Every year, since 1993, World Fibromyalgia Awareness Day is marked around the world.
The problem with fibromyalgia is that it is a "transparent" disease, a disease without a cure and for no apparent reason.
The main symptom of fibromyalgia is widespread and chronic pain throughout the body, muscles, joints and skeleton but it has many other different symptoms like: chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances (like difficulty falling asleep and discontinuous sleep), headaches, difficulty concentrating and memory, general feeling of stiffness in the morning , Dizziness, abnormal body heat, sensitivity to light, noise, odor, temperature changes, mood disorders, sleep sweating and more.
Fibromyalgia causes significant damage to the life of the sufferer. It causes very severe pain, so much so that the patients are bedridden and unable to get up.
Patients' ability to work is impaired and it also adversely affects mood.
Studies suggest that it is an injury to the central nervous system, which causes overexcitation in the process of pain processing and its passage.
The causes of fibromyalgia are unknown. A possible cause is a genetic family background and also environmental factors such as mental stress, infections, a whiplash accident and more.
Incidence of the disease
Fibromyalgia affects 3-5% of the population. Most sufferers are women. This is a higher number of patients with multiple sclerosis, breast cancer and muscular dystrophy (ALS)! Not only older women in mid-life suffer from the disease, in recent years more and more young people are being diagnosed with it, including men and children.
Treatment of fibromyalgia
There is still no cure for the disease and it is considered a chronic disease. Patients are given medications that relieve the many symptoms they are suffering from, not against the disease itself.
Some people believe that a vegan diet helps.
Fibromyalgia is not a psychological disorder! Studies have shown through brain scans that the chemical and biological processes in people suffering from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue are significantly different from the rest of the population.
May 12 is intended to raise awareness of the suffering caused to patients with the disease, for the purpose of research that will reveal the causes and cure of the disease and the importance of consideration for patients.
May 12 is also Nurses Day