Fibromyalgia is a condition featured by chronic widespread pain and fatigue accompanied by symptoms like tiredness, memory problems etc. signs and symptoms are more likely to begin after a physical trauma, surgery, or big psychological stress. In other conditions pain and fatigue will worsen gradually even without a single trigger. Here in this article, general ideas on symptoms and treatment are presented for your reference.
Symptoms of fibromyalgia
- The main symptom of fibromyalgia is usually a constant dull pain spreading to both sides of your body as well parts above and below your waist.
- When press specific areas of your body, patients with fibromyalgia will feel additional pain on those so called tender points. There are altogether 18 tender points on the body, and for fibromyalgia patients, at least 11 points will felt pain when they are pressed.
- Fatigue and sleeping disorder
Fatigue is another typically symptom of fibromyalgia, people with fibromyalgia often feel tired and awaked by pain during their sleep.
- Fibromyalgia patients may also experience anxiety, depression, headaches and irritable bowel syndrome.
Read More: How To Diagnose Fibromyalgia
Home remedies for fibromyalgia
Self-care is very essential for the treatment of fibromyalgia
- Stress reduction. Give yourself time to relax every day. That may mean management of your emotion, asking your friends to help with your troubles or doing something enjoyable for distraction. But it doesn’t mean to completely change your daily routine. People who quit their job and activities for relaxation even get worse with fibromyalgia. You may make some adjustments, such as cutting down working hours, switching to less demanding jobs or help yourself to adopt your current position. You can do meditation, yoga or deep-breathing to reduce stress.
- Have enough sleep. Fatigue is the major characteristic of fibromyalgia, so it is very important to have enough sleep to regain your energy. Besides, you should also keep a sleeping schedule. Avoid daytime sleep, because, on the contrary too much bed rest may worsen your condition.
- Regular exercising. Performing regular exercises is always beneficial to your health. At first you may feel too tired to do activities, but it will gradually ease you symptoms. Start with some simple stretches and then try low-impact exercises, such as walking, jogging, swimming and biking. You can also consult a physical therapist to have a professional guidance.
- A balance diet. Although no specific diet is proved to have certain influence on fibromyalgia, it is important to have a healthy and balance diet. This will not only help you gain more energy to combat fibromyalgia, but also prevent you from other health problems. And other changes in lifestyle, such as quitting smoking, limiting your intake of caffeine or alcohol, eating healthy foods will do you good too.
Medications
Medications for fibromyalgia mainly focus on pain relief and the improvement of sleeping quality. Common options include:
Analgesics. Acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) can help reduce the pain and stiffness caused by fibromyalgia. Tramadol (Ultram) is a prescription painkiller taken with or without acetaminophen. In addition, you may be recommended with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as naproxen sodium (Aleve, others) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) to take with other medications.
Antidepressants. Antidepressants like Duloxetine (Cymbalta) and milnacipran (Savella) may be effective in reducing the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia. You may also try prescriptions of amitriptyline or fluoxetine (Prozac) to help improve your sleeping quality.
Anti-seizure drugs. In most of the cases, medications designed for epilepsy are effective in reducing certain types of pain. Sometimes, gabapentin (Neurontin) is helpful in reducing pain associated with fibromyalgia. You can also choose pregabalin (Lyrica), which was the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat fibromyalgia.
Other options
- Acupuncture. Maybe this is an good choice, since many patients with fibromyalgia experienced reductions of pain and fatigue after acupuncture therapy.
- Growth hormone therapy. Although very expensive, research showed that a growth hormone works well in reducing fibromyalgia symptoms, and it has little side effects.
