Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain that affects two percent of the population. It causes people to feel pain throughout their bodies and trigger additional symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, and other symptoms. If you are diagnosed with fibromyalgia, you know how difficult it can be to manage your symptoms daily without experiencing pain or ready relief. However, options available may help reduce your symptoms, especially once you’ve pinpointed your fibromyalgia triggers. In this article, we’ll discuss common fibromyalgia triggers and why people with fibromyalgia feel pain differently than others.
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Fibromyalgia is a disorder of the CNS or the central nervous system - the brain, spinal cord, and nerves – with the symptoms believed to be caused by heightened sensitivity to pain signals in the body.
A common misconception about fibromyalgia is that it's just an excuse for being lazy or not wanting to exercise, but this couldn't be further from the truth! Anyone who has it can tell you just how hard it can be on your body (and mind). It's not only exhausting physically but also mentally. This makes it hard for sufferers to get out of bed when all they want to do is attend that friend’s birthday party or maybe train football instead of sleeping all day!
While there is no known cause for this condition, there are many fibromyalgia triggers that exacerbate its symptoms. Some of the common triggers include
Pain is a complex process involving the body and your brain. For example, if someone stubs their toe on a rock, a signal is sent to the brain, which then sends signals back down through nerve pathways to experience pain. The brain then creates an emotional response to this injury; in other words, you feel hurt or angry because of what happened to you.
However, there are differences in pain processes for those with fibromyalgia. This may be due to central sensitization, a state of the nervous system that causes hyperactivity in your sensory neurons. ISo what does this mean for you then if you have fibromyalgia? Well, it means that your body is more sensitive to pain in general. This can make handling certain sensory stimuli such as light touch or cold temperature more difficult.
It's important to note that there’s no "one size fits all" when it comes to how fibromyalgia patients experience and react to pain. One may have high pain tolerance, while others in the same boat experience the same level of discomfort as acutely as they would if they had just cut their finger on a piece of glass. This can be said to someone who doesn’t have this condition also, but the difference is how promptly pain can be perceived throughout the body by those with it.
For example, a person who doesn't have fibromyalgia might be able to run around all day in tennis shoes without feeling any pain or discomfort. However, someone with fibromyalgia might be in so much discomfort after an hour of walking around barefoot. This can push affected individuals to ask someone else to take over their responsibilities for them until the pain subsides - which can take hours or days, depending on the severity of their condition.
Perception of pain is an interesting concept. Your brain can trick you into feeling pain where there is none or make you feel more discomfort than you should if there’s an injury. These feelings are all processed differently in the brain.
Regarding fibromyalgia patients, their brains tend to process the feeling of pain more than those who don’t have FM. Patients with FM tend to have lower pain thresholds and more sensitivity. The result is that they experience more severe discomfort in everyday life and during exercise routines. Their brains also seem unable to differentiate between different types of touch or pressure—they feel everything equally intensely, exacerbating their symptoms even further!
When a person without fibromyalgia experiences pain, they usually feel it in a localized area—the knee or back, for example, but when you have fibromyalgia, it can certainly be hard to pinpoint the source of your pain. That is because fibromyalgia patients often experience generalized pain that spreads throughout their body and is much more difficult to deal with.
Upper cervical chiropractic care can help ease this symptom by correcting neck bone misalignment (which may be contributing to your fibromyalgia). It also comes in handy in restoring the normal function of your nervous system. By doing so, the chiropractor may help reduce the sensitivity of your central nervous system and facilitate better communication between brain and body functions involved in processing sensory information from all over the body—including sensations associated with physical activity such as muscle use or movement against resistance.
It will also help address additional problems that may be aggravating your condition, such as poor blood flow to your brain and neck muscle spasms. Upper cervical care has shown significant potential in helping patients overcome difficulties brought on by fibromyalgia. So it would definitely help to consult with a fibromyalgia chiropractic doctor as soon as possible.
If you want to experience quality chiropractic care for your fibromyalgia pain, check out the Upper Cervical Awareness Doctors Directory – the most thorough list of trusted chiropractors in America for only the best guidance and care!
TV show host Montel Williams describes how specific chiropractic care has helped his body.
The content and materials provided in this web site are for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to supplement or comprise a medical diagnosis or other professional opinion, or to be used in lieu of a consultation with a physician or competent health care professional for medical diagnosis and/or treatment. All content and materials including research papers, case studies and testimonials summarizing patients' responses to care are intended for educational purposes only and do not imply a guarantee of benefit. Individual results may vary, depending upon several factors including age of the patient, severity of the condition, severity of the spinal injury, and duration of time the condition has been present.