What Is Fibromyalgia ?

What is fibromyalgia caused from? Is it all in my head? What is it doing to my body?

The most widely used fibromyalgia definition is a musculoskeletal disorder that causes chronic fatigue and widespread pain throughout the body. It affects all different areas including nerves, muscles, tendons, joints, ligaments, the digestive system, bladder, male and female genitalia, and not to mention the eyes, skin, and nails.

One of the main concerns people have is "What is fibromyalgia doing to my long term health?

Fibromyalgia is not a life threatening illness, but it can be very debilitating depending on the severity of your symptoms and the length of time it's been able to evolve throughout your body. It can be extremely hard to diagnose, which can make it very difficult for doctors or specialists to identify with just one office visit.

It can also cause extremely bizarre symptoms, some of which resemble other illnesses. Eventually, long periods of endless pain, chronic fatigue, and lackluster treatment results can result in severe depression if not treated correctly.

For many years people were told fibromyalgia was some form of psychological condition, and that it was all in their heads. Thankfully, it's been brought to the attention of more and more people within the medical community that fibromyalgia is something more; a real disease!

The word "fibromyalgia" is derived from both the Latin word "fibro"(fibrous tissue), and Greek terms "myo" (muscle) and "algia" (pain). Common misspellings are fibermyalgia, fibro myalsia, fibromalgia, and fibromyalga.

A Start To Recognition

Roughly 3.6 million people in the US alone are estimated to suffer from this disorder according to the American College of Rheumatology. It's even estimated to be as high as 6 million. Approximately 80-90% of these people are women. These figures were published in 2004 so you can only imagine how these numbers have grown over the years. This is just in the US as well. Countless others across the globe are also being diagnosed. Because of the elusive nature of fibromyalgia, I believe there is much more than this.

Over the years, organizations such as the (AMA) American Medical Association ,the (NIH) National Institutes of Health and the (WHO) World Health Organization have recognized fibromyalgia as a legitimate illness, but there are still many theories shared within the medical community as to what the causes

are.

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