NurseWeek

Washington (H24N). "I awakened with extreme pain throughout my body. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t work, I couldn’t think. Immediately, I went to the emergency room. After a few tests, the doctors told me I was suffering from muscular pain, suggested I take Tylenol and schedule an appointment with my internist. Muscular pain? I didn’t believe the diagnosis. In my opinion, muscular pain occurs when a person doesn’t stretch before exercising. It is not the type of pain that takes hold of the entire body, burns, throbs, grips and twists every fiber in your body into knots."

That testimonial from Tamara on the National Fibromyalgia Research Association Web site describes the pain that an estimated 3.7 million Americans suffer each day. According to the National Institutes of Health, 3.4 percent of women and 0.5 percent of men older than 18 have fibromyalgia. Among women ages 60 to 79, 7 percent are afflicted.

Fibromyalgia is a distinctive syndrome that is diagnosed when the following criteria are present for at least three months:

Pain in both sides of the body.
Pain above and below the waist.
Axial skeletal pain (cervical spine, anterior chest, thoracic spine or low back pain).
Fatigue, sleep disturbances, headaches.
Depression and anxiety.

Because many of the symptoms associated with fibromyalgia seem to be related to emotional and/or psychiatric symptoms many researchers and practitioners believe fibromyalgia is a psychosomatic disorder – an emotional problem manifesting itself as a physical one. Thus, many doctors often wonder if the disorder is real. Many times, this may contribute to additional emotional distress if the patient does not feel the condition is being properly diagnosed.

Half of fibromyalgia patients have also had other disorders that lack a defined organic basis, like chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic headaches or irritable bowel syndrome. However, recent studies indicate that fibromyalgia patients typically lack restorative sleep, which can result in chronic fatigue and heightened sensitivity. Levels of substance P, a chemical related to pain, and some abnormal pain-related peptides seem to be at higher levels in fibromyalgia patients, which lends credence to the biological argument.

Treatment for fibromyalgia includes medication to improve sleep along with specially designed exercise programs and psychological counseling to help alleviate a patient’s discomfort. Patients who suffer from fibromyalgia recommend to other patients that the key to treating the disease is movement. In the new book "Fibromyalgia: Simple Relief Through Movement," Stacie Bigelow, author and fibromyalgia sufferer, notes that unused muscles become stiff and painful. Constant use of one’s muscles will keep the pain manageable, she says.