Understanding Fibromyalgia
By Dave Saunders, Sat Dec 10th

The alarm goes off! You feel that bolt of dread and fear in yourheart. Will you make it through the day? Will you hold on byyour fingernails and just barely make it to the end of the day?Will your cognitive problems cause you more humiliation? Willyou be able to keep your job? If you have Syndrome,you think about how you'll deal with the pain. Thoughts gothrough your head that you don't really want to consider. Wouldit be better to just give up completely, lose everything, justto stop this daily torture? If you're still capable of working,you make the painful tremendous effort to get up and try tosurvive this day. If you've got Fibromyalgia, you already knowthat's how each day can be. Some people describe it this way,"Fibromyalgia is chronic fatigue syndrome with pain."

In your mind, you have to believe that someway, somehow, somedayyou can beat this hideous disease, and live like the normalpeople you see and envy every day. You can wake up and enjoyyour family and friends, who may not really understand why youlay on the couch in pain or exhausted before noon. You havetried many different treatments, and some of them may havehelped, but you are still not well. As you read these words,deep inside you think, "Is there hope for me here? Is there anyhope at all?"

According to the American College of Rheumatology, Fibromyalgiaaffects 3 to 6 million Americans. Other sources say the totalnumber affected could be 8 million people. It primarily occursin women of childbearing age, but children, the elderly, and mencan also be affected. Approximately 80 percent to 90 percent ofpeople affected by syndrome are women. Because thesymptoms can often be difficult to diagnose, many people willoften fail to seek treatment because they don't want to admitthat the symptoms they are experiencing are in fact the signsthat something is not working the way it should inside the body.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition characterized by fatigue andwidespread pain in your muscles, ligaments and tendons. Atfirst, it was not considered an illness at all. Doctors couldnot find any thing wrong with patients so they believed it to bepsychosomatic.

Slowly that dismissive view is changing.Published research at Johns Hopkins, The University ofPennsylvania and other top research facilities, points to immunedysfunction and cardiac abnormalities in these illnesses. It isdifficult to believe that some doctors still regard people withFibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome as nothing more than"extremely worried well people."

The primary symptom is widespread, diffuse pain,often including heightened sensitivity of the skin, achingaround the joints, and nerve pain. Other symptoms oftenattributed to include physical fatigue, irritablebowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, dermatological disorders,headaches, and symptomatic hypoglycemia. Although it is commonin people with for pain to be widespread, it mayalso be localized in areas such as the shoulders, neck, back,hips, or other areas. Not all people have all symptoms.

The cause of is unknown, but researchers haveseveral hypotheses about what triggers the illness. Somescientists believe that the syndrome may be caused by an injuryor trauma. This injury may affect the central nervous system.Fibromyalgia may be associated with changes in musclemetabolism, such as decreased blood flow, causing fatigue anddecreased strength. Others believe an infectious agent such as avirus in susceptible people may trigger the syndrome, but nosuch agent has been identified. Psychological stress andhormonal changes also may be possible causes of Fibromyalgia.

While there is no medical cure for Fibromyalgia, many peoplehave experienced improvement in symptoms and quality of lifethrough nutritional improvements including supplementations ofmicronutrients including glyconutrients. I have personallyworked with people, including the spouses of doctors, who havenoticed incredible changes in quality of life when introducingthe appropriate levels of high-quality nutrients to their diets.

About the author:Dave Saunders is a professional lecturer, and certifiednutritional educator. He enjoys creating interconnectionsthrough his writings and lectures to help others create contextand see new discoveries and technologies in more a practicallight. You can find out more about new discoveries in health andnutrition at www.glycoboy.com.