Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a medical condition that many, including some physicians, do not believe exists. Most of those non-believers think it is all in your mind. However, recent medical research has shown that there is a chemical in your brain that determines your perception of pain and fibro sufferers seem to have an overabundance of this chemical. What is a light touch to someone else can be a painful sensation to a fibro sufferer. Deposits of lactic acid build up under the skin in certain areas of some people who have FS (Fibromyalgia Syndrome). I have these along my upper ribcage, a bit below the underarms. They feel like crunchy bubblewrap and they hurt a lot if they are touched. Also, fibro patients have pain in specific spots or points. There are hundreds of places these points can crop up, although specific ones are used for diagnosis (see diagram below). There are two types of points, pressure points and trigger points. Pressure points are at the site of acuppressure points and you can temporarily relieve some of the pain by applying pressure to them. Trigger points hurt at the point and also cause pain somewhere else when pressure is applied. A couple of the identifying criteria are that you have pain without any known cause in all four quadrants of your body for more than 3 months and that you have pain in at least 11 of 18 specific pressure points (see diagram below). Since many sufferers end up at a rheumatologist's office, because their pain seems joint related, this class of doctors knows more about fibromyalgia and sometimes this means that your diagnosis is not accepted if it is made by a regular doctor.