Fibromyalgia, also known as fibrositis, is characterized by heightened pain sensitivity along with chronic widespread pain and fatigue. Sleep problems, greater than normal tiredness and memory trouble are its main symptoms. When it starts affecting around 3 to 6 percent of the world population along with around 75-90 percent of women, then it becomes important to find out its causes.
While the exact causes for this disease are not clear, but there are some widely accepted theories:
Pain Messages: The central nervous system processes the pain messages in the body differently. This could be attributed to chemical changes and imbalances in the body.
Chemical imbalances: Abnormally low levels of serotonin, dopamine and nor-adrenaline hormones have been found in people with fibromyalgia. These hormones help regulate sleep, appetite, mood, behavior along with processing pain messages sent by the nerves.
Smoking and obesity: Excessive smoking can reduce the amount of oxygen in your body, making you more sensitive to pain. Also, being overweight can cause this disease as such people are less physically active and might have joints that are not used to stress.
Sleep problems: Sleep problems are a symptom as well as a cause of fibromyalgia. People having sleep troubles can possibly have higher levels of pain, thus leading up to this disease. It also leads to memory fog in patients which prevents them from accurately remembering information, which may also sometimes lead to depression.
Psoriatic arthritis: This is an autoimmune disease which causes stiffness, pain and a loss in the ability to function.
Genetics: Some people can develop fibromyalgia after a trigger and this development can be attributed to genetics. These triggers are stressful events, which could be psychological, emotional or physical. These triggers could possibly include the following.
- Giving birth
- A viral infection
- Abusive relationships
- Death of a close person.
- Repetitive and traumatic injuries
- Illness
- Surgery
There have been claims that such repeated stimulation affects the brain and causes fibromyalgia to change and produce more neurotransmitters, thus leading to more pain.
Associated causes
- Lupus: Here, the immune system attacks its own healthy tissues and cells.
- Osteoarthritis: Pain and stiffness are caused by damage to the joints.
- Rheumatoid arthritis: Here too the immune system attacks the healthy tissues and cells, but in the joints. This results in swelling and pain. Up to 30 percent of people with RA end up with fibromyalgia.
- Ankylosing spondylitis: Here, swelling and pain are present in parts of the spine.
- Temporomandibular disorder: It causes pain in the cheeks, jaw, temples, and ears.
Thus, fibromyalgia isn’t an autoimmune disease but it is also not something which can’t be cured. It can also be difficult to diagnose since its symptoms overlap with a lot of other problems like allergies, chronic fatigue, painful menstrual cycles, Lyme disease, depression, migraine, thyroid issues, and restless leg syndrome.
So, while there isn’t any prescribed treatment, physical therapy and exercise are recommended for treating this problem. Physical exercise will relieve pain and also prevent muscles from getting weaker over time. Moreover, exercise will help improve sleep.
