Millions of people (including a staggering 3.4% of adult women) struggle with fibromyalgia, a pain disorder once dismissed as a made-up problem.
The good news: Doctors now treat fibromyalgia as real. We know more about it. And it’s easier than ever to feel better. The bad news: As with any fledgling market, everyone wants to sell you a quick fix.
With help from trusted trainers and coaches, you can get real answers, begin developing new lifestyle strategies today, and start feeling better tomorrow.
[Note: We’ve also prepared an audio recording of this article for you to listen to. So, if you’d rather listen to the piece, click here.]
Quick reference: What to know
Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a complex health condition. While doctors and researchers are learning more about it and taking it more seriously, there’s a lot we still don’t know.
While you may not be able to completely “cure” FMS, there are many things you can do to reduce or even alleviate some of the symptoms. This includes nutrition, exercise, mindset, and other lifestyle adjustments.
There’s a lot of information here, so don’t try to deal with it all at once. Scroll down to the end of this article for a simple “get started” plan that you can begin immediately.
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Achy, tired, and sluggish… what gives?
Maybe you haven’t been sleeping so well lately. You squeeze your eyes closed and beg to drift off, but you just can’t seem to stop squirming.
The exhaustion is causing these annoying headaches, and you have to admit you’ve been kind of depressed about it for a while now.
Your body suddenly feels… old. It’s hard to make it to your workouts when you’re so tired and out of sorts.
It’s just a phase, right?
Maybe. But it could be fibromyalgia.
I know what you’re thinking:
Seriously? Come on, I don’t have some maybe-disease, I’m just a little off lately. Is fibromyalgia even real, anyway?
You’re not alone.
Since fibromyalgia is poorly understood even in the medical community, people often write it off as a fake problem that keeps doctors’ and pharmaceutical companies’ checks rolling in.
But the truth is that this disorder, characterized by persistent, all-over pain and sensitivity combined with more commonplace (but miserable) ailments like headache, anemia and arthritis, is real and quite prevalent: 5 million U.S. adults suffer from fibromyalgia according to a 2005 estimate, the most recent available.
Thankfully, we are learning more about solutions.
If you have fibromyalgia — or think you may have it, or serve as a fitness coach to someone who has it — there are lifestyle strategies you can try today to start feeling better almost immediately.
Pain with no purpose
What exactly is fibromyalgia, anyway?
“Myalgia”, from the ancient Greek roots myo, or muscle, and algos, or pain, simply refers to nonspecific muscle pain.
Fibromyalgia syndrome, or FMS, is a collection of symptoms that may or may not include:
- headache
- poor sleep
- depression
- painful menstrual periods
- overactive bladder
- irritable bowel
- arthritis
- anemia
- stiffness
- restless legs
And — ugh — that’s just to name a few.
But there is one commonality among FMS sufferers, and that is pain.
The pain of FMS is widespread throughout the body, and it’s constant.
Unlike acute pain, which tells you that something needs immediate attention (like, you stepped on a nail or need your appendix removed), the chronic pain of FMS doesn’t seem to have a clear purpose. It doesn’t seem to signal any actual damage.
And though FMS has been studied for decades (in fact, similar conditions are noted in fairly old medical texts), there’s still no consensus about its cause.
Some theorize that those with FMS might have a lower threshold for pain due to certain changes in nerve cells, which would make it purely a physical problem. Others believe FMS could be a psychosomatic disorder.
In addition, pain itself is a highly subjective experience. Some folks seem to feel it more than others, or we may feel pain more in certain situations (such as when we feel emotionally stressed or socially isolated), but we’re not completely sure why.
So, yeah. We’re pretty far from fully getting it.
Unfortunately, not knowing what causes FMS means that, at this point, there’s no cure.
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