Fibromyalgia

What is fibromyalgia?

A chronic disorder, fibromyalgia causes widespread pain among other symptoms.

While the cause of fibromyalgia isn’t clear, it could be linked to emotional distress, an injury, or abnormal levels of substances in your spinal cord and brain. Many factors can affect your risk of developing the condition.

Certain health conditions happen together with fibromyalgia. These include:

• Migraines
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Raynaud's syndrome (narrowing of blood vessels that turns the skin white or blue)
• Restless legs syndrome
• Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ — stiffening or locking of the jaw joint)

You could also experience an increased need to urinate.

What are the symptoms of fibromyalgia?

While widespread chronic pain is the most common sign of fibromyalgia, it’s normal to experience a number of symptoms, among them:

• Tenderness and pain in several points
• Pain that’s worse in the morning
• Extreme fatigue
• Trouble sleeping
• Anxiety and depression

You might experience “fibro fog,” a difficulty concentrating and remembering. Other symptoms include pain during or after exercising.

How is fibromyalgia diagnosed?

Because fibromyalgia is often mistaken for other ailments, the condition is diagnosed by the process of elimination. Dr. Warren takes a complete medical history and reviews your symptoms. He recommends blood tests to rule out conditions that appear similar to fibromyalgia, like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. It’s very helpful to be specific about your symptoms, even to keep a pain diary.

How is fibromyalgia treated?

Dr. Warren creates a treatment plan tailored to your precise symptoms. He can prescribe medications approved by the FDA to treat fibromyalgia. These medications work by muffling pain signals from your central nervous system.

Dr. Warren can also recommend medications to:

• Improve your mood
• Minimize fatigue
• Help you sleep

Your treatment can also include:

• Exercise to help you sleep better and ease feelings of depression
• Physical therapy to help minimize muscle pain
• Stress management (research suggests people with fibromyalgia are more prone to stress)

As a specialist in interventional pain management, Dr. Warren works with you to identify treatments that can give you relief from the many symptoms of fibromyalgia.

If you’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, or you have chronic pain and don’t know the cause, Dr. Warren has the expertise to diagnose and treat fibromyalgia. Call Apollo Pain Management today or book a consultation online.