How Do You Define FM?

When I was first diagnosed with FM, I went down this LONG list of symptoms and found that not many of them applied to me. It left me frustrated and feeling I had been incorrectly diagnosed. I started reading more and more articles and only became more discouraged until I read the American College of Rheumatology's definition. They defined it as: a clinical syndrome defined by chronic widespread muscular pain, fatigue and tenderness. Many people with fibromyalgia also experience additional symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bladder, cognitive and memory problems (often called “fibro fog”), temporomandibular joint disorder, pelvic pain, restless leg syndrome, sensitivity to noise and temperature, and anxiety and depression. These symptoms can vary in intensity and, like the pain of fibromyalgia, wax and wane over time.

Now that made sense! FM, to me, is a fancy way of describing very specific symptoms (pain, fatigue, and tender points) that occur together (a syndrome). All that other stuff is ADDITIONAL SYMPTOMS that a person MAY have "ALONG" with FM... but not BECAUSE of FM.

My regular doctor saw all my symptoms as being "caused by FM" and felt anti-depressants should improve them all. Well, they only made them worse. Luckily, I was eventually referred to a neurologist and I could have kissed that man square on the mouth when he told me "FM is the same as any other symptom or group of symptoms and symptoms do not cause other symptoms."

He went on to explain that there is not one single, definitive cause of FM. It can occur as a result of many different things... like back injuries, viruses, severe depression, chemical imbalances, sleep disturbance... it was a LONG list. But it is that initial underlying cause that will dictate the OTHER symptoms people will have along with the fatigue, pain, and tender points of FM. It was like bells were going off all around the world! He saw my neuropathy as a seperate symptom (perhaps the same cause) and treated it seperately, fixing at least that one problem.

I have a friend with FM who has sleep apnea. Before getting on the c-pap (sp?) machine, she had the three main symptoms of FM, but also had extreme fibro-fog, restless leg sydrome, and major mood swings. After getting the machine, ALL the symptoms subsided. She still has periods where she can't sleep and when she misses out on a few precious hours, she flares big time. Would have been nice to have known all that before she spent years on anti-depressants that only made her sleep problems worse, and thus, her fibro worse.

I have another friend with FM that injured her back in a car accident. Again, she has the classic FM stuff, but hers flares after strenuous activity or extreme stress. When she's stressed, her muscles in her shoulders and back get rock hard and BOOM... fibro-flare. And she is yet another person anti-depressants didn't help, but anti-stress practices do. Sadly, her back is about as "fixed" as it is ever going to be so FM is just a part of life for her now.

Then there is the friend with FM who has a long history of depression. Hmm... I just realized that anyone reading this wouldn't want to be my friend for fear of "catching FM", but these are all folks I've befriended through my other blog and around the internet. Anyway, this friend had more of the stomach issues... frequent diarrhea, bloating, cramping, horrible periods, etc., etc. The anti-depressants (she was on Cymbalta) did wonders for her. However, when there's an emotional crisis, she still flares.

Sadly, there's no way of looking at all the "other" symptoms and saying, "Oh! This or that must be the underlying cause." The symptoms are just not consistent enough. For example, someone with a back injury might also have stomach issues because of where in the spine the back injury occurred. The way I see it, the few people I mentioned above were a lucky few. There was a pretty clear connection.

For me, it is a toss up. I've met people who have been told a virus caused their FM and I've had mono, one of the ugliest. I was also thrown from a horse when I was a teenager and injured my lower back. I was also in a car wreck and injured my neck. I never had any problems with depression before I started having FM symptoms so I don't feel that one is viable, but who knows! When I'm in a flare and have a lot of pain, I can't sleep so, naturally, I can't think clearly the next day, thus the fibro-fog.

While there aren't many that agree with it, this theory works for me. Waiting to hear yours!