Fibromyalgia -Quick Facts

Symptoms

The symptoms of fibromyalgia include bit are not limited to:

.Chronic Muscle Pain

. Moderate or  severe fatigue and decreased energy

. Insomnia or waking up feeling just as tired as when you went to sleep

. Stiffness upon waking or staying in one position far too long.

. Difficulty remembering, concentrating, and performing simple tasks this is often referred to as ( " fibro fog " )                                                         . Abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and constipation alternating with diarrhoea ( irritable bowel syndrome )

. Jaw and facial tenderness                                                                                  . Sensitivity to one or more of the following:    

.odours, noise, bright lights, medications and cold

.Feeling anxious or depressed

. Numbness or tingling in the face, arms, legs or feet

. Increase in urinary urgency or frequency

. Reduced tolerance for  exercise and muscle malaise

. A feeling of swelling ( without actual swelling ) in the hands and feet

. Balance problems

. Tremors in hands and other parts of the body or milder pain in 7 or more different areas.

. Symptoms which have persisted for more than three months, having no other reason for these symptoms.

New Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia

Tender - point exams are no longer the only way to diagnose fibromyalgia - the American College of Rheumatology has provisionally accepted alternative criteria for diagnosing the condition and gauging the severity of symptoms.

The diagnostic criteria doctors have been using were established in 1990. Once other possible causes of symptoms were eliminated,              diagnosis was based purely on pain. It had to be on both sides of the body, both above and below the waist along with axial skeleton ( head, throat, chest, and spine ) , also in at least 11 - 18 specific tender spots on the body which are called tender points. Symptoms have to have been present for at least 3 months.