Prof. Dr. Marta Sady Galeano, from Clínicas, pointed out that it is estimated that there are more than 100 million people affected by fibromyalgia in the world. He added that it has an incidence of two to three cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with female predominance in a ratio of 9 to 1.
People suffer from body pain, especially in muscles and tendons. Which are produced by various causes that are not known, but in general there is talk of an environmental, viral or genetic predisposition.
“It’s a pain that comes from the brainThat is why he says that it is the manifestation of the brain with a pain in the body. It affects muscles and tendons, incidentally it also touches the joints, they are symmetrical pains that affect above and below the navel; For example, it hurts the neck, the trapezius, the supraspinatus, the temporomandibular joint, the front of the thorax, the back of the thorax, buttocks, the lumbar region, the outer part of the hip, the inner face of the knee and legs.” .
They are a total of 18 painful points and it is thought that there is fibromyalgia when there are at least 8 painful points. Women in the productive stage are the most affected, between the ages of 20 and 45, but there are also cases over 50 years of age.
The main problem is the disability that it produces because it manifests itself with pain, morning stiffness, which subsides with the hours of the day, after approximately three hours, said the doctor. The condition is accompanied by sleep disorder, there may be insomnia, anxiety, depression, memory disorders, a decrease in concentration and disorder in immediate memory.
The main reason for consultation in Neurology is due to fatigue, which 90 percent of patients have, also due to migraines that are not easy to manage because they are complicated, generally due to abuse of painkillers. They also come due to tingling in their hands and feet, they complain at night that they cannot find a position to sleep, their legs are restless.
There may also be irritable colon, various gastrointestinal problems. There is talk that it occurs in women with a history of some type of abuse or in those who have a history of some underlying immunological disease, for which he stated that rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, spondylitis and even celiac disease must first be ruled out.
misunderstood disease
The professional reported that another characteristic is that the patient wakes up with a lot of pain every day and has a lot of work absenteeism. “It is a disease that is not understood, because despite suffering deep down, it makes a significant effort to get ahead. It is a chronic condition, difficult to understand, and above all that it has been at this for years, ”she remarked.
The prognosis is that you will probably be in pain all the time but with episodes of improvement. There is a group of patients that improves very well after 10 years, but in general they are always on some type of medication and what they recommend to the patients is that they remain active despite the pain, for example doing low-level physical activity. impact on the joints such as yoga, hydrotherapy and Tai Chi.
He also stressed that the medications used are anticonvulsants and antidepressants for pain, because these generally do not calm with the commonly used anti-inflammatories, which is why amitriptyline or duloxetine and pregabalin are supplied. It also requires psychological, psychiatric and family support because there will be days when they can’t even dress themselves, that’s why they need help.
suspected fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is characterized by pain in the points mentioned above, specifically and symmetrically, with morning stiffness with more than 3 months of evolution and accompanied by intense fatigue. The diagnosis is clinical, but some studies are requested, such as immunological profile and others, according to the symptoms that predominate in the patient to rule out that it is about other pathologies.
He explained that a multidisciplinary team is generally in charge of treating the patient with fibromyalgia, but the computer is the rheumatologist. Then the clinician, psychologist, psychiatrist and neurologist enter.
He stressed that patients go through several specialists, especially they go to a clinic, until they are seen by an orthopedic surgeon, a physiatrist and a neurologist. “To make a diagnosis, you have to be patient because patients generally complain of a lot of pain, so you have to be patient to get all the details out of them,” she concluded.
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