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What is Fibromyalgia ???

Fibromyalgia colors your whole world with PAIN and FATIGUE.....

  • FMS is a debilitating disorder
  • FMS has no known cure or cause
  • FMS has over 50 diverse symptoms
  • FMS causes widespread pain & fatigue
  • FMS can cause disabling cognitive difficulty
  • FMS affects mostly women in the prime of life
  • Almost all suffer fatigue and badly disturbed sleep
  • Many experience significant weight gain due to inactivity
  • Symptoms are almost always worse in cold or humid weather
  • FMS ranges from a mild inconvenience to completely life altering

Statistics

  • The majority of people with FMS have a history of injury - sometimes serious but often only minor within the year before the symptoms started.
  • 100% of people with FMS have muscular pain, aching and/or stiffness (especially in the morning)
  • 70% to 100% (different studies show variable numbers) are found to have depression (though many consider that this is more likely to be a result of the muscular pain rather than part of the cause).
  • 73% to 34% have Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  • 56% to 44% have severe headaches
  • 50% to 30% have Raynaud's phenomenon (hands go dead white and cold)
  • 18% have dry eyes and/or mouth (Sicca syndrome)
  • 12% have osteoarthritis
  • 7% have rheumatoid arthritis

The majority of FMS patients are FEMALE, and symptoms may begin in young, school-aged children.

Description

FMS is a chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder for which the cause is unknown, but significant abnormalities in the central nervous system have been uncovered in recent years. The majority of Fibro patients become ill after a physical trauma (such as an auto accident or head injury), there also appears to be a genetic link as well as a possible link to certain viruses. In addition to the pain and fatigue, other symptoms include chronic headaches/migraines (50% suffer with migraines), morning stiffness, cognitive or memory impairments, reduced coordination and decreased endurance, unrefreshed sleep (likely due to a number of sleep anomalies), exercise intolerance, blurred vision.... The American College of Rheumatology published the diagnostic criteria for FMS in 1990. This selection criteria was shown to be 88% accurate in its ability to identify patients with this syndrome. Researchers have noted a significant overlap between FMS and CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). A majority of these patients meet both diagnostic criteria for FMS and the CDC criteria for CFS.

Other Conditions Which Are Extremely Common with Fibromyalgia Include:

Allergies, chronic rhinitis (almost constant runny nose), easy bruising, night cramps, restless leg syndrome, dizziness, sleep apnea, dry eyes and mouth, bruxism (teeth grinding), extreme sensitivity to light (photophobia), premenstrual syndrome, digestive disturbances, viral infections, "Lyme disease" (resulting from tick-bite), itchy skin - with or without a rash, loss of hair, sensitive bladder, mouth ulcers, generalised muscular stiffness, 'foggy' brain (difficulty in concentrating and poor short term memory), dyslexia (wrong words come out or what is read is not understood).

Demographics

Research studies indicate that 2% of the general population are afflicted with FMS. This amounts to roughly five million Americans. The majority of FMS patients are female, and symptoms may begin in young, school-aged children. The average person takes five years and spends thousands of dollars in medical bills to receive this diagnosis--all because few physicians possess the education or tools to diagnose and treat FMS. One study revealed that prior to diagnosis, 60% of the patients with FMS underwent costly, unsuccessful surgeries in an attempt to "cut out" their excruciating pain. Only 6% of them had the correct diagnosis before entering the study. Even with a diagnosis, there is no single therapeutic agent capable of controlling the symptoms of FMS.

Disability Studies

Four (4) reports have shown that FMS can be as disabling as rheumatoid arthritis or RA. RA is listed in the Social Security Disability law book, but FMS is not. Due to the difficulties in gaining recognition for FMS as a disabling illness, the percentage of patients drawing SSD payments based on FMS is only 16.2%. Yet, nearly 30% of FMS patients claim that they cannot hold down a steady job due to this condition. The health care costs per patient per year have been documented at $2,274 despite the poor treatment outcomes. The total yearly drain on the U.S. economy is estimated to be over $20 billion.

100 out of 394 patients (that is 25.3%) with FMS (all female) and 12 out of 44 males (27%) were shown in a recent survey to be sufficiently badly affected by the condition as to be unable to work - they were effectively disabled. Almost all the others surveyed claimed that their FMS affected their job performance very badly.

Current Status of FMS-related Research Spending by NIH

Most FMS research at NIH is sponsored by NIAMS (National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin diseases). At the end of 1993, NIAMS announced a $1.4 million RFA for FMS but, unfortunately, they awarded less than $1 million of the RFA in 1994. The 1997 FMS research funding level at NIAMS measured out to only 0.6% of their annual budget of $257 million ... not much for the second most common rheumatic disease that they supposedly represent. Many highly significant research findings in FMS are related to abnormalities in central nervous system function, yet the Neurological Institute (NINDS) has not spent one penny on FMS research.

*** Much of the information and statistics come from:

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