Pain Management for Fibromyalgia

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, four million adults in the United States have fibromyalgia. It’s an often-misunderstood condition that leads to systemic joint and muscle pain, along with fatigue, making daily life very difficult. To deal with the pain the condition causes, it’s important to understand why it occurs. Learn more about fibromyalgia and your pain management options. 

What Is Fibromyalgia? Symptoms and Causes

Fibromyalgia is a condition that leads to pain and tenderness all over the body. It’s a chronic condition, though symptoms tend to come and go. During flare-ups, the pain can be significant enough to interfere with daily life while also affecting sleep, leading to mental and physical distress.   

During a flare-up, you can experience:

• Fatigue
• Pain
• Headaches
• Face and jaw pain
• Bladder control issues
• Digestive problems
• Insomnia

It’s not clear what causes fibromyalgia, but scientists have found that certain conditions, as well as stress, can trigger it. You are also more likely to have this condition if you have a relative who suffers from it. Women are twice as likely as men to develop it. 

People living with conditions like arthritis, depression, anxiety disorders, and irritable bowel syndrome are more likely to develop fibromyalgia. 

Fibromyalgia can affect people of all ages, including children, but it’s more common in those who are middle-aged. 

Diagnosing Fibromyalgia

If you’re experiencing symptoms, your doctor will likely perform a physical exam and discuss your medical history. There’s no test that can officially diagnose fibromyalgia, so your doctor will do what’s called a differential diagnosis — a kind of investigation that functions via a process of elimination. 

Your doctor may order blood work to check hormone levels and look for signs of inflammation to help eliminate other diseases. 

During the physical examination, your doctor will likely check for the presence or absence of tender spots by using light pressure. 

Most of the time, if you have generalized pain that lasts for three months or more without any other underlying conditions, you’ll receive a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. The pain has to be spread throughout your body to get this diagnosis.  

Treating Fibromyalgia: What You Can Expect

There isn’t one treatment that works for everyone. Usually, your doctor will try a number of different options, combining them to offer the most effective results. 

Your provider will likely treat the condition depending on the symptoms you’re currently experiencing. There are stages of treatment, though these aren’t treatment plans that can be followed in order because the condition can affect you differently during every flare-up. 

Exercise to Loosen Muscles

In some cases, turning to physical exercises, including stretching, can help loosen your muscles and ease some of the discomfort. 

Low-impact exercises like walking and swimming help build flexibility that can improve your movement during flare-ups while simultaneously helping manage pain with the release of endorphins they stimulate. Exercise may also help you get better sleep. 

Medications for Symptom Management

Over-the-counter medications can help manage pain, as can narcotics, though your doctor will prescribe these with care since they can lead to dependence. 

Antidepressants can often also help the process, easing some of the fatigue and pain. For those who have trouble sleeping because of fibromyalgia, sleeping aids are often a good choice. 

Heat and Cold Therapy for Milder Pain

In some cases, heat and cold therapy is also effective in managing some symptoms, especially if they’re mild. Alternating hot and cold packs helps the muscles release some of the tension that could be causing pain. 

Occupational Therapy for Everyday Tasks

Turning to an occupational therapist is a great way of finding out how to restructure your life when you experience flare-ups. This type of therapist can help make adjustments to your work areas while also helping you find better ways of performing certain tasks so that you experience fewer symptoms.

Massage and Acupuncture to Improve Range of Motion

Massage therapy is a trusted technique. It relies on the manipulation of your muscles and soft tissues, increasing blood flow and improving range of motion while helping reduce pain. For many, it helps relieve stress, too, which can impact the severity of the symptoms. 

Acupuncture is also helpful, with the needles affecting blood flow levels and even how certain neurotransmitters in the brain work.

Lifestyle Changes for Flare-Up Reduction

Making changes to your everyday life is an important way of helping minimize the symptoms of flare-ups, so try to incorporate some into your daily life. The right options can depend on your preferences. Some people turn to meditation, while others prefer to do breathing and mindfulness exercises.

Regenerative Medicine to Handle Inflammation 

One option people choose to try because of its promise is regenerative medicine. 

The variety of treatments available include platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell therapy, which uses mesechymal stem cells to reduce inflammation and help calm the immune system. This makes it possible to better handle symptoms when you do have a flare-up. 

Stem cell therapy is easy to combine with other treatment options and doesn’t require a long recovery period or the stress of dealing with side effects. Stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicine options help treat the underlying triggers like inflammation, so you’re not just covering symptoms with medications. 

Living With Fibromyalgia

It can seem daunting to live with a chronic condition like fibromyalgia, but with some lifestyle changes and an understanding of what triggers your flare-ups, as well as a combination of treatments, you can better manage the condition. 

If you’re dealing with fibromyalgia, ask your doctor whether an option like stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicine treatments can help. 

Choosing options that target inflammation and trying to get to the underlying cause of the problem instead of only masking the symptoms can make it possible to live a happy and healthy life with fibromyalgia. To learn more about pain management for Fibromyalgia visit our website or contact us now!