Tag Archives: chronicpain

Before fibromyalgia is diagnosed, many other conditions should be ruled out. There are many conditions that can mimic fibromyalgia!

Leave a comment

Polymyalgia rheumatica

Polymyalgia rheumatica is an inflammatory disorder that can result in muscle pain, stiffness, muscle weakness, flulike symptoms and sleep disruptions. Before I got my diagnosis of fibromyalgia my doctor was debating whether my condition was polymyalgia or fibromyalgia. He was very certain I had one or the either. He ran a blood test to see if I had high inflammation markers to help diagnose. I had very little inflammation markers found – which led my doctor to believe it was fibromyalgia. One can still be diagnosed with polymyalgia even if there is low inflammation found. Polymyalgia can be treated with a corticosteroids.

Advertisements
Advertisements

You can read more about polymyalgia rheumatica here.

Rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. It is also an inflammatory disease. In rheumatoid arthritis the lining of your joints is affected. It causes painful inflammation that can lead to bone erosion and joint deformity! I originally went to the doctor because my finger joints were very painful and beginning to throb. My elbows were the same as my hands. According to blood test results, I was not showing signs of any autoimmune diseases and had a negative CPP result. A CCP blood test can usually detect antibodies present in rheumatoid arthritis. To be cautious my doctor referred me to a rheumatologist who screened me for RA. The rheumatologist did ultrasounds on both hands and my elbows. There was no evidence in my joints of any inflammatory joint disease being present. At this point RA was ruled out and the rheumatologist confirmed a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

Advertisements
Advertisements

You can read more on rheumatoid arthritis here.

Multiple sclerosis (MS)

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects the central nervous system ( brain and spinal cord). The immune system will attack the myelin sheath that surrounds your nerves. It results in inflammation and destroys nerve cell processes and myelin. MS can cause pain, fatigue, stiffness, numbness and tingling and more. Often times health care providers will order an MRI to help determine if it is MS. Multiple sclerosis can cause lesions to form on the brain and cervical spinal cord. My doctor agreed to order an MRI. We both figured nothing would show. Results showed one lesion on my brain stem – usually where MS lesions are found. I was referred to a neurologist. The neurologist repeated the MRI. no other lesions were found. The lesion found was most likely causes by my migraines.

Advertisements
Advertisements

You can read more on MS here.

Lupus

Lupus can also be misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia. However lupus is an autoimmune disease. Lupus involves widespread inflammation throughout the body and affects many organs. Your immune system will attack its own tissues and organs resulting in inflammation. Lupus can cause fatigue, muscle pain, fevers, headaches etc. Doctors can run a blood test to check your ANA levels in your body. A positive ANA test may mean you have lupus. 97% of people with lupus have antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in their blood. Keep in mind Just because your ANA test is positive doesn’t always mean you have lupus. My doctor ruled out lupus as my inflammatory markers were low and My ANA was negative. The rheumatologist also agreed I did not have lupus due to all blood work indicating negative results. I know people who had a negative ANA reading and still got diagnosed with Lupus.

Advertisements
Advertisements

You can read more about lupus here.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)

Chronic fatigue syndrome usually accompanies fibromyalgia. However, they are both completely different conditions. CFS symptoms can mimic fibromyalgia symptoms. Once again chronic fatigue syndrome is difficult to diagnose just like fibromyalgia. Fatigue does accompany fibromyalgia, but the fatigue felt in CFS can be worse and life altering. I have not been diagnosed with chronic fatigue, but I stand firm when I tell many health care providers that I have it. I suffer from daily sore throats, swollen lymph nodes, fevers, awake unrefreshed and any physical/emotional stress causes extreme exhaustion to result. This year I will be pushing the subject of CFS with my doctor.

Advertisements
Advertisements

You can read more on CFS here.

Lyme disease

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium borrelia burgdorferi. People can contract it from ticks. Lyme has many fibromyalgia symptoms such as muscle/joint aches, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, fatigue, and rashes. In Canada it can be very difficult to get tested for Lyme disease. We do have testing for it, but I often hear it is not very reliable. Many people will seek Lyme testing in the USA or pay to see a natural path who can test for it, but it is sent to Germany to actually be tested. I often hear that even if it does come back positive, health care providers still so not accept the results. Maybe where you live, you have better options to being tested for Lyme disease.

Advertisements
Advertisements

You can read more about lyme here.

Thyroid diseases

People with hypothyroidism may display symptoms of fibromyalgia such as fatigue, depression and muscle/joint pain. Hypothyroidism results when your thyroid doesn’t produce enough hormone. A simple blood test can confirm if you have hypothyroidism. It will test your TSH levels. (thyroid stimulating hormone) My doctor quickly ordered blood work, which indicated my thyroid was working as it should.

Advertisements

Read more about hypothyroidism here:

Hashimoto’s disease can also be mistaken for fibromyalgia. Hashimoto’s is actually an autoimmune disorder. A health care provider can order a test to see if there are specific antibodies in your body. The antibodies created by your immune system attack thyroid cells as if they were bacteria or viruses – leading to damaged cells and cell death.

Advertisements

Read more about Hashimoto’s here:

I am sure there are possibly more conditions that can be mistaken for fibromyalgia. However, these are the ones that come to mind. I’ve had many of these conditions ruled out from blood work. Many are autoimmune diseases and my blood work indicates no autoimmune diseases detected. One can still be diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder with negative indicators – but in my case it has been ruled out.

Advertisements
Advertisement

Why does fibromyalgia cause skin rashes!?!?

Leave a comment

Do you get random skin rashes with fibromyalgia!? These rashes can be painful, bumpy, raised, itchy and you may even experience your skin crawling. I often experience these rashes. I even broke out in a fibromyalgia rash just sitting at the doctor’s office. Since I was already at the doctor’s office I decided to show my doctor the rash that appeared out of no where. My doctor thought I had been scratching the area, but I had not scratched it once. It appeared red, inflamed and felt hot. I was always so puzzled to why I got random rashes. Sometimes the rashes look like heat rashes, but are actually not caused by sweating.

Advertisements

Not everyone with fibromyalgia will develop rashes, but many people do. Rashes can appear at anytime anywhere on the body. Some fibromyalgia rashes can become so sensitive it is difficult to even sleep. If you are like me you often wonder what can cause these rashes to appear. The exact cause to the rashes has never been determined, but there are several factors that may contribute to a rash arising.

Advertisements

Possible causes of why fibromyalgia rashes appear:

1. Medications you are on to help treat your fibromyalgia symptoms could be the culprit. Talk to your doctor of pharmacist to discuss whether your medications could possibly be causing the rashes to appear. I would advise getting any rash checked if you are unsure.

Advertisements

2. Signals in your central nervous system (brain, spinal cord and nerves). Your brain could possibly be sending out “itch” signals to the nerves in your skin. Your skin will become oversensitive. The result of your skin becoming oversensitive will create a sensation of itchiness.

Advertisements

3. Chemical imbalances. A chemical imbalance in the brain could trigger a rash to appear. When you scratch an itch your brain will respond by releasing serotonin which helps stop the pain or itchiness. However, the more you scratch the more you itch. The more scratching and itching you do the more serotonin levels increase. The itching and scratching cycle can possibly lead to worse skin pain linked to fibromyalgia. Researchers completed a study on mice that showed the release of serotonin made the itchiness in mice worse. The higher the serotonin levels are the more you itch which then results in a rash forming.

Food for thought… there are a lot of medications used to lower pain levels which have serotonin in them. Do these medications create the same response?!? The higher the dose, the more serotonin levels we have causing a rash to form?!?

Advertisements

4. Is an immune response responsible for creating the rash?! If this is true your immune system believes the proteins under your skin are foreign invaders. This would promote your immune system to release histamine which would increase skin sensitivity, which results in a rash. There has been no research on this hypothesis as of yet.

Advertisements

How to manage a fibromyalgia rash. ..

1. Avoid scratching the rash even if it is itchy. The more you scratch, the worse the rash becomes.

2. Apply a cold cloth or compress. The cold will reduce swelling and any pain. It may even help reduce the itchiness.

Advertisements

3. Apply a hydrocortisone cream. It will prevent a histamine reaction from taking place and help reduce itchiness and help relieve the rash.

4. Avoid using extremely hot water to shower. Use lukewarm water instead. Using lukewarm water will help soothe the rash.

Advertisements

5. If you have dry skin, use moisturizing lotions to prevent itchiness. Dry skin can lead to a rash forming.

Don’t always assume your skin rashes are caused by fibromyalgia. Always take the time to go talk to your doctor or pharmacist. You could be having an allergic reaction instead. I bet just reading this article makes you itchy!

Advertisements

What fibromyalgia pain may feel like. Real life examples…

Leave a comment

We all know that fibromyalgia is an invisible condition. I decided to explain what fibromyalgia would look like and feel like to people without fibromyalgia.

Advertisements
Advertisements

I am including a sensitivity warning on this post as I have visually described what some fibromyalgia pain can feel like! If reading such imagery, I suggest you not read this post.

Advertisements

1. Have you ever had a huge bruise somewhere on your body that hurts when you barely touch it?! The type of bruise that turns dark purple/ blue and stays for over a week?!! Image your entire body covered head to toe in bruises. Pretty painful thinking about it. I often tell people my body feels so bruised up. The below picture is a image that represents fibromyalgia pain well. This image often circulates on fibromyalgia groups with a description stating, “If fibromyalgia were visible!”

Advertisements

2. Ever dropped a glass item and watched it shatter such as a drinking glass? I know I have and picking up the glass, results in possibilities of getting glass splinters in your fingers or accidentally stepping on a piece. Now image the spot where the shard entered getting infected and the area starts to throb. Try to image that feeling in every muscle you have – there are over 600 muscles in your body.

Advertisements

3. Have you ever been on an acreage or farm that has barbed wire fences installed?!? The barbs on the fence are very sharp. I know I’ve cut my finger on these fences and snagged my clothing. Now image a piece of barbed wire wrapped around your legs and arms. The bards dig in and feel uncomfortable and possibly cut your skin. Now imagine someone pulling that piece of barbed wire tighter. What an unpleasant thought, yet alone feeling! Welcome to what fibromyalgia pain can be compared to.

Advertisements

4. We have all received a static shock at some point in our lives unintentionally. Clothing creates shocks during the winter months. Imagine feeling like you are being shocked all day with no break. Everything you touch shocks you. Every step generates a shock. The feeling can become annoying or uncomfortable. Imagine putting on fuzzy socks and dragging your feet across the rug. It creates lots of shocks back to back. Now image these shocks in your brain or in every muscle in your body at once. Ouch!!

Advertisements

5. Ahh! Sunshine!! Image you are Enjoying a beautiful day at the beach, not a worry in sight… until the next day when you realize you forgot to apply the sunscreen. Your skin is screaming back at you as you try to soothe the redness. Your sunburnt area is so sore even applying aloe makes you want to cry or the touch of your shirt lightly resting on your skin is unbearable. People with fibromyalgia can experience sensations like their skin has been burnt, with no relief. The touch of wearing clothing is enough to make us want to scream. People with fibromyalgia often get rashes on their body that can burn. I have experienced a few of these attacks.

Advertisements

6. Image sitting around a relaxing campfire on a beautiful summer evening. You throw a piece of wood on the fire that begins to spit hot coals from the fire and sparks. Have you ever had a spark land on your skin and it hurts?! People with fibromyalgia can also experience these sensations without the visible sparks. It isn’t just one spark, its continuous spark pain for hours on end – even days..

Advertisements
Advertisements

7. Imagine you just got off a long shift at work. You are exhausted and feel like you have been through the wringer! Now force yourself to stay awake. The fatigue a person with fibromyalgia feels everyday is equivalent to someone without fibromyalgia not sleeping at all for three days! Can you function if you were to stay awake for three days straight? Not even a 5 minute cat nap? I bet the answer is no.

Advertisements

Fibromyalgia might be invisible, but there are many ways to visualize and represent what fibromyalgia pain can feel like. These are only six that I have written about. There are many more examples that come to mind.

Advertisements

Why does Fibromyalgia get worse in the winter? Winter hack….

Leave a comment

Why does fibromyalgia get worsen in colder weather? Many fibromyalgia sufferers report that they experience heightened symptoms and more flares during the winter months. I’m also one of those people that the cold weather affects drastically. As soon as fall begins the fatigue gets extremely bad, so bad that I have a difficult time functioning to complete simple tasks. Once the fatigue sets in the pain slowly increases. Each day that goes by the more pain I experience. With the increased pain, many sleepless nights result and the chronic fatigue sets in further. The fatigue causes a whole other set of issues such as daily sore throats, fever, swollen lymph nodes and migraines. The list goes on and on. What really causes fibromyalgia to become worse in the winter?

My thoughts:

1. We are less active during the winter months because of the cold weather. At least I know I am. This year I have an intolerance to the cold so I tend to stay home more. Even walking from my vehicle into a store leaves me chilled, and takes me forever to warm up. This winter I’m trying to go swimming to see if it lowers the pain levels. Swimming is always recommended to help fibromyalgia pain. I am also utilizing the mall as a place to walk since its too cold out for me to walk outside. Could lower activity during the winter be the cause to why we hurt more!?!

Advertisements

2. Changing weather. I find our weather changes so drastically over the winter months the last few years. The changes in weather will cause the barometric pressure to also change. One day we will have -30c weather and then the next day it can be -2c. Barometric pressure has been known to irritate sensitive nerves in ones body( usually at lower readings). Could this contribute to the increased fibromyalgia symptoms?! I don’t have the knowledge to explain further. I am still currently doing research on barometric pressure. I just know weather affects my fibromyalgia drastically.

Advertisements

3. People with fibromyalgia often suffer from anxiety or depression. Not everyone with fibromyalgia will, but lots do. Research often reports higher cases of anxiety and depression caused by lack of sunlight during the winter months. Can anxiety and depression heighten the symptoms of fibromyalgia? It sure can! When one experiences anxiety or depression, it results as a stressor to your body! People with fibromyalgia will know that stress to the body will create more symptoms or flares to form. If you didn’t know, you do now.

Advertisements

4. If you have arthritis in your joints, cold weather can cause joints to become inflamed. The inflamed joints can make fibromyalgia pain feel even more intense. I often wonder if I have arthritis in my hands. I had an MRI done to rule out MS and the MRI revealed I have the start of arthritis in my neck, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I have it in other joints as well.

Advertisements

Hacks to get through winter the winter with fibromyalgia…

1. Dress in layers! I live in Canada so our winter months can be brutally cold. We go through extreme cold snaps where I’ve seen -50 c cold warnings. If you have to go out in such cold temperatures, I would recommend layering clothes. This is the first year I’ve bought insulating pants to wear under my clothes. Avoid getting a chill is the best prevention.

From one of my favorite Christmas movies. “A Christmas story.”
Advertisements

2. Hand and toe warmers. These can be a life saver when it is extremely cold. You can tuck these warmers into your gloves to keep your fingers from getting cold and put them in your footwear as well. Almost like a mini heating pad.

Advertisements

3. Heated gloves. When I was shopping at a few stores I noticed there are various winter mittens and gloves you can buy that have rechargeable heaters built into the gloves. I do not own a pair, but next winter I think I will invest in a pair!

Advertisements

4. Stores also sell heated winter coats now. Same concept like the heated gloves. Small Rechargeable heated devices are located through the coat. Only problem is they can be very pricy!

Advertisements

5. Buy winter footwear that has a temperature rating for extreme temperature. Last year I had bought a pair of Sorell winter boots, but my feet still got cold. My boyfriend bought me a pair of Bog winter boots and I can’t believe the difference this brand makes. Not only are they comfortable to wear, but they are well insulated and have a rating of extreme cold weather to -50c!!

Advertisements

6. Use heated blankets, heating pads or take a warm bath to help relieve the winter chill from your body. I’ve been using my heated blanket a-lot lately. It sure helps warm me up quickly and soothes the pain! Some people would rather have a hot bath to help warm up and relax.

Advertisements

Can we make our brain not misread pain signals? Food for thought…

Leave a comment

Just a blog to make you think deeper. I attended an online fibromyalgia summit not long ago. Dr. Whitten spoke along side Dr. Murphree. Both these gentlemen treat fibromyalgia patients in the United States. The information in the video I watched made me think on a different level.

Advertisements

Food for thought…

We all know there is no cure for fibromyalgia, but what about treatment options ?!? Finding a treatment or routine that helps improve your fibromyalgia symptoms can be tricky. Looking at my own journey I have realized I haven’t really ever found that treatment route that works – especially when symptoms appear when they feel like it. I feel like no matter how much I try to prevent fibromyalgia symptoms , I’m fighting a losing battle. I’ve come to realize that my body will do what it wants to do and it’s hard to rein it back. You learn to deal with your symptoms day by day as you never know which symptoms will be prevalent that day.

Question:

Fibromyalgia is considered neurological at this point, so how do we rewire our brain so we don’t feel pain so intense?

Advertisements

If fibromyalgia is really caused by our brain misreading signals, how do we think we will be able to control it or change it? Ever been driving to the store and your mind wanders and you find yourself thinking about other things? “I really should finish that assignment for work. What should I buy at the store? I should really be cleaning. I can’t forget my best friends birthday on the weekend.” We usually don’t even realize our brain is thinking up thoughts without us thinking. Interesting, isn’t it? This is our chatty brain talking. If we cant even shut off our chatty brain, how do we make our brain not misread signals ?!! Technically we can help limit our mind from wandering by “living in the moment.” It takes a lot of redirection of our thoughts. If our brain is stuck in fight mode (fight or flight) how do we rewire our brain so we can increase our pain threshold? I asked the following two questions to most health care providers I have seen and I have never been giving any answers. I don’t have the answers to these questions. Just a few questions for you to ponder over.

*”Pain threshold is the minimum intensity at which a person begins to perceive, or sense, a stimulus as being painful. Pain tolerance, is the maximum amount, or level, of pain a person can tolerate or bear.”

1. How does one raise that pain threshold without causing excruciating pain, chronic fatigue or flares to arise!?!

2. How does one create a successful treatment plan without the pain going out of control?

Advertisements

I was often told to raise the pain threshold level by slowly adding time to activities or tasks, but I found this unsuccessful. Example: adding 30 extra seconds a week to your walking ability may help raise your tolerance slowly. Some people may add time to their activity every few days, but I found this to be physically demanding on my body causing increased pain levels to arise. For myself, this strategy would just backfire and cause me to flare, even if I stopped before I hit my pain threshold line. After three years of trying to incorporate this strategy, I can say it has failed. No matter the time increments I can’t seem to get passed being able to walk longer distances. Don’t forget, everyone’s body will respond differently. Just because it didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it wont work for you. Give it a try! You can alter this strategy however you want.

Advertisements

Health care providers mentioned using yoga to help raise the pain threshold. Yoga incorporates meditation, physical poses along with mental training. Many people without fibromyalgia take part in fibromyalgia and find it relaxing along with many increased health benefits. These benefits include increased muscle strength, flexibility, energy, weight reduction and energy. However, for people with fibromyalgia it can become very difficult to get in the “zone” to concentrate enough to take part in yoga. Being able to meditate can be difficult on its own, but factor in chronic pain and fatigue levels makes it even harder. For myself, I found yoga too slow for my liking and I couldn’t even get into half the yoga poses due to pain levels increasing. How does one find the benefit of yoga with difficulties concentrating and have limited motion /flexibility to get into the yoga poses is beyond me. I even started with the easy poses and had a difficult time. Yoga may benefit some people, but it wasn’t for me.

There may be more strategies out there, but these are the only two I was ever introduced to.

Advertisements

If our pain, fatigue or flare ups increase drastically during treatment routes, I personally think that this is a failed treatment route. I’m not a believer in the “no pain, no gain” saying when it comes to fibromyalgia. First of all I live with daily pain, why would I do something that causes further pain to result!? My goal is to decrease pain levels not cause further pain from forming. When we live with pain levels that are 10/10 why would I want to “add to injury”?!? In my eyes, a successful treatment route should cause limited or no pain at the time being done. A successful treatment plan should not cause a flare up to form the next day. If it does, it means you have gone over your pain threshold level and pushed too hard. I am a firm believer in stopping before one hits that threshold level. You may want to try to push just slightly above that line to help try to heighten that threshold level. Successful programming or treatment routes should improve your ability to function and move better and not result in more pain. After-all the goal is to improve quality of life not hinder it further!

Advertisements

In my experience, health care providers do not seem have current up to date information on fibromyalgia or have a lack of knowledge of the condition. Don’t get me wrong, some are very knowledgeable on fibromyalgia. The lack of understanding and knowledge often can lead to hands on treatments – which are often too aggressive. Example: A massage therapist may not even know what fibromyalgia is and when you go for a massage may not apply gentler pressure while massaging your back or legs – resulting in extreme pain levels. Many healthcare providers overlook the common issue in fibromyalgia – our bodies are hypersensitive. Dr. Whitten also mentioned this in his discussion.

Advertisements

In order to help reduce fibromyalgia symptoms, we must find the right combination of routes for ourselves. This process can be very exhausting. Don’t give up! Try everything you can possibly try. Don’t be afraid to speak up if a health care provider mentions possible strategies that have maybe failed you. They may even be able to provide you with ways to modify those strategies that may help you find success!

Advertisements

What can cause a fibromyalgia flare up…

Leave a comment
Advertisements

1. Weather changes or season changes. The constant changes in weather can contribute to fibromyalgia flares arising. Every fall my body responds poorly to the change of seasons – summer to fall. As the cooler temperatures set in, my aches and pains soon become consistent deep down to the bone pain. The colder the temperature drops the worse my pain levels become. The chronic fatigue becomes even more debilitating – making tasks even harder to complete. Getting out of bed in the morning itself is a challenge. I keep telling everyone that I need to win the lottery and buy my own tropical island. For myself warmer weather eases my pain levels. Other people, find heat difficult to handle. Everyone’s body is different. If I wake up with deep down aching during the spring and summer months – I often know the humidity is usually going to be high or if rain is on its way. Who needs a weather app when your body tells you the weather as soon as you wake up!!

2. Stress can also create a flare up to form. As we all know stress is not kind to our bodies, even without factoring fibromyalgia into the picture. Stress weakens our bodies, causing our body to become vulnerable. For people with fibromyalgia, the stress response tends to be heightened symptoms. It is very important for people who live with fibromyalgia to learn how to manage their stress in their lives.

Advertisements

3. Over exertion. People with fibromyalgia or any chronic pain disorder need to pace themselves even on their good days. Its probably not a good idea to clean the house, go get groceries, run errands, and attend a friend’s birthday party in the evening. Trying to accomplish too much will cause over exertion and a fibro flare will result! I often make this mistake and then end up bed ridden for days to come.

Advertisements

4. Illness. Even a common cold can create a flare up. People with fibromyalgia tend to have a cold or flu worse then people without fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia can cause inflammation in the body and then add in a cold or flu that may cause further inflammation to form is unpleasant. I often wonder why when I get a cold it seems three times as bad then before my fibromyalgia diagnosis. According to my lab work my immune system is working as it should with no limitations detected , but yet it takes me longer to recover from the cold. Prevention is the key! Avoid being around other people who are sick.

Advertisements

5. Lack of sleep. One bad night of sleep can cause a major flare up. This happens to me often as I have insomnia plus pain levels wake me up through out the night. Once I wake up, there is a slim chance of me falling back to sleep. For the last week, I have been waking up at three or four am, and then I can’t get back to sleep. It makes for a very long day. Even if I go to bed an hour later then I normally do the pain levels and chronic fatigue both hit a level of ten!

Advertisements

6. Hormonal changes. Changes in hormone level can cause one to experience a flare. A women’s menstrual cycle, causes hormone levels to fluctuate. These fluctuations can be enough stress on the body to create a flare up! Thinking about it…is it really a flare up or does fibromyalgia just make a women’s menstrual cycle symptoms feel worse?!? I’ll let you be the judge of that question! I don’t really have the answer ro my own question. Just food for thought.

Advertisements

7. Treatment changes. Adding new medications can cause a person’s body to react. Maybe the increased dosage your doctor prescribed caused some of your symptoms to get worse. I recently had a dosage increase of medication and I felt nauseated everyday for two weeks. I often get nausea, but this was worse. Even adding in a treatment pain such as light stretches can cause higher pain levels and fatigue to form. Any changes to your treatment plan causes stress to your body. The stress then is not tolerated well causing a flare up! I changed both my medications at the same time which caused extreme stress to my body. I probably should have increased each medication separately instead of at the same time.

Advertisements

8. Travelling. For myself this is a major cause for a flare up. When we travel we have to sit in a vehicle or whatever means of transportation you take for extended amounts of time. This in itself is hard on your body. Sitting in a vehicle creates pain levels to increase which causes fatigue to set in from mentally enduring the higher pain levels. When you travel daily routines are also set aside for the day or even several days. After I travel I always go into a very bad flare up that lasts for days or even up to a week later.

Advertisements

9. Individual sensitivities. This can range from certain scents, brightness of light, loudness or even triggered by an allergy. You may have other sensitivities. For myself I have become sensitive to scents. Stores that use sir fresheners or are using essential oils can trigger me to go into a flare. I have gone into several stores and had to immediately leave due to the scents. Loud noises is also a trigger for me.

Advertisements
Advertisements

Fibromyalgia and the trapezius muscle….What did researchers find out in 2020…

Leave a comment

Have you ever had muscle pain in your upper back before?! This pain can run into your shoulders and neck. The trapezius muscle is located in your upper back and is considered one of the largest muscles in your body. Fibromyalgia pain often attacks this particular muscle. I’ve had several doctors tell me this and from personal experience I can confirm it as true. The first time I went to the doctor to get my upper back pain examined, I thought I had a pinched nerve in my neck. This area remains a very problematic area for me for over two years now. The muscle always feels like a pulled muscle and remains tight all the time- leaving major pain in my upper back, neck and shoulders daily. Whenever I go into a fibromyalgia flare, this muscle hurts even more and is an early indicator that a flare-up is on its way (at least for me). The trapezius muscle group can also affect people who do not have fibromyalgia. It is not specific to fibromyalgia.

Advertisements

Warning signs your trapezius muscles may be causing you pain…

1. Limited range of motion. I often experience this. Turning my head right or left, or even to look up and down causes major pain. It may even hurt to raise your arms. Whenever I get an attack of this muscle, I can’t lift my arms to drive. Even raising my arms to feed myself becomes painful.

Advertisements

2. Pain between the shoulder blades. This was my number one complaint when I saw the doctor. On a daily basis I have shoulder blade pain that runs up into my neck. It is very painful and makes doing anything near impossible. Motions such as vacuuming or washing the floor cause the pain between my shoulder blades to become worse.

3. Neck and shoulder pain is a common symptom to see. There again, the pain in these areas will contribute to limited range of motion.

Advertisements

In 2020, fibromyalgia researchers conducted a study that involved the trapezius muscle. People who were diagnosed with fibromyalgia had the pressure in the trapezius muscle measured. A pressure gauge with a needle attached to the end was inserted into their trapezius muscle. They noted that the pressure in their muscles were almost three times as high compared to individuals who did not have fibromyalgia. Dr. Liptan, who has treated many people with fibromyalgia, explains that the pressure in the muscles recorded are just about high enough to the pressure in compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome is considered a surgical emergency. You can read more about compartment syndrome here. The findings in this study could explain why our muscles are so tender and why we experience high muscle pain. Again, more research needs to be conducted. It does make sense. The higher the pressure, the more angry our muscles get! Here is the link to the study completed in 2020.

Advertisements

I was researching the trapezius muscle the other day and came across a new term. Trapezius myalgia – “which is the complaint pain, stiffness, of the upper trapezius muscle. The term does not mean there is another disorder involved, but refers to a symptom of an existing underlaying condition. “Read more about it here.

What are the treatment options for trapezius muscle pain?!?

1. Heat or ice. For myself I tend to apply lot of heat. I have the heating pad on my upper back fairly consistently. Some people may find ice helps the area better. You can use whichever you prefer. I often spray a product such as Bio-freeze that is often used by physiotherapists. Its almost like icy hot that soothes sore muscles.

Advertisements

2. If you google gentle stretches for trapezius muscles, there are a-lot of great Youtube videos out there that will show you how to gently stretch this muscle to find relief. Many physiotherapists have uploaded stretching videos to the web. Just be sure you are using a reliable source so you don’t cause further pain to arise.

3. People may often opt to go directly to a physio therapist. If you rather go to an appointment and have a physiotherapist show you how to relieve the pain do so!

Advertisements

4. Medications. My pain was so high that I asked my doctor for some muscle relaxants. Over the counter medications were not helping the pain, but the muscle relaxants do. I try to only take the prescription if I cannot tolerate the pain.

5. Other people may turn to treatment options like dry needling or acupuncture if the pain area remains chronic. I have not tried either routes. More so because I am a chicken and hate needles.

Advertisements

6. Massages are another treatment option. If you can handle a message you may wish to try one. For myself I would find a massage extremely painful. I can barely lightly touch the areas that hurt.

Advertisements

7. Trigger point injections. The pain clinic I attended thought this would help me find some relief. I never tried it but know others have and found some relief. The only problem is the injections usually wear off before its time to go back again.

8. Rest the area. Try to rest the are to allow irritation of the muscle to ease off.

Advertisements

There are many other alternative treatments that I could list, but I’ll only mention the above eight in my article. I’ve yet to find the right combination to relieve the pain long term. I’m currently researching and thinking of trying myofascial release treatment – which is similar to a massage, but concentrates on the connective tissue rather than the muscles. It is often used as a treatment option to help fibromyalgia pain. Everyone will have a different response to myofascial release therapy – some people say it helps tremendously, while other people find it causes more pain to form. Not all massage studios offer this treatment. You may have to experiment and attend a few sessions to see how your body responds. I hope the information in this article helps you find some pain relief!

Advertisements