| Fibromyalgia is a mysterious disorder
that causes the sufferer to experience extreme pain in some 18 different
muscle groups in the body. The unusual thing about this disorder is that
it causes no detectable damage to the body. Sometimes the pain can be
so severe that it can cause permanent disability. The disease afflicts
mostly women, but men can suffer from this disorder as well. Fibromyalgia
is also non-discriminatory when it comes to age. It can affect anyone
from childhood to senior citizens.
While it is unknown what exactly causes Fibromyalgia,
it does appear that it may be hereditary in nature. It often appears in
family lines, sometimes several generations back. The disease itself was
first discovered and named in the 1800’s.
Diagnosis can prove difficult as there is no
way to test for it, nor is there any other physical way to trace the disease.
Usually, the diagnosis is made when a patient complains of chronic and
severe pain in any of the typical muscle groups for a period of 3 months
or more. Unfortunately there is no available cure for this abnormality,
there are ways to help the pain. Medication is a primary course of treatment,
but another important step is exercise and stress management. Massage
therapy, biofeedback, meditation and acupuncture has also been known to
help the condition.
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