Understanding Fibromyalgia ~ Symptoms

What Are the Symptoms?

Symptoms of fibromyalgia include:

• Chronic muscle pain, muscle spasms or tightness, and leg cramps.
• Moderate or severe fatigue and decreased energy.
• Insomnia or waking up feeling just as tired as when you went to sleep.
• Stiffness upon waking or after staying in one position for too long.
• Difficulty remembering, concentrating, and performing simple mental tasks.
• Abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and constipation alternating with diarrhea (irritable bowel syndrome).
• Tension or migraine headaches.
• Jaw and facial tenderness.
• Sensitivity to one or more of the following: odors, noise, bright lights, medications, certain foods and cold.
• Feeling anxious or depressed.
• Numbness or tingling in the face, arms, hands, legs or feet.
• Increase in urinary urgency or frequency (irritable bladder).
• Reduced tolerance for exercise and muscle pain after exercise. 
• A feeling of swelling (without actual swelling) in the hands and feet.
• Painful menstrual periods.
• Dizziness.

Symptoms may intensify depending on the time of day -- morning, late afternoon and evening tend to be the worst times while 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. tends to be the best time.  They may also get worse with fatigue, tension, inactivity, changes in the weather, cold or drafty conditions, overexertion, hormonal fluctuations (such as just before your period or during menopause), stress, depression or other emotional factors.

If the condition is not diagnosed and treated early, symptoms can go on indefinitely, or they may disappear for months and then recur.

Call Your Doctor If:

You have chronic muscle pain and overwhelming fatigue.