"Anxiety Disorders Are Common Fibromyalgia Symptoms – What You Need To Know!"
By Carol Ryland
If you have fibromyalgia, you already understand how crippling the pain and misery can be, with tender the points on your body at the neck, shoulders, back, hips and knees. Even the lightest pressure can feel like you've been punched by a fist. And then there's the extreme fatigue, sleep disorders, mental confusion, memory loss, gastrointestinal issues, sensitivities to external temperature, light, sound and smells...and dozens of other symptoms that come with this disabling condition.
What you may not be aware of is that anxiety disorders and depression are part of the fibromyalgia symptom package. At least 20% of fibromyalgia sufferers have bouts with both anxiety and depression and statistically speaking, anxiety is a common issue today affecting around four million people in the U.S. alone. More common in women than men, just like fibromyalgia, anxiety is diagnosed most often in people ages 18 to 40.
Anxiety disorders can be very difficult for individuals to cope with. Everyone has the experience of anxiety at some point in their life. But anxiety disorders are especially frustrating for fibromyalgia sufferers because it magnifies the fibromyalgia symptoms and can trigger symptom flares. If you are suffering with fibromyalgia, you may have recognized the devastating affect that anxiety disorders can have on your other fibromyalgia symptoms... that the stress reaction you feel makes everything else feel much worse than when you aren't so stressed.
With major life events... final exams, critical business presentations, public speaking situations... a certain amount of anxiety is normal. We've all experienced it first hand. At these times, the body may react with headaches, sweating, and even nausea. For fibromyalgia sufferers, these symptoms would be considered to be mild, because the anxiety disorder symptoms they feel may also include light-headedness, dizziness, numbness, needles and pins in the extremities, muscle pain and stiffness, heart palpitations, sudden drop in blood pressure, mental fog and memory problems, visual blind spots, tremors, and panic attacks. Envision every bizarre symptom of fibromyalgia occurring simultaneously, and to a high degree.
Current research suggests that people with both conditions, anxiety disorders and fibromyalgia, are hypersensitive to stimuli that wouldn't normally affect other people. Multiple theories have been proposed as to the reason for this strong connection. They include brain anomalies, dysfunction of the brain and/or central nervous system, reduced blood flow to pain receptors in the brain, genetic disorders, and chemical imbalances (neurotransmitters like serotonin) in the brain. The studies have suggested that the low serotonin levels found in fibromyalgia sufferers could be responsible for a combination of the symptoms like pain, depression... and anxiety disorders.
The presence of anxiety disorders caused by any physical or psychological stress makes fibromyalgia symptoms more severe and difficult to treat. No matter what causes anxiety disorders in fibromyalgia patients, the disorder must be recognized and addressed for any fibromyalgia treatment program to be effective.
So, what are the symptoms of an anxiety disorder? For example, if you worry continuously about your financial situation, work responsibilities, or health issues for example... you are experiencing a high degree of anxiety. Feeling constantly on edge is another way to describe the condition. When you can't control or move beyond these roadblocks, and you're experiencing an increase in fibromyalgia symptoms including sleep disturbances, irritability, and lack of concentration... you're moving into the realm of anxiety disorders.
Another issue in the world of anxiety disorders, is the aptly named panic attack or anxiety attack. It is a violent and unpredictable reaction to the sudden onset of intense feelings of fear and discomfort in a given situation. These attacks usually last for up to ten minutes and may occur without warning or be brought on by a trigger situation or event. A panic attack sufferer may feel that they have lost control... or feel the need to escape. Some symptoms of panic attacks are severe... choking, dizziness, and becoming short of breath. When anxiety disorders accompany fibromyalgia, the sufferer is more likely to develop frequent and prolonged periods of anxiety. Migraine headaches and severe widespread muscle pain are also common.
Treatments For Sufferers With Anxiety Disorders and Fibromyalgia...
Tricyclic and SSRI anti-depressants are treatment found to be most effective in treating anxiety disorders in fibromyalgia sufferers. Finding a combination and balance of medications for the individual, and avoiding the potential undesirable side-effects and medicine interactions... seems to be the general path of treatment. Of the many drugs used in the treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms, none have been approved as yet, by the FDA... we don't even know fibromyalgia's actual cause. So, doctors are left to treat the symptoms individually. This can be a tedious and frustrating process for both patients and doctors.
Natural approaches are becoming popular, seem to have fewer undesirable side-effects, and can be used in combination with traditional medicine. For example, an SSRI-type of medication, 5-HTP is from a natural plant-based source with fewer side-effects than traditional SSRI's... and can be used in place of the traditional drugs... although should be administered under your doctor's supervision.
When a safe, natural nutritional plan to repair damage done by the body's immune system from the fibromyalgia is added to the treatment program, sufferers can experience tremendous relief and even elimination of fibromyalgia and anxiety disorder symptoms. As a fibromyalgia survivor myself having experienced the pain, misery and stress reactions that the illness generates, I can tell you that the nutritional approach works! For more information about natural treatment of fibromyalgia and anxiety disorders, contact me now by clicking on one of the links below.
http://www.overcomefibro.com/anxiety-disorders-symptom-fibromyalgia.html
If you have fibromyalgia, you already understand how crippling the pain and misery can be, with tender the points on your body at the neck, shoulders, back, hips and knees. Even the lightest pressure can feel like you've been punched by a fist. And then there's the extreme fatigue, sleep disorders, mental confusion, memory loss, gastrointestinal issues, sensitivities to external temperature, light, sound and smells...and dozens of other symptoms that come with this disabling condition.
What you may not be aware of is that anxiety disorders and depression are part of the fibromyalgia symptom package. At least 20% of fibromyalgia sufferers have bouts with both anxiety and depression and statistically speaking, anxiety is a common issue today affecting around four million people in the U.S. alone. More common in women than men, just like fibromyalgia, anxiety is diagnosed most often in people ages 18 to 40.
Anxiety disorders can be very difficult for individuals to cope with. Everyone has the experience of anxiety at some point in their life. But anxiety disorders are especially frustrating for fibromyalgia sufferers because it magnifies the fibromyalgia symptoms and can trigger symptom flares. If you are suffering with fibromyalgia, you may have recognized the devastating affect that anxiety disorders can have on your other fibromyalgia symptoms... that the stress reaction you feel makes everything else feel much worse than when you aren't so stressed.
With major life events... final exams, critical business presentations, public speaking situations... a certain amount of anxiety is normal. We've all experienced it first hand. At these times, the body may react with headaches, sweating, and even nausea. For fibromyalgia sufferers, these symptoms would be considered to be mild, because the anxiety disorder symptoms they feel may also include light-headedness, dizziness, numbness, needles and pins in the extremities, muscle pain and stiffness, heart palpitations, sudden drop in blood pressure, mental fog and memory problems, visual blind spots, tremors, and panic attacks. Envision every bizarre symptom of fibromyalgia occurring simultaneously, and to a high degree.
Current research suggests that people with both conditions, anxiety disorders and fibromyalgia, are hypersensitive to stimuli that wouldn't normally affect other people. Multiple theories have been proposed as to the reason for this strong connection. They include brain anomalies, dysfunction of the brain and/or central nervous system, reduced blood flow to pain receptors in the brain, genetic disorders, and chemical imbalances (neurotransmitters like serotonin) in the brain. The studies have suggested that the low serotonin levels found in fibromyalgia sufferers could be responsible for a combination of the symptoms like pain, depression... and anxiety disorders.
The presence of anxiety disorders caused by any physical or psychological stress makes fibromyalgia symptoms more severe and difficult to treat. No matter what causes anxiety disorders in fibromyalgia patients, the disorder must be recognized and addressed for any fibromyalgia treatment program to be effective.
So, what are the symptoms of an anxiety disorder? For example, if you worry continuously about your financial situation, work responsibilities, or health issues for example... you are experiencing a high degree of anxiety. Feeling constantly on edge is another way to describe the condition. When you can't control or move beyond these roadblocks, and you're experiencing an increase in fibromyalgia symptoms including sleep disturbances, irritability, and lack of concentration... you're moving into the realm of anxiety disorders.
Another issue in the world of anxiety disorders, is the aptly named panic attack or anxiety attack. It is a violent and unpredictable reaction to the sudden onset of intense feelings of fear and discomfort in a given situation. These attacks usually last for up to ten minutes and may occur without warning or be brought on by a trigger situation or event. A panic attack sufferer may feel that they have lost control... or feel the need to escape. Some symptoms of panic attacks are severe... choking, dizziness, and becoming short of breath. When anxiety disorders accompany fibromyalgia, the sufferer is more likely to develop frequent and prolonged periods of anxiety. Migraine headaches and severe widespread muscle pain are also common.
Treatments For Sufferers With Anxiety Disorders and Fibromyalgia...
Tricyclic and SSRI anti-depressants are treatment found to be most effective in treating anxiety disorders in fibromyalgia sufferers. Finding a combination and balance of medications for the individual, and avoiding the potential undesirable side-effects and medicine interactions... seems to be the general path of treatment. Of the many drugs used in the treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms, none have been approved as yet, by the FDA... we don't even know fibromyalgia's actual cause. So, doctors are left to treat the symptoms individually. This can be a tedious and frustrating process for both patients and doctors.
Natural approaches are becoming popular, seem to have fewer undesirable side-effects, and can be used in combination with traditional medicine. For example, an SSRI-type of medication, 5-HTP is from a natural plant-based source with fewer side-effects than traditional SSRI's... and can be used in place of the traditional drugs... although should be administered under your doctor's supervision.
When a safe, natural nutritional plan to repair damage done by the body's immune system from the fibromyalgia is added to the treatment program, sufferers can experience tremendous relief and even elimination of fibromyalgia and anxiety disorder symptoms. As a fibromyalgia survivor myself having experienced the pain, misery and stress reactions that the illness generates, I can tell you that the nutritional approach works! For more information about natural treatment of fibromyalgia and anxiety disorders, contact me now by clicking on one of the links below.
http://www.overcomefibro.com/anxiety-disorders-symptom-fibromyalgia.html
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