Fibromyalgia often comes with debilitating symptoms — such as chronic pain — which can impact everyday life. There may not be a cure for this condition, but you can manage your symptoms and keep flare-ups at bay.

At least 2% of Americans live with fibromyalgia, a disorder best-known for the chronic pain and fatigue it causes. But our team at Elite Pain Management and Recovery Centers has solutions to help.

If you have fibromyalgia, there are strategies you can use to manage chronic pain. In this blog, we explain what fibromyalgia is, what its symptoms are, and how you can manage the condition.

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a condition that involves widespread musculoskeletal pain along with a number of other symptoms. Researchers aren’t sure what causes the condition, but many believe that the heightened sensations occur due to the way the brain and spinal cord process painful and nonpainful signals. Other symptoms can include the following:

  • Fatigue
  • Depression and anxiety
  • Concentration, thinking, and memory problems
  • Sleep issues
  • Headaches and migraines
  • Digestive problems, such as bloating, pain, and constipation
  • Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
  • Pain in the face or jaw

One of the challenges with fibromyalgia involves how it can vary from person to person. For many, symptoms can even change depending on the weather, time of year, and activity or stress level. It’s also common for fibromyalgia symptoms to come and go.

As a result, the best way of keeping fibromyalgia symptoms under control involves a combination of self-management strategies and medical care.

Managing fibromyalgia pain

At Elite Pain Management and Recovery Centers, we take a comprehensive approach to diagnosing and treating chronic pain conditions, including fibromyalgia. After reaching a diagnosis, we typically recommend a personalized long-term treatment strategy with three primary components: healthy lifestyle choices, physical therapy, and medications.

Healthy lifestyle

When you live with chronic pain, it can be hard to make healthy lifestyle choices. However, these factors play a crucial role in managing fibromyalgia symptoms, especially chronic pain.

As part of your healthy lifestyle protocol, we may recommend:

  • Engaging in regular aerobic exercise and muscle-strengthening activities
  • Practicing stress management techniques, such as yoga and meditation
  • Following good sleeping habits to improve and increase your sleep quality
  • Consuming healthy foods, limiting caffeine, and avoiding tobacco
  • It’s also essential to pace yourself, even when you’re having a good day. Practice moderation to keep your activity levels consistent, so you don’t overdo or limit yourself too much.

Physical therapy

Numerous types of physical therapy can help with fibromyalgia, even if you’re experiencing intense pain. For example, we might recommend passive treatments that focus on relaxing your body, such as:

  • Massage
  • Heat therapy
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Electric muscle stimulation
  • Ultrasound
  • Furthermore, active treatments ― such as performing exercises to strengthen and stretch certain areas of your body ― may help you manage fibromyalgia pain. And, some people with fibromyalgia pain can benefit from a combination of active and passive physical therapy methods, which can make chiropractic care especially helpful.
  • Sometimes, we also recommend interventional pain treatments, such as trigger point injections. However, we usually use these therapies to provide short-term pain relief as opposed to long-lasting pain management solutions.

Medication

There isn’t a pill or injection you can take to cure fibromyalgia, but some medications can ease pain symptoms, such as:

  • Over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers
  • Antidepressants
  • Anti-seizure medications
  • Medications can be valuable tools when it comes to managing chronic pain. However, we typically take this approach when other pain management options don’t get your symptoms effectively under control.

Do you have chronic fibromyalgia pain? Elite Pain Management and Recovery Centers can help you feel well again. To learn more, book an appointment online or over the phone to get help at one of our five locations, including our newest office in Las Vegas.

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