Celebrate the resilience of Fibromyalgia warriors, sharing stories of strength, tips for managing symptoms, and resources for support and empowerment.
No matter who you talk to in the chronic pain, arthritis, and musculoskeletal disease community — patients, clinicians, researchers, public health experts — medical marijuana is controversial. Is it safe? Is it effective for treating pain and inflammation? Should it be legal? While more clinical trials are sorely needed to understand the benefits and side effects of using medical marijuana to treat conditions like arthritis, it’s important to understand how patients think about and use…
Methotrexate (MTX) is considered a “first-line” therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is also used to treat psoriatic arthritis (PsA). But despite the well-known benefits of helping to reduce symptoms and prevent disease progression, methotrexate has a very mixed reputation among arthritis patients. Perhaps because MTX is so commonly prescribed, many inflammatory arthritis patients start to worry about whether or not they’ll have to take it almost as soon as they’re diagnosed. “For anyone with…
One of the main reasons people with arthritis visit the rheumatologist frequently — every three months is common among patients with inflammatory arthritis — is for doctors and patients to assess how arthritis patients are managing their disease. Typical check-ins may include a doctor’s physical exam and assessment as well as reviewing the results of blood tests and imaging tests. What’s also critical at these visits is something arthritis researchers and doctors call PROs, or…
Fibromyalgia and lupus are both chronic diseases with no cure, can both cause some similar symptoms, and can both take a long time to get the right diagnosis. But fibromyalgia — often called fibro — and lupus are two very distinct health conditions with very different causes and treatments, despite having some features in common. Lupus is an autoimmune disorder that involves widespread inflammation and impacts many organs throughout the body. Fibromyalgia a disorder that…
If you’ve had a nagging sore throat, your doctor may take a swab to check for strep. If you’re suffering from a high fever and bad cough, your doctor may order a chest X-ray to look for pneumonia. But not all diagnoses are that straightforward. Case in point: Fibromyalgia, a condition that causes widespread chronic pain — as well as fatigue, sleep disturbances, and cognitive difficulties — is often challenging for a physician to pinpoint.…
Having AS with psoriasis may have some things in common with psoriatic arthritis, but research shows these are two distinct conditions. About 25% of people who have an autoimmune condition develop at least one more; some people live with three, four, or more. In fact, certain pairs of inflammatory diseases commonly occur together. For one, people with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (also known as axial spondyloarthritis) — which is best-known for causing chronic lower back pain…
Fibromyalgia — a disorder that causes widespread chronic pain and tenderness — affects 2 to 4 percent of women and men in the United States (women ages 20 to 50 are the most affected) and impacts patients in many different ways. Thus, fibromylagia remains mysterious, and questions still linger — like why are more women affected by fibromyalgia than men? And why is fibromyalgia so hard to diagnose and treat? Why do some patients with…
Fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis are both chronic diseases with no cure. Fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis can both cause some of the same symptoms. They can both take a long time to get the right diagnosis. They’re both more common in women. But fibromyalgia — often called “fibro” — and multiple sclerosis (MS) are two very distinct health conditions with very different causes and treatments, despite having some features in common. Read on to find out…
When you think of arthritis, you tend to think of creaky knees, swollen fingers, or a stiff hip. Arthritis in the ankle doesn’t get as much attention. While arthritis doesn’t affect the ankle as commonly as other joints, it can take a significant toll on your mobility and quality of life. “Ankle arthritis can cause significant disability and affect daily living,” says Saira Bilal, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington University in…
How well you can make a fist or squeeze someone else’s hands could reveal a lot about your own health. If the joints in your hand have recently started aching, it’s natural to worry about why. Are they just over-taxed, or could you be developing progressive autoimmune condition like rheumatoid arthritis (RA)? In 2017, the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) stated that seven factors can help doctors determine which patients with arthralgia — joint pain…