Fibromyalgia Specialist

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition characterized by debilitating musculoskeletal pain throughout your body, accompanied by fatigue, irritability, and memory issues. 

It’s believed that fibromyalgia is a result of a disruption in your neural pathways that disrupt the way your brain interprets and communicates pain.

Fibromyalgia is more commonly diagnosed in women than men, and the symptoms usually develop around middle-age. Often, trauma, surgery, or illness can trigger fibromyalgia.

What are the symptoms of fibromyalgia?

In addition to pain in your muscles, connective tissues, and joints, fibromyalgia causes other symptoms including:

• All over body aches
• Chronic headaches
• Depression and anxiety
• Difficulty sleeping
• Fatigue
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Memory problems
• Muscle tenderness
• Sensitivity to loud noise or bright light
• Stiffness or numbness in joints

Many of these symptoms are caused by other conditions, so your provider may run a number of tests to rule out other illnesses to confirm a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

How is fibromyalgia diagnosed?

Unfortunately, there is no single test to confirm fibromyalgia. If you experience these painful and disruptive symptoms for three months or more, you should make an appointment with the team at Enhance Center.

Your provider first completes a comprehensive consultation and exam where they ask you about your symptoms as well as your overall wellness and lifestyle. They may order blood work to rule out other conditions that cause similar symptoms.

How is fibromyalgia treated?

Once your provider confirms fibromyalgia is the cause of your symptoms they can begin treatment to alleviate your pain and other symptoms. While there’s no known cure for fibromyalgia, your doctor offers a variety of ways to reduce your pain and improve your quality of life.

The team at Enhance Center may recommend mediation such as pain reliever sand antidepressants to reduce the pain. They may also recommend physical therapy, occupational therapy, or low-level light therapy.

Low-level light therapy uses laser light energy to harness your body’s natural healing response to improve circulation and reduce inflammation. This helps decrease your pain and help you feel better.

If chronic pain and fibromyalgia are getting in the way of your life, call to schedule an appointment today to meet with the experts at Enhance Center.