Understanding The Similarities Between Fibromyalgia Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. By Jane Thompson At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

They display many of the same symptoms and are both often misunderstood, but what are the fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome similarities?

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a condition whose origin is still unknown, pretty much like fibromyalgia. Chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, is characterized by extreme fatigue as its main symptom but it also has a numerous of other symptoms. It has been observed that fibromyalgia and CFS overlap in around 75% of cases.

It was also observed that patients suffering from CFS manifest symptoms very similar to those that are used to diagnose fibromyalgia. Other than overwhelming fatigue, CFS patients have symptoms like irritable bowel syndrome, temporomandibular joint pain, headache including migraines, flu-like symptoms and mental fogginess and other forms of myalgia (muscle pain). Moreover, clinical depression and anxiety were also observed to be common in CFS sufferers.

Interestingly, when we look at fibromyalgia (FM), we see that it is not all that different form CFS. For FM patients widespread muscloskeletal pain is the main symptom and this is accompanied by stiffness, fatigue, sleep problems and cognitive difficulties, among others. The main symptoms of pain and stiffness in FM patients compared to the extreme fatigue in CFS are what differentiate the two conditions.

In order to be diagnosed as having FM, patients must be experiencing consistent pain in most of the upper and lower parts of the body for three months, with between 11 – 18 of the specific tender points as set out in the diagnostic criteria.

Even though the pain can be unbearable and very discomforting for some most of FM patients, the reassuring thing is that the syndrome is not fatal. FM does not damage tissues and is not progressive, although a number of sufferers do report a decrease in mobility and the severity of the syndrome varies from patient to patient, so treatment correspondingly varies also.

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Both CFS and FM affects the lives of the patients and also the people around them. Regardless if a person suffers from CFS or FM, patients do need ample support from family and friends to help them adapt to the limitations the disorders bring.

Family and friends must learn to be patient and understanding to the needs of those afflicted with these disorders. There is a lot of social stigma that accompanies CFC or FM, with people wrongly believing that it’s ‘all in your head’ and you should just ‘pull yourself together’.

What remains crucial when suffering from either of these conditions is that you don’t lose your social contacts no matter how much effort it may seem. True friends will stick around and help you through and they can provide some much needed emotional support even if they can’t help in other ways.

There are a number of treatment options for both CFC and FM and as you may expect they are fairly similar. There are conventional and natural treatments to choose from or which can be used in conjunction with each other for an integrative approach.

Experts, attest that the best results they have come to observe so far are when patients employ combinations of medication and various conventional and natural treatment program. This means becoming involved in your treatment rather than relying solely on medication to improve your health.

At present there is no known cure for either CFC or for FM, however people do manage to overcome their symptoms and lead lives that are either with manageable symptoms or symptom-free.

One of the safest ways to treat the two conditions (fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome) is by knowing the symptoms, discovering what triggers them for you, learning how to control your environment, adjusting your eating habits and making necessary changes to your way of life.

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