Physical Symptoms

• There are many symptoms of fibromyalgia. The pain that most patients experience may be aching, throbbing, shooting, stabbing, stiff or burning. The pain usually occurs in the soft, fibrous tissues of the muscles, ligaments and tendons.
  Many fibromyalgia patients also experience extreme fatigue. This may be related to a sleep condition that most fibromyalgia patients have called the alpha-EEG anomaly. Patients have no trouble falling asleep, but their deep sleep is constantly interrupted.
  In addition to the muscle pain, fibromyalgia patients often experience chronic migraines or tension headaches, PMS pain, chest pain, muscle spasms, memory impairment, numbness, a sense of swollen fingers and toes, and dizziness.
  
  

Emotional Symptoms

• Because fibromyalgia has few visible symptoms to others, people with the disease feel isolated and alone. Fibromyalgia patients are prone to depression and feelings of helplessness.
  
  

Aggravating Factors

• Fibromyalgia symptoms may be brought on or made worse under certain conditions. Patients often are sensitive to smells, noise, light and sometimes their fibromyalgia medications. Changes in the weather, cold environments, infections, allergies, hormone changes and stress can cause symptoms to occur or worsen.
  Many symptoms may be more intense at certain times of day.
  
  

Related Conditions

• Some doctors believe that fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are the same disease, and both overlap Gulf War syndrome.
  Any number of sleep disorders may occur in addition to the alpha-EEG anomaly, such as sleep apnea, night teeth grinding, or restless leg syndrome.
  In addition to their fibromyalgia, about one-quarter of patients also suffer from temporomandibular joint dysfunction syndrome, and somewhere between 40 percent and 70 percent of patients suffer from irritable bowel syndrome.
  
  

Treatment

• There is currently no cure for fibromyalgia . Patients get relief by treating their symptoms. There are fibromyalgia drugs available that treat pain, but many patients find that these drugs are not a "cure-all." Many patients turn to alternative therapies such as massage therapy and acupuncture.