|
|
|
By Danette MacDonald 1/11/03 Do you or someone you know have Fibromyalgia? Chances are, you know at least one person who has it and you may have even noticed that more and more people are being diagnosed as having this disease of the decade, but what do we know about it? The definition of the term "fibromyalgia" comes from a combination of the Latin "fibro," meaning the connective tissue of tendons and ligaments, "myo," which is derived from the Greek and is indicative of muscle, and "algia," meaning pain. Along with the muscle, tendon and ligament pain other symptoms may come into play. Those can include: unexplained exhaustion, fatigue, sleep disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, constant diarrhea and constipation, irritable bladder, chronic headaches, chest pains, morning stiffness, dysmenorrhea (painful menstrual syndrome) in women, cognitive or memory impairment, numbness and tingling sensations, twitching muscles, the sensation of swollen extremities, skin sensitivities, dry eyes and/or mouth, dizziness, impaired coordination and vertigo problems. The pain is usually described as a deep muscular aching, shooting, stabbing, throbbing and burning, and it is said to be more prevalent in women than men, and it shows up in people of all ages. Generally, after a 6 month period, a previously healthy person who develops unexplained exhaustion and fatigue, muscle aches and pains and possibly other above mentioned symptoms, and where all blood tests are normal and doctors can't find a cause, can be considered and/or diagnosed as having fibromyalgia. After reading article after article on fibromyalgia, I learned that fibromyalgia should only be diagnosed after all other possibilities have been ruled out. Some of the possibilities that can cause fibromyalgia like symptoms that should be ruled out are: polymyalgia rheumatica which has an abnormal blood test, parvovirus B19, hidden cancers such as those of the prostrate or breast, low thyroid, side effects from a medication or illicit drug, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and ulcerative colitis. Infectious diseases such as hepatitis B or C, toxoplasmosis or the heliobacter that causes stomach ulcers, and lyme disease. Crohn's disease is another one worth testing for, but you might want to leave that one until last as it's said to be most unpleasant. So now I wonder how many other people really don't have fibromyalgia after all? Is fibromyalgia overdiagnosed because it's way too convenient and cheaper than testing for the other possibilities? How close are the symptoms of fibromyalgia to all of these other possibilities? Take a look at some of the the symptoms of fibromyalgia mentioned above and compare them to the symptoms of Lyme disease for example and you might see why it is so easy to call it fibromylagia, especially when fibromyalgia is a clinical diagnosis for which there is no testing available. I'm not saying that all fibromyalgia patients actually have lyme disease instead, but I will say that some do.....I'm one of them. Is it possible that there are many more like me out there? Others may have parvovirus B19 or any of the other illnesses I've mentioned and I can't stress enough how important it is to go through the process of elimination first before accepting a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. It is my belief that most fibromyalgia patients that ask for further testing will get it and hopefully a good portion of them will find they have something curable instead. Unfortunately, many of these fibromyalgia patients who ask to be tested for lyme disease will be refused due to the denial of lyme disease in their area and the great expense involved in the testing. Out of those that are fortunate enough to be tested there will be a large number of false negatives, causing them to give up pursuing the possibility of lyme disease all together. Here is the reason why this might occur. Lyme disease is one of the most complex diseases to date. There is nothing cut and dried about it and all too often it is misdiagnosed as something else entirely. As the temperatures rise with global warming, so do the number of fibromyalgia patients. Is there a connection here or is it just a coincidence? We know what lyme disease is and have a fairly basic understanding of what causes it and we know what fibromyalgia is but we don't know what causes it. The symptoms overlap beautifully and I can't help but wonder if there are a large number of people that have been diagnosed as having fibromyalgia who in fact have lyme disease. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and have gone on to test for other possibilities, I'd be interested in hearing from you with the idea of putting together information so we can all learn and eventually have accurate, affordable testing. Please e-mail: Danette MacDonald The Silent Pandemic | Osteoarthritis | Fibromyalgia | Research | BC News | West Nile Virus | Brucellosis | Links | Contact |