What is fibromyalgia?
Symptoms
The Fibro-fog
Risk factors
Fibromyalgia is estimated to affect 2 to 4% of the world’s population. What is this condition? What are the symptoms? What is the infamous “Brain fog”? And what are the risks factors to develop the condition?
Read about Fibromyalgia here below.
What is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that affects the whole body, causing pain and tenderness. There is no clear cause for it and, as it happens with many conditions involving pain on a wide range of tissues, diagnosing it can be difficult. In addition to pain, fibromyalgia often causes fatigue and various types of mental symptoms (for example, memory loss). However, it mainly affects the musculoskeletal system. Fibromyalgia is thought to be connected to abnormal levels of certain chemicals in the brain, that change the processing of pain messages in the whole body.
Common symptoms
The most common symptom is chronic pain in extended areas of the body. There is however a long list of symptoms Fibromyalgia patients have to live with such as brain fog (read more about brain fog below), muscle weakness, muscle stiffness, extreme fatigue, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), pelvic pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, sensitivity to touch, sensitivity to light and noise, depression and anxiety, sleep problems, problems with focusing, problems with memory, problems with concentration, headaches (including migraines), burning sensation on the skin, itchiness of the skin, muscle twitching, tingling sensation (pins & needles) or numbness of the feet & hands, and more.
A person affected by Fibromyalgia experiences flare-ups; these are periods in which the symptoms are more acute. The fact that the condition does not manifest constantly does not make life any easier for the patient: the time between flare-ups can be exhausting, very stressful, and, ultimately, overwhelming.
The Fibro-fog
Fibro-fog is a common symptom of fibromyalgia, yet it was only recently considered: the first study on this phenomenon was published in 2020. Not that it wasn’t known before, however, the previous laboratory-based studies failed to understand the cognitive function of fibromyalgia throughout the normal day. Now it is demonstrated that people affected by fibromyalgia have worse subjective and objective cognitive functions than people not affected.
The cognitive dysfunction did not involve working memory or processing speed; however, symptoms of fibro-fog cause problems in remembering new information, forgetfulness, and distraction in environments that make it harder to think efficiently.
Altogether it is a general difficulty in accessing stored language, sometimes impeding to concentrate in a conversation. This makes fibromyalgia very frustrating, and, in some cases, it can cause embarrassment to people affected by it when in social situations.
Risk Factors
Events in everyday life
Fibromyalgia might already “be there”, however, it could be triggered by any stressful event, physical or emotional. Especially when the psychological event might be prolonged over time.
Infections
As we already saw in the previous point, Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that could be already incubating in a person. Another triggering event could be an illness of some sort (in this case infection) that sets up an inflammatory reaction, that will not resolve.
Genetics
It is still an unknown territory, but it is very common to see Fibromyalgia running in families, especially if the sufferer is a parent or a sibling. Therefore, there might be genetic factors that could make a person more vulnerable than others.
Gender
Fibromyalgia has a high predominance in women, who represent between 80-96% of the diagnosis worldwide.
Other disorders
Other rheumatic conditions like, for example, arthritis or lupus, might make a person more likely to develop Fibromyalgia.