Emotional Sensitivity ME/CFS and fibromyalgia often make emotional reactions stronger than they were before and harder to control. The technical term is labile. One person in our program wrote, "My emotions are much more sensitive than ever before. I cry more easily, and I have less emotional reserve."
People often say they cry more frequently, get upset more easily or have more angry outbursts than before they were ill.
FMS is associated with a high prevalence of emotional and affective disorders (particularly depression, anxiety, borderline personality, obsessive-compulsive personality, and post-traumatic stress disorder), and main symptoms and comorbidities may mutually reinforce each other.
Fibromyalgia can be associated with ocular symptoms (foreign body sensation, irritation) and visual disturbances (blurred vision), coexisting with dry eye syndrome and reduced corneal sensitivity. Cases of scleritis, including the necrotizing form, accompanying fibromyalgia have been reported.
It is not considered a mental illness, but many people with fibromyalgia also experience depression and/or anxiety. In fact, patients with fibromyalgia are three times more likely to suffer from depression than the general population.
Addressing your fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for fibromyalgia, but there are plenty of effective treatments, therapies, and lifestyle modifications to ease your pain, boost your energy, and reduce your worst symptoms.
You should expect to manage fibromyalgia symptoms for a long time — maybe for the rest of your life. Some people with fibromyalgia experience fewer flare-ups with milder symptoms after they find treatments that work for them.
Previous studies have repeatedly found distinct brain morphometric changes in patients with fibromyalgia (FM), mainly affecting gray and white matter abnormalities in areas related to sensory and affective pain processing.
Fibromyalgia, depression, and chronic fatigue syndrome are all very different “invisible” disorders but share similar underlying symptoms. The term “invisible” is used to describe these disorders because each of these three illnesses does not present with any physical signs visible to the naked eye.
Exercise Regularly
Regular, low-intensity exercise, such as walking or warm-water exercise, is one of the best treatments for fibromyalgia. It helps decrease pain and stiffness, reduce stress, and may increase your sense of control over fibromyalgia. You may also sleep better.
The pain may get worse with activity, cold or damp weather, anxiety, and stress. This condition is more often diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 50. It is most common in middle-aged women.
Fibromyalgia can make you extremely sensitive to pain all over your body, and you may find that even the slightest touch is painful. If you hurt yourself, such as stubbing your toe, the pain may continue for much longer than it normally would.
While it's too soon to say for sure whether vitamin D is a safe and effective treatment for fibromyalgia, some of the evidence is compelling. If you are taking more than 1000 IU of vitamin D a day, you should have your healthcare provider check your vitamin D levels with a simple blood test.
Unfortunately, fibromyalgia is still a somewhat controversial diagnosis, because it is not yet fully understood and its symptoms can overlap with many other conditions.
There is no cure for fibromyalgia, but medication, some lifestyle changes, and natural remedies can help people manage the symptoms.
Pain is a given for nearly everyone with fibromyalgia. So are fatigue and brain fog. While those symptoms can be challenging, you don't have to put your life on hold because of them. Living with fibromyalgia means making adjustments, from work to parenting responsibilities to household chores to having fun.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition. This means that it affects you over a long period of time—possibly your entire life. There will be times when your fibromyalgia may “flare up” and your symptoms will be worse. Other times, you will feel much better.
If you avoid treating fibromyalgia, you may descend into a spiral. The chronic pain and fatigue limits your physical activities and exercise. That, in turn, weakens your body. You may begin to feel isolated, fearful, suspicious, lonely, and afraid, which can strain relationships.
Fibromyalgia is often triggered by an event that causes physical stress or emotional (psychological) stress. Possible triggers include: a serious injury, such as after a car accident. an infection, such as Epstein-Barr virus or Lyme disease.
Fibromyalgia (fi·bro·my·al·gi·a) is a condition that causes pain all over the body, also called widespread pain. Fibromyalgia also causes sleep problems, fatigue, and emotional and mental distress.
Fibromyalgia is diagnosed based primarily on having pain all over the body, along with other symptoms. Currently, there are no specific laboratory or imaging tests for fibromyalgia.