Fog, when it isn’t just about the pain

    I have been struggling with work lately. And by lately I mean always. Always struggling to function through the pain. Always not quite doing it.

    My psychologist said well I cannot compare apples to oranges. I cannot compare myself to people doing the same job perfectly healthy. Nor to myself when I was healthy-er. And it did occur to me that this job I am now doing wouldn’t even be a challenge to me when I was younger and in less pain than now. But the pain now has eaten away at my cognitive capacity with the FM and the chronic daily migraines. Not enough space in the brain to focus on much other than tolerating the pain.

    Here is the Thing.

    The thing is I am permanently this person that is confused, befuddled, and living in a pain haze. This is who I am. No matter the job. Good days and certainly, by far, bad days.

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    And I don’t like it. I don’t want to be this person. This person frustrates the hell out of me. I just want to do my job… hell A job effectively and efficiently as possible. Hell, I want to excel at what I put my mind to, as it was before the pain became such a living force. This person is plodding. This person’s communication skills get rather tangled up. Perhaps why I love writing so much is that I don’t feel the cognitive sting so much as I do in reality. The sharp snag to the working memory, the complete lack of short-term memory, and where the hell is that long-term memory anyway. I want to get more sleep so I can shake off this infernal mental fatigue and this damn exhaustion. But I can’t because I can’t ever sleep decently and because it is a damn permanent state of affairs. Pain inhibits cognition and chronic pain therefore chronically. So I am stuck thinking through molasses forever.

    So yes, I understand completely not to compare myself to people without chronic illnesses and pain.  Or even to myself in my lesser state of pain. Never a good idea. However, I do rather trash myself because I cannot function the way I want to function. I am constantly limited and inhibited in my capacity. I am not content with the way I am functioning. I am aware of my capacity and very aware of this thick mental lag, fatigue, and sludge in the way of it. Just like I am aware of the profound difference between the ability to function on a good pain day and a bad pain day. Well a good day, still not a great day. I think we are all aware of that wall of fatigue and pain in the way of our thinking. All the little errors, glitches, and failures to communicate happen every single day.

    That is my frustration at this point. The fact that with chronic pain, migraines specifically, I seem so cognitively impaired all the time. Migraines can vary neurologically as well. Sometimes it is straight-up aphasia that impairs my capacity to communicate. Sometimes the sensory distortions make it difficult to focus on reality. Sometimes the confusional states make it difficult to comprehend things. Mostly though it is straight-up trying to just function through pain when pain is taking up all that brain capacity.

    I’m not saying there aren’t things we can do for things like brain fog and fibrofog. I wrote something up about fibrofog Here. What I am saying is it never seems like I get a break in this area no matter what I do. Likely because the pain hasn’t given me a break. I have been reading a book on cognitive abilities and it recommends things like mindful meditation, exercise, and brain games. None of which get rid of the pain that is triggering the issue in this case, but never hurts to keep the brain going strong when clearly it is having issues. For example, I already do mindful meditation for pain, and if it can give me a cognitive boost that would indeed be a bonus, wouldn’t it?

    I really miss the clarity of thought that comes with not having a migraine. It has been years since that was the case. But I do remember the last day it occurred. I remember how clear my thinking was. How crisp. How quick. How accurate. Then the cloud sank back down.

    https://fibromyalgia-6.creator-spring.com/
    https://www.teepublic.com/stores/fibromyalgia-store

    Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More….

    For More Information Related to Fibromyalgia Visit below sites:

    References:

    Fibromyalgia Contact Us Directly

    Click here to Contact us Directly on Inbox

    Official Fibromyalgia Blogs

    Click here to Get the latest Chronic illness Updates

    Fibromyalgia Stores

    Click here to Visit Fibromyalgia Store

  • Fibromyalgia: Expectations vs reality

    Back in the day. Like 20 years back in the day I had some expectations about what fibromyalgia is and then I learned the reality of what fibromyalgia is. We all have expectations of what it will be and mean for our lives in the beginning. Even before we are diagnosed since that can take 5 to 10 years. And sometimes we believe it will be horrible forever. And others, like me, believed it wouldn’t have the impact it had.

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    Expectation 1

    The pain and fatigue were manageable if I paced.

    Reality

    Pacing is damn near impossible when you are working so you end up in the Boom and Bust cycle. Overdo it, suffer for days, recover a bit, and repeat over and over and over. And pain flares sometimes for no reason. And the fatigue can be worse than the pain sometimes. Also, fibromyalgia changes over time. I felt like I had decent control over it back then because I was a student, I paced, I napped and I didn’t work. But more obligations mean, well, more pain and fatigue. Also less sleep, and waking early, which makes this all a real mess of crapola.

    Expectation 2

    Okay, fibromyalgia is going to affect my body and I will have limitations. Figured those limitations out the hard way. But it will never affect my mind or capacity to work, like a desk job.

    Reality

    So yeah a desk job does help since I tried others in University and it was a level of hell I wouldn’t willing to undertake again. You still need to change positions all the time and take walks every bit or so… or pain. But fibromyalgia has fibrofog and the research on that cognitive dysfunction suggests there are several areas impacted. Our concentration. Our working memory. Our short-term memory. Memory retrieval of things we Know. Trouble speaking words. Typos. So yeah, it affects you all right. All the time. And worse in the workplace when you are trying to concentrate and a piece of a policy literally poofed out of your brain. I had several binders for things to remind me of. So I had easy access to things I commonly forgot. And conversation issues were a constant embarrassment.

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    Expectation 3

    I thought this was the whole show. The pain, fatigue, and cognitive issues.

    Reality

    Sorry, but fibromyalgia has a number of strange to bizarre symptoms due to its effects on the central nervous system. IBS showed up. Rashes. Paresthesia. Allodynia burning skin pain. And it seems when one thing settled down something else flares up. It leads to constant doctor appointments about strange things that crop up and stick around for a bit that just end up being fibromyalgia. And it is disconcerting sometimes because you feel something else is going on.

    Expectation 4

    Okay, so I have fibromyalgia with all its symptoms. I need to adapt and cope. But that is all. It is just going to be this.

    Reality

    Oop here comes a comorbid. And then another. And another. And they will make coping far, far, far so bloody far harder to cope with.

    Mine are:

    And I have to tell you when you add that all up it was a lot harder to cope with than I initially anticipated. The depression alone took a huge toll on my capacity to cope. When that was treated I cope better. We learn all sorts of strategies that help in the end. Use what works, discard what doesn’t.

    https://fibromyalgia-6.creator-spring.com/
    https://www.teepublic.com/stores/fibromyalgia-store

    Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More….

    For More Information Related to Fibromyalgia Visit below sites:

    References:

    Fibromyalgia Contact Us Directly

    Click here to Contact us Directly on Inbox

    Official Fibromyalgia Blogs

    Click here to Get the latest Chronic illness Updates

    Fibromyalgia Stores

    Click here to Visit Fibromyalgia Store

  • Fibromyalgia: costochondritis

    Fibromyalgia: costochondritis

    I have been having severe fibromyalgia–related chest pains.

    The way I can tell it is fibromyalgia is that a) they are enduring and b) my sternum is extremely tender to the touch and so it is quite inflamed. I am going to the doctor to discuss it. At the moment using anti-inflammatory creams and a heating pad

    What is costochondritis anyway?

    It is swelling in the cartilage between the ribs and the sternum and the pain can radiate through the chest often feeling like a heart attack. It varies from mind to severe. It can be stabbing, aching, burning and it can be in one location specifically or just all over. It can come and go. At the beginning of this bout, I had just short bouts at night. But then, now, it is all day.

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    The reproducible tenderness you feel when you press on the rib joints (costochondral junctions) is a constant feature of costochondritis. Without this tenderness, a diagnosis of costochondritis is unlikely.

    This is a good test for costochondritis… pressing right on those rib joints and if they hurt like hell it is costochondritis. Or if you breathe in deeply and it hurts more, also a good sign. Just things I do to help assure me that is in fact what it is.

    It can get worse with:

    • Exercising and reparative motions (as I learned as a baker by ignoring it and continuing work until it was quite severe)
    • If you take a deep breath due to the chest wall expanding, you will feel it get worse. So that is why it is better to have shallow even breathing.
    • And yeah, don’t cough ( I have learned with this cold) or sneeze.
    • It can begin in one place, like the sternum, and radiate outward so it can just get worse on its own. In general it is seen to be worse on the left side of the breast bone. But may radiate to your back or even your abdomen.
    • Bending, twisting that sort of deal. I find laying on my side can make it so much worse.

    Now it is a condition in its own right. And it actually can be comorbid with other conditions. And it can occur by itself.

    The causes are:

    1. Viral infection
    2. Fungal: Fungal infections are rare causes of costochondritis.
    3. Bacterial: Costochondritis may occur after surgery 
    4. Repetitive overuse or trauma (my first horrible bout was when I was a baker and lifting bags of flour all the time as well as repetitive stirring) This also includes injury due to actually lifting something too heavy for you.
    5. Chest trauma– I mean like a car accident where you can that seatbelt to the chest… can trigger this condition. Anything like that.

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    So why it is so common with fibromyalgia is a bit of a mystery. But common it is. (60-70 percent of us)

    *** WARNING: If you are experiencing chest pains for the first time or there is anything different about them from your fibromyalgia ones or you have any doubt whatsoever… go to the ER. Better safe than sorry. And I am saying this not because it may be a heart attack, but it may, but other things like severe acid reflux. We cannot know sometimes. And reviewing the pain intensity and duration with your doctor is a very good idea.***

    No one is exactly sure whether it is true costochondritis or why it occurs with FMS. One hypothesis is that FMS involves inflammation of the fascia, which is a thin layer of connective tissue that runs all through your body. If that’s true, it may explain why costochondritis is so common in this condition.

    The fibromyalgia tender points just beneath the collar bone may play a role as well. (Tender points are 18 spots on the body that are used to diagnose fibromyalgia.) Myofascial pain syndrome, which is common in people with FMS, also could be a cause.

    Treatment

    Okay, so the most common treatment for inflammation like this is NSAIDs. Since I cannot have them I am in a bit of a spot. I do try ice and menthol topical creams. Others recommend a heating pad. But ice or hot you want to go for about 20-minute treatments. My doctor recommends ice since it is inflammation and she said that is best for that sort of pain. ( Recommend an ice hot reusable pack that way you get either one you want. And I also prefer a multi-pack that offers a few sizes. The back size… works great for the chest by the way.)

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  • Adolescents with fibromyalgia who are physically active report lower levels of pain and disability

    Adolescents with fibromyalgia who are physically active report lower levels of pain and disability, according to findings of a multicenter study published in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society.

    Led by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, this study is the first to use actigraphy-based physical activity monitoring to measure the relationship between pain, perceived functional impairment, and depressive symptoms in adolescents with juvenile primary fibromyalgia syndrome (JPFS). For the research, 104 adolescents ages 11-18 were fitted with hip-mounted actigraphs for one week. The battery-powered device measures the amount and intensity of human physical activity.

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    The research objectives were to measure physical activity levels in adolescents with JPFS, examine the differences and characteristics of high and low activity subjects, and explore the impact of psychiatric disorders on physical activity. The objective activity measurements were intended to address concerns about the reliability of self-reports on the impact of pain on physical activity, and validate observations that some JPFS patients remain vigorously active while enduring significant pain.

    Results showed that adolescents with JPFS did not engage in physical activities and aerobic exercise at levels recommended by their physicians. Just 23 percent of the subjects participated in 30 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical exercise, and only one adolescent engaged in 60 minutes of exercise every day. Low levels of exercise in these patients are troubling to clinicians who view exercise as a major component of improved pain management.

    Another key finding was that higher pain intensity ratings were not significantly associated with lower levels of activity in the group as a whole. The authors noted that adolescents with JPFS have other symptoms that may diminish interest in physical activity, such as fatigue and impaired sleep. The authors also noted that higher pain levels in the least active group may be related to their decreased activity or vice versa.

    Further, the inactive group had higher levels of depressive symptoms and functional disability, according to parent reports. However, in the small number of JPFS patients who maintained very high levels of physical exercise, the reported pain levels were lower than the inactive group, perhaps due to exercising, and their parents reported they had lower depressive symptoms and disability than inactive subjects.

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  • A new principle was discovered for how muscle pain is signaled

    Chronic muscular pain may be linked to a previously unknown principle for how pain signals are transmitted in the human body.

    This is shown by Umeå University researchers Tuija Athanassiadis and Karl-Gunnar Westberg, in collaboration with Canadian associates, in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

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    Muscles have sensory organs called muscle spindles. Their task is to inform the brain of changes in muscle length. Muscle spindles, therefore, contain a special type of large diameter nerve filaments that signal stretch of the muscle.

    The Umeå scientists’ studies show that muscle spindles also contain fine nerve filaments with pain receptors. When a muscle is damaged as a result of overloading, these pain receptors are activated by the release of a signal substance from the neighboring stretch-sensitive nerve filaments in the muscle spindle.

    It was previously believed that the pain receptors in muscles were exclusively found in the membranes that surround the muscles or in connection with the blood vessels in the muscle. With these new findings, the Umeå researchers are drawing attention to a hitherto unknown and interesting mechanism. Damage to the stretch-sensitive nerve filaments of the muscle spindle may contribute to and sustain chronic pain in jaw muscles as well as in other muscles.

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