Health Happenings
Fibromyalgia
By Sharon Hodges
Otero County community Health Council
The first indications that something is wrong maybe the constant aching painful muscles, a feeling of being tired all the time even after a long nights sleep. Your arms, shoulders, knees and hips hurt, movement might cause severe pain and walking from your car into the store seems like a mile long hike. Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you might be one of an estimated 3.7 million Americans afflicted with Fibromyalgia. This condition is one of more than 100 conditions related to arthritis. If you are of the generation before this condition had a name you might be suffering silently still believing it's all in your mind and if you didn't think about it, your aches, pains and tiredness will go away. In the early 1990's the American College of Rheumatology in the US and Canada gave this condition a name and criteria for a diagnosis. Unlike arthritis, a disease that involves joint inflammation, Fibromyalgia does not damage the joints or cause inflammation. Muscle pain is the most common symptom of Fibromyalgia. The pain tends to start in one region such as the neck and shoulders and spread to other areas. When I am experiencing a flare up or what I consider an "attack" the pain starts in one area and then I ache all over. The pain starts out as a stabbing pain then comes the cramping and I feel like I have the flu. While researching this condition I learned that some people report the pain is always there and others like me have sporadic episodes of pain and you feel like you have a persistent type of flu. For some the pain is severe and can vary depending the weather, time, sleep patterns and levels of stress and activities. I also learned that many Fibromyalgia patients report they are experiencing moderate to severe fatigue. Fatigue presents in many ways such as feeling listless, unable to endure any form of exercise, sleeplessness that can vary from day to day and feeling mentally and physically exhausted (I think of this as my energy drains, where it feels like all my energy is flowing out of my body). It is estimated that 50 to 70 percent of those with Fibromyalgia may also have chronic fatigue syndrome, which is flu like illness that is accompanied by fatigue, a sore throat, painful glands and a sensation of fever.
Over the years there has been progress in treating Fibromyalgia, but I have learned that much like having any chronic illness, you must take control over the illness and take personal responsibility for our health. This means controlling stress levels, good nutrition and most importantly having a regular physical activity routine. As I travel this journey I have met many other folks who suffer from this illness and I have learned so much from their experiences. So I thought maybe we could start a Fibromyalgia Resource & Support Group. Anyone interested in this please contact me at 439-1367 ext. 126.
Otero County Community Health Council
700 E. 1st St.
Suite 720
Alamogordo, NM
88310
(575) 443-8100
Fax (575) 437-2949
oterochc@tularosa.net
oteromch@netmdc.com