Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

22 | May• 2019

Fibromyalgia

Explained

BYSAMANTHARIDEOUT

Whydoctorsarefinally

paying attention to it

STILLPOORLYUNDERSTOOD

bymedicalscientistsbutatlast

anareaofwidespreadresearch,

fibromyalgiaisthenamefora

clusterofsymptomsthataffectsan

estimatedtwotothreepercentof

theworld’sadults.

Themostprominentofthese

symptomsispainspreadwidely

aroundthebody.Unlikearthritis

andcertainrelatedconditions,it

doesn’tcausedamagetojoints,

musclesorothertissues.Thepain

isusuallydescribedasdull,constant

andwithoutapparentcause.

Sufferers might also experience

musclestiffness,headaches,brain

fogorfatigue.

Mostpatientsarediagnosedin

middleage,althoughtheirsymptoms

oftenstartearlier.Fibromyalgia’s

exactcauseremainsunconfirmed.A

populartheoryisthatit’sa disorder

ofthecentralnervoussystem– ie,

something’sgonewrongwiththe

waythebrainprocessespainsignals

fromthenerves.Scientistsare

alsoexploringthepossibilitythat

hormonelevelsorabnormalsleep

cyclesmayplaya role.

Becausepatientsshowfeworno

external signs of their suffering,

H E ALTH

PHOTOS: ISTOCK.COM/LJUPCO