The answer to “What causes Fibromyalgia?” certainly isn’t a clear cut one. Consult with your doctor to help find a pattern or talk about what was going on in your life at the time that you got sick. There are several different theories about what causes this. Finding this out is the key to your fibromyalgia relief. After researching each theory I was able to better understand where my particular fibromyalgia may have come from.

Pain Signals:

In layman’s terms there may be something wrong with the pain receptors in the brain where they go on a constant loop of being in pain. This theory also involves neurotransmitters. The idea of neurotransmitters has gained in popularity in the past few years especially now that Lyrica is on the market. Whether the medication works for you or not it has worked well in providing information to the general public about the treatment and possible causes of this disease.

Genetics:

Fibromyalgia often occurs in women and sometimes it seems to run in the family. Naysayers of this theory have said that possibly it is because women in families usually will have the same experiences and environment which is why more than one of them would get sick. Make sure that your doctor knows about anyone else in your family with this illness. While I don’t understand the complicated field of genetics I do know that I was the first person in my family and extended family to get this. Recently another family member has been diagnosed.

Trauma:

When I was diagnosed in the 1990s the common thinking was that it was either a stress disorder or it somehow came on after trauma. This doesn’t mean that the disease isn’t real. The trauma somehow engages the central nervous system and neurons. Around this time there was a study of over 2000 patients and 65% of them got fibromyalgia after some sort of trauma.

This could include being hurt on the job or being in a car crash. It also states that it’s possible that the pain starts wherever the person was hurt and then kind of radiates throughout the entire body.

This doesn’t seem to have been the case in my situation. It just randomly showed up on a day when I was happy and feeling relatively well. I have been in a car crash but it was after I got sick.

Autoimmune Disorders:

When I was diagnosed 15 years ago there was a tendency to think of this as an autoimmune disease. Many people theorized it was close to arthritis. This is basically where the immune system attacks healthy parts of the body because they are viewed as a threat. While it hasn’t totally been disproven it’s a theory that is coming up less and less.

The Sleep Theory:

When participating in a sleep study many fibromyalgia patients will find out that they don’t actually get into a stage of deep sleep no matter how long they sleep. This could either be a cause or a symptom of the disease. It’s the stage four restorative sleep that’s missing so it makes sense that this could also attribute to or even cause widespread pain.

My personal experience has been that this is the case. My symptoms always get much worse when I don’t sleep well. Was my insomnia that never responded that well to any medications or natural treatment the reason I got sick? I don’t know, but I do know that it is a major factor in my day to day life now.

My non-medical opinion is that it could be a combination of all of these things that set off the central nervous system. Hopefully in the next few years research will develop more and we’ll finally be able to answer, “What causes fibromyalgia?”

The shortest and most accurate answer to “What is Fibromyalgia?” is that it’s a syndrome dealing with widespread and persistent pain. The pain can be described as shooting, stabbing, aching, or even like a very severe sunburn. To get an accurate diagnosis or treatment plan you’ll need to talk to your doctor.

There are several theories about what fibromyalgia is and how to treat it. However, there isn’t a known cure and there are three different medicines for treatment. It’s not actually related to the joints although often there is pain and stiffness there.

Getting Fibromyalgia Syndrome Diagnosed

The process for getting diagnosed can take a while depending on which doctor you start with and what your main symptoms are. You can ask for the trigger points test. These are painful spots throughout your body that will show up when your doctor runs a finger over them.

Fibromyalgia can look like several other chronic illnesses and some of them are more serious or more easily treated. When I was diagnosed in the mid-1990s I was told this was a disease of exclusion. I asked what that was and was met with the reply of “We diagnose you with everything else first and if we rule them all out then you have fibromyalgia”.

It took me two years to get to an incorrect diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. Then it was three years after that until I was correctly diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I don’t know how many dozens of other illnesses were discussed in that time as potential possibilities.

Outlook for the Future of Fibromyalgia Diagnosis

I had hoped that the diagnostic process had become more advanced than what was basically the process of elimination. The medical texts that I have been reading though still state that it’s a diagnosis of exclusion.

Now there is the tenders points test which I hope helps to get to the diagnosis quicker. However, I am glad to know that I don’t have more serious conditions with similar symptoms so I understand why the process goes the way it does.