Explore mental illness, its common symptoms, causes, and treatment options. Learn how to support mental health and seek help when needed.
Managing Fibromyalgia’s Effects on the Brain Doctors often focus more on the physical symptoms of fibromyalgia, such as pain, fatigue, and stiffness. However, many people with the condition also have trouble focusing, concentrating, or thinking quickly in everyday situations. In a recent study, women with fibromyalgia ranked so-called ‘fibro fog’ among their five top complaints. Openly discussing these symptoms and how they affect you can help you and your doctor address them. Here are other…
When you wake up in a fibromyalgia flare—with that feeling that you can’t move, as if a 500-pound weight has been dropped on you in your sleep—you can’t help but wonder how you can possibly face the day. On mornings like this, the best thing you can do is limit your activity and rest. Still, even as your body takes the downtime it needs, feelings of guilt or other negative emotions can make days like…
When we are talking about the poor cognitive function we have to be precise and not confuse it with just being absentminded but studies have shown there are real cognitive dysfunctions occurring with fibromyalgia. What is the cause of the cognitive dysfunction seen in the syndrome though? Is the brain aging faster? Is it due to depression or anxiety? Or is it correlated to pain or lack of sleep? There are many areas where people with fibromyalgia can point…
I am in a Fibro Flare. The pain arching through me right now is difficult to describe, to be honest. It is a deep, bone-deep, throbbing ache that is at around an 8 on the pain scale. It is extremely distracting. It is gnawing. Grating. And that is when I am not moving. Moving is another story altogether. In this particular case, it is from weather changes. We have been having hot weather and flash…
I wish I had been prepared for the impact of what was going to happen in my life from chronic illness being newly diagnosed. Realistically. I had a firm belief back then that I could limit the impact by choosing a specific job and as long as I was engaged mentally, it didn’t matter if I was hindered physically. I didn’t think of the radius pain has. It never occurred it would get worse, complex…
The Flare-up (see here for my article on it) is one of the worst fibromyalgia experiences. I fell into it sometime last night and woke up with the most unpleasant pains. In the hips, shoulders, and back, not to mention all over aches. I was very fatigued yesterday and perhaps that was some prediction of impending doom. Here is the thing we can pace and moderate but we cannot avoid all flares. Sometimes they just…
Fibromyalgia has some pretty distinctive sleep disturbances associated with it not to mention comorbid sleep issues. It is one of the key factors in the syndrome… our inability to attain refreshing sleep. I wrote a post about it here. So it interests me that they have done some recent research in this area. One of the important things about our sleep dysfunction is that since it isn’t presenting like regular insomnia the treatment likewise has…
I have been struggling with work lately. And by lately I mean always. Always struggling to function through the pain. Always not quite doing it. My psychologist said well I cannot compare apples to oranges. I cannot compare myself to people doing the same job perfectly healthy. Nor to myself when I was healthy-er. And it did occur to me that this job I am now doing wouldn’t even be a challenge to me when…
So there are a lot of issues with sleep and fibromyalgia. I also have other chronic pain and vertigo, but seriously since I was young sleep and I have not been on speaking terms. Yes, this is how I look when I sleep. Child-like and innocent and buried in glitter. Here are some of the random things you can look forward to with fibromyalgia and sleep: Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much…
As most fibromyalgia patients know, there are no approved tests to diagnose this chronic pain condition. A new study has taken science a step forward in this direction. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have identified a brain signature that is able to predict fibromyalgia with 93% accuracy. Functional MRI scans were used to compare brain activity in 37 fibromyalgia patients and 35 healthy controls as they were exposed to multiple sensory sensations (visual,…