When waking up in the morning you feel stiffness all over your body and it occurs to you more and more often. It hurts all over and you frequently find yourself exhausted. You also suffer of generalized pain affecting both sides of the body and both the upper as well as lower part of the body. You have visited your doctor but she can't diagnose you… These symptoms may well tell you that you have become a victim of fibromyalgia.
The American College of Rheumatology has worked out criteria by which fibromyalgia symptoms can be classified. These symptoms consist of a history of widespread pain for three or more months and pain in 11 of 18 tender point sites when about 9 pounds of pressure is applied. If followed by chronic fatigue and non-restorative sleep, when you wake up and feel as if you haven’t slept at all, there is a strong suspicion that fibromyalgia came into your life.

Fibromyalgia disease is an increasingly recognized chronic pain characterized by muscles aches, pain and stiffness, some soft tissue tenderness, general fatigue and sleep problems. Other people may have headaches, thinking and short-term memory problems, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet. Women may have painful menstrual periods.

Other Fibromyalgia symptoms may include:

* Chest Pains
* Cognitive Dysfunction
* Blurred Or Double Vision
* Hypersensitivity To Sound And Smells
* Irritable Bowel
* Irritable Bladder
* Painful Menses
* Painful Urination
* Shortness Of Breath
* Palpitations
* Multiple Sensitivities To Chemicals.
* Multiple Drug Allergies


Pain tends to be aggravated by weather changes as well as by stress. Some patients may complain of joint pain swelling while objective joint swelling is actually absent.

People suffering from fibromyalgia experience two unique ways of reacting to stimuli. They perceive normal stimuli as being painful and painful stimuli as being more painful than it should be. The above abnormal responses are thought to be caused by an abnormality involving pain processing pathways within the central nervous system. Abnormal sleep studies have showed alpha intrusion during delta stage four sleep and a reduction of rapid eye movement (REM). In addition, abnormal SPECT scans have indicated lower blood flow to the thalamus and caudate nucleus in the brains of fibromyalgia suffering patients.

Fibromyalgia treatment must be individualized by a combination of non impact aerobic exercise like swimming, stationary bike, elliptical trainer, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medication.
Medications that have been found to be helpful treating Fibromyalgia include:

1) Analgesics which help to control pain such as Tramadol, which is a non-narcotic pain reliever, may be very helpful. Tramadol Hydrochloride should be taken with care when one is intoxicated or recently used alcohol, other narcotic pain medications, tranquilizers such as Valium, medicine for the treatment of mental illness such as schizophrenia, or street drugs.

2) Tricyclic antidepressants in low doses such as Fluoxetine.

3) Muscle relaxants drugs such as Cyclobenzaprine, also in low doses.

4) Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Paxil. This is for serotonin building that may provide relief for sleep and pain. Higher dosage of Paxil may be prescribed if the patient is experiencing depression as well.

People suffering from fibromyalgia have a good prognosis if taken care immediately. Most people do improve over time.