Source: wikiHow
Fibromyalgia is a condition characterized by chronic muscle pain and weakness. It is commonly associated with symptoms including widespread muscle pain, fatigue, and problems with sleep and concentration. While your symptoms may indicate you have fibromyalgia, the best way to diagnose this chronic condition is to consult with your healthcare provider regarding medical tests.
- 1 Determine your risk for developing fibromyalgia. You may be at higher risk of fibromyalgia if you are a woman, have a family history of fibromyalgia, are middle-aged, or suffer from a rheumatic disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Review your medical history and talk to your family to check your personal risk factors.[1]
- Symptoms may also sometimes begin after a physical trauma such as surgery or infection.
- 2 Monitor muscular symptoms including spasms, tightness, and chronic pain. The most prominent fibromyalgia symptoms are the pain and fatigue of your entire muscular systems. Keep track of how often you experience pain or irregular sensations in your muscles, such as numbness, tingling, burning, twitching, or itching. Write your symptoms down if need help keeping track of their frequency or severity.[2]
- Chronic, widespread muscle pain is often characterized as a constant dull ache that lasts for an extended period of time on both sides of your body, and above and below your waist.
- Muscle pain may also lead to tingling in the limbs, stiffness, or soreness in muscles that have been at rest. For example, you may feel unable to walk or bend after sitting for a long time.
- 3 Keep track of how tired you are and how well you sleep. Fibromyalgia is often accompanied by fatigue and decreased energy levels all day long. Take note of how often you feel tired throughout the day, and check to see if you are sleeping completely through the night. Many fibromyalgia patients also struggle with insomnia due to the pain.[3]
- Even patients who get a full night’s sleep may experience fatigue with fibromyalgia.
- 4 Consider times you struggled to remember things in your daily life. Feelings of mental fogginess, also known as “brain fog,” may indicate you are struggling with fibromyalgia. This is characterized by being slow to recall basic things such as names or directions in your daily life.[4]
- Trouble sleeping or…
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